In a major departure, Samsung Electronics is reportedly exploring an alternative in high-k dielectrics: It is looking at gate-last technology, according to sources.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) plans to spend US$2-3 billion this year in capacity expansion as it eyes a larger share of the global contract chip industry.

First Solar has announced a power purchase agreement to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with renewable electricity from a 300 megawatt utility-scale photovoltaic solar power facility that First Solar is developing in Southern California.

Carmakers will be scrambling to meet demand for electric cars - and the lithium batteries that power them - within the next two years, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, has predicted.

Elpida Memory has said it bought flash-chip technology assets from Spansion to develop semiconductors for use in mobile phones.

Elpida Memory has decided not to receive capital from a Taiwanese company because businesses are improving, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing an interview with President Yukio Sakamoto.

Plextor, a maker of optical drives, has announced the release of its first-generation SSDs that use Marvell controller chipsets. Plextor SSDs are available now, with MSRP around US$225 for 64GB and US$400 for 128GB.

Tessera Technologies has signed an updated technology licensing agreement with United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC), which provides test and assembly services for a wide range of semiconductor devices. The initial term of the updated license agreement runs through the end of 2016.

Japan-based Mitsubishi Electric has announced it plans to almost triple production of solar cells in two years to meet demand for renewable energy. The company last month finished construction of a 24,000 square meter (258,000 square feet) plant in northern Japan that may begin operating this fall.

Prices on futures of the metal traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) touched US$7,600 a tonne, the highest since 20 January. Officials in Chile - the world's biggest copper miner - have promised to honour its export commitments.

The deal will end years of litigation between companies - like Micron Technology, Hynix Semiconductor and Infineon Technologies - and indirect purchasers of DRAM memory chips, which includes California and several other states.

SanDisk now expects first-quarter revenues will reach between NT$925 million and NT$1 billion, compared to the originally estimated NT$875-925 million. (and vs. consensus estimates of $942.4 million).

The contracts include a US$137 million follow-on order from a large Chinese customer, as well as orders from Tianwei New Energy, Phoenix Photovoltaic Technology, Yingli Green Energy, JA Solar, Taiwan-based Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS), and one other customer.

Applied Materials CFO George Davis recently remarked there is reason to think the second half will see orders from Tier 2 DRAM players, and from some additional segments of the market, in particular NAND flash.

Hynix Semiconductor creditors named Kwon Oh Chul as the new CEO of the world's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips. They also plan to sell 8% of Hynix in the first half of 2010 and another 5% in the second half if they fail to find a buyer.

About this time last year, Intel and TSMC announced a groundbreaking deal. The deal was seen as a response by Intel to the growing popularity of customized ARM chips, but a lack of customer demand has put the partnership on hiatus.

The drives have arrived more than a year after SanDisk announced them, and more than six months after they were originally supposed to ship. A spokeswoman said the delay was due to a desire to "optimize" the product.

Elpida Memory aims to list subsidiary Rexchip Electronics on the Taiwan stock exchange in its fiscal 2010, according to a person familiar with the matter. Although the company had said it was considering listing Rexchip, it had yet to decide on concrete plans.

Now that Bloom Energy has unveiled its innovative fuel cell technology to the world, it appears the much-hyped Silicon Valley startup's "Energy Server" shows a lot of promise, particularly for Fortune 500 companies that can afford the parking lot-sized power boxes priced up to $800,000 apiece.

Like others with a stake in EUV lithography development, maskmakers are being asked to contribute money to a Sematech effort to close the funding gap in mask inspection development. It's a tough question, however, given the low probability of a return on that investment anywhere in the near future.

If the bearish options traders are right, First Solar should soon slip below the century mark. A pair of analyst downgrades and price decline of as much as 7%, to US$106.30, fueled bearish options activity on the manufacturer of solar modules. First Solar was cut to underperform from neutral and given a 12-month target share price of US$90 at Wedbush.

The potential impact of lesser subsidies has been an anchor on First Solar in recent sessions, after the company said last week that such cuts could pressure earnings in the second half of 2010.

"It is true that the sector is getting hotter and hotter. But it is premature to say the market will continue the current upbeat mood throughout this year," said Oh-Hyun Kwon, president of the company's chip division.

According to a report by Asahi.com, Toshiba is developing a new technology that can turn cell phones into virtual secretaries. Like many of Japan's mobile-related technologies, this will probably be available only in its home country initially.

Intel expects to complement 193nm immersion lithography with either EUV or electron-beam direct write lithography for the 11nm generation, expected to arrive in 2015, according to Yan Borodovsky, director of Intel's Advanced Lithography and Manufacturing Group.

Brian Hicks, who co-manages the Global Resources Fund at US Global Investors, said reports continue to show demand for copper, particularly in China, remains high. China is one of the largest importers of copper.