"During the boom, there were significant capacity increases. There were also, by the way, significant announcements of capacity that may or may not have happened..."

Applied Materials said orders for wafer fab equipment spiked in the final month of its third fiscal quarter, ending July 26. Foundries increased spending sharply, and display manufacturers are also looking at better times driven by flat panel TV sales, according to company CEO Mike Splinter.

Inspur, a China-based IT solutions provider and server manufacturer, has agreed to acquire Qimonda's Xi'an R&D center for 30 million yuan (US$4.4 million).

The latest rumor: Japan's Elpida Memory is looking to buy Spansion's wireless chip unit for US$200-300 million. A spokeswoman from Elpida declined to comment. Spansion did not respond to e-mails.

A technologist from Sun Microsystems has commented NAND vendors are going down the wrong path by racing each other in process technology--at the expense of customer needs. He was also critical of SSDs for servers, saying the emerging technology is still too expensive.

China-based foundry Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing has announced the successful development of its 0.13-micron embedded flash process.

Intel said it had issued updated firmware for the Intel X25-M consumer SSDs that resolves the password bug. The firmware is available on Intel's Web site.

Demand for semiconductor equipment is showing signs of a return, but it remains too early to say that a broad-based recovery is at hand, said Applied Materials CEO Mike Splinter.

Back-end production capacity will be reduced at a plant in Mie Prefecture, Toshiba's main NAND flash memory production site, and shifted to a subsidiary in Thailand. Some procedures will also be outsourced to a foundry in Taiwan.

Elpida Memory and Numonyx have delayed their scheduled foundry ramp by six months or so.

Despite a rebound in business, Applied Materials is set for more layoffs and cost-cutting, according to an analyst.

Infineon Technologies and Golden Gate Capital have announced that Infineon's wireline communications division will become Lantiq after the closing of the recently announced transaction.

Toshiba has said it aimed to expand its energy, healthcare and environment-related businesses as it targets a strong recovery in earnings within the next three years.

Toshiba has begun volume shipments of solid-state drives ranging up to 512GB in size. The drives are built on a 43nm manufacturing process using multi-level cell (MLC) technology.

Insolvent German chipmaker Qimonda's deal to sell its GDDR technology to Japan's Elpida Memory is valued in the low double-digit million euro range, a person close to one of the companies said.

Microsoft's newest operating system for PCs will launch in late October, but it won't boost PC sales enough to help the global DRAM memory chip market until the second quarter of 2010.

China is on its way to becoming a solar power - with financial incentives coming from every corner of the country - but a lack of experienced project developers and equipment installers may cast a shadow over the growing industry.

Elpida Memory may sign up today (August 7) with the Development Bank of Japan, becoming eligible for about 30 billion yen (US$314 million) in government aid, Nikkei English News said.

Canadian Solar, a Chinese manufacturer of solar power modules, jumped in early New York trading after reporting a profit that exceeded analyst estimates. "They blew away expectations and seem to have gained a lot of market share," said Colin Rusch, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC.

The Central Weather Bureau forecast the storm to make landfall in northeastern Taiwan ton the evening of August 7.

Initially expected to be ready by the end of 2009, the PCI Express 3.0 specification has been officially delayed and will not see the light of day until second-quarter 2010, according to PCI-SIG.

GaAs epiwafer foundry Kopin is investing an additional US$6.3 million in its Asian foundry venture, Kopin Taiwan.

Seagate Technology said it will close its Singapore hard-disk-drive manufacturing plant by the end of 2010 and lay off 2,000 workers as a result.

GT Solar International's fiscal first-quarter profits jumped 51% on surging margins and higher revenues. The company said it was "on track" to meet its fiscal-year targets. But revenues grew at its slowest pace in roughly a year and sales came in far short analysts' expectations.

OCZ Technology has confirmed it will release its Colossus solid-state drive (SSD) in the next couple of weeks, delivering the first 3.5-inch form factor SSD with 1TB of capacity.

Chipmaker Altera has cut about 3% of its 2,700 person work force, according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Toshiba has slashed a forecast for operating profit and sales next fiscal year made before the global recession drove the company to post its first net loss in seven years. It will also cut capital spending to 1.1 trillion yen for 2009 to 2011, from 1.64 trillion yen in the preceding three-year period.

First Solar has announced 2Q09 profits that exceeded industry expectations, but its share price fell on news that it would offer rebates in Germany and maintain, rather than raise, its full-year outlook.

Japan's Elpida Memory has said that it plans to more than double its output of advanced DRAM chips for high-speed computers and servers next month, pushing its shares higher on August 3.

GlobalFoundries spokesperson Jon Carvill responded to Chang's questionable analogy by reiterating GF's "total" commitment to fair competition.

"I don't think the memory companies are going to learn their lesson until the next cycle," said a Gartner analyst, conjuring up the vision of the memory companies as a room full of bad boys sitting in the principal's office

Taiwan plans to allow local flat panel makers and chipmakers to invest their advanced process technologies in China, the Economic Daily said on Wednesday, in the latest indication of warming business ties on both sides.