ASML announced at SEMICON Japan the first system based on its new NXT lithography platform. The TWINSCAN NXT:1950i provides the increased productivity and enables chip manufacturers to shrink feature sizes to 32 nanometers and beyond in order to reduce costs.

Hynix Semiconductor said on Wednesday it would cut planned spending on a South Korean plant and delay a $260 million investment in its Chinese joint venture as it tries to deal with a cash shortage amid a downturn. Hynix shares slid 12.7% to end at 6,720 won before the announcement, compared with the wider market's 1.4% loss.

hareholders led by Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement they would extend 500 billion won ($374 million) in new loans to Hynix in early January and roll over all of its maturing debt by the end of 2009.

South Korea has begun full-scale commercial production of micro-electronic mechanical system (MEMS) sensors that can greatly bolster competitiveness in its information technology industry, the government said Tuesday.

With flash memory scaling coming under increasingly sharp questioning, Toshiba (Tokyo) researchers said they have developed a double tunnel layer technology for SONOS-type memories that could be scaled to the 10 nm generation. At the 2007 IEDM, Toshiba presented a SONOS-type memory with a 1.2 nm silicon nanocrystal layer capable of supporting 100 Gb densities at the 15 nm generation.

Shares of Infineon Technologies AG rose as much as 21% on Monday after spun-off offspring Qimonda received a 325 million-euro ($456 million) loan.

MEMS solution provider MEMSIC has announced a new line of magnetic sensors with enhanced digital compass functionality, which will enable a host of new location-based services (LBS) in GPS (global positioning systems) enabled mobile phones and PNDs (personal navigation devices).

The Netherlands-based provider of lithography systems will trim 10% of its workforce, comprising approximately 1,000 employees who are mainly on temporary contracts, as it looks to cut costs in 2009.

STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, plans to shut its plants in Italy over the Christmas period, affecting about 8,000 workers, as demand slides amid a deteriorating economy and an industry glut.

Toshiba has announced a cost-effective 32nm CMOS platform technology, which allows to halve the cost per function from 45nm technology. The platform was achieved by application of advanced single exposure lithography and gate-first metal gate/high-K process technology. This technology enables a 0.124m(2) SRAM cell and a gate density of 3,650 gate/mm(2). The platform technology is based on a 32nm process technology developed jointly with NEC Electronics.

Toshiba says it will debut a 512GB solid state hard drive during the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.

"This incentive package developed by New York is a clear differentiator in keeping this region competitive in the global technology marketplace. The support from the State of New York at all levels has been critical to the creation of The Foundry Company,” said Hector Ruiz chairman of AMD, who will become chairman of The Foundry Company.

Shares of Micron Technology are on the move today, rising 25%, on word rival Hynix Semiconductor will cut memory chip production by 20%-30% at the end of this month due to weak prices and demand.

Mentor Graphics has announced the qualification and immediate availability of its Olympus-SoC place-and-route system for chip designs targeting TSMC's 40nm process. These include the efficient 40nm (LP) process for handheld and wireless devices, and the 40nm General Purpose (G) for performance-oriented CPU, GPU, game consoles and networking devices.

"My ministry will provide financial assistance amounting to 12 rupees (30 cents) per kilowatt hour in case of solar photovoltaic and 10 rupees per kilowatt hour in case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid," Vilas Muttemwar said in a press conference.

FormFactor has announced that it expects revenues and earnings per share for fiscal fourth quarter 2008 to be below the financial guidance previously provided on October 28, 2008. The company now expects revenues to be between US$37 to US$41 million, lower than the previous expectation of US$48 to US$55 million, and earnings per share, operating expenses and gross margins to be below the guidance previously communicated.

"Never before have we witnessed such a sharp and sudden fall-off in lithography system demand, triggered by an unprecedented mix of falling end-demand for semiconductors, weak memory prices and restricted access to capital for our customers," said Eric Meurice, President and Chief Executive Officer of ASML. "This steep decline in our business activity is forcing us to adjust our organization in order to lower our cost base significantly."

"We are taking advantage of the company-wide vacation period starting in late December to achieve the cuts," a Hynix spokeswoman told Reuters. "We will reevaluate our decision early next year depending on the market situation."

Programable chip maker Xilinx lowered its fiscal third-quarter guidance Tuesday, saying sales in December have been weaker than anticipated. Xilinx shares dipped 13 cents to $18 after hours Tuesday, after closing up 5 percent for the day.

Amkor Technology has announced that as part of the company's overall cost reduction efforts in response to current economic conditions, its Compensation Comittee approved the recommendation by senior executives that their base salaries be reduced beginning in January 2009. The salaries of the Company's US payroll named executive officers will be reduced by 10%, except for the Company's CEO, who recommended that his salary be reduced by 50%.

STATS ChipPAC (Singapore), which provides semiconductor test and advanced packaging services, has responded to the global semiconductor downturn with a restructuring plan that results in ~1600 employees being laid off, ~12% of the company’s workforce.

"We deeply regret that the state of Saxony has not taken our proposals into account," says Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. "In spite of the extremely difficult situation of the world market and the semiconductor industry, Infineon has offered to provide a loan in combination with the sale of a substantial package of Qimonda shares to the state of Saxony. This offer represents the largest possible burden we can reasonably take on."

A source at China Telecom revealed recently that Qualcomm has decided to lower CDMA patent licensing fees for Chinese manufacturers--possibly even lower than the patent licensing fees levied by the WCDMA camp. Specific fee rates have yet to become clear.

A 500-megawatt solar energy development quota set by the Spanish government for 2009 might already be filled. That's because an ongoing government investigation has uncovered widespread fraud that could in effect reward those who falsely claimed to have completed solar power projects by a September deadline when they didn't, wrote Jeff Osborne, an equity analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners, in a research note Monday.