Worldwide microprocessor sales are expected to regain strength in 2013 and grow 12% to US$65.3 billion after rising just 5% in 2012 to US$58.2 billion due to weakness in standard PCs and the shaky global economy, according to IC Insights.

The new plant will take approximately two years to build, and it will create 3,500 construction jobs, as well as 800 full-time jobs inside the plant once its complete.

Apple is working on "a new product" aimed at the low-end of the market that will be built around a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Samsung plans to invest US$1.7 billion in expanding and fitting out its operations in Kunshan, a fast-growing manufacturing hub west of Shanghai, the Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

Agilent Technologies has launched the N6465A test application for embedded multimedia card (eMMC) compliance test in response to a new version of the JEDEC eMMC specification.

Intel has presented Professor Stephen Hawking with a birthday gift, a 300mm wafer with the message "Happy Birthday Stephen Hawking" inscribed hundreds of times in copper letters defined using Intel's 32nm manufacturing procress.

ASML has warned of a weak first quarter but said it sees a recovery in the following months as smartphone and tablet makers shift to the next generation of chips.

Japan's economy minister surprised financial markets on Tuesday by warning of the potential ill effects of a sharply weaker yen in a rare rhetorical departure from years of attempts by Tokyo to talk the currency down.

InvenSense , which makes gyroscopes and other motion sensors, plans to sell chips within a couple of years that let smartphones guide their owners up and down escalators, through subway stations and up to specific cubicles within skyscrapers - all places that GPS signals do not currently work well.

Shares of Sharp and other suppliers of iPhone parts to Apple have fallen after reports of a cut in orders for the iPhone 5.

The M500 SSD utilizes Micron's 20nm multilevel cell (MLC) NAND flash to achieve terabyte-class capacity and enable a new level of SSD price competitiveness; the 960GB Crucial M500 SSD will be initially priced under US$600.

Samsung Electronics is looking to supply chips to more Chinese and other emerging smartphone makers, the head of its system chip business said, to counter any fall-off in demand from Apple, which is weaning itself off Samsung chips used in its iPhones and iPads.

Globalfoundries has been awarded a US$1 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the US to ship American-made computer chip-making tools to its operation in Germany.

The company plans to produce three-dimensional (3D) flash memory chips using fine-tuned vertical-stacked-array-transistor (VSAT) technology.

Imagination Technologies has announced that its CEO, Hossein Yassaie, has been awarded a knighthood by the Queen in Her Majesty's New Year Honours 2013.

Some local residents and council representatives showed up December 26 at a meeting to protest against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s plan to build its first 450mm wafer fab plant at the Central Taiwan Science Park.

Japan's industrial output tumbled more than forecast to the lowest level since the aftermath of the record 2011 earthquake. In contrast, South Korea's industrial output exceeded estimates in November and the nation's current-account surplus rose to a record.

China's largest private employer has pledged to sharply curtail workers' hours and significantly increase wages - reforms that, if fully carried out next year as planned, could create a ripple effect that benefits tens of millions of workers across the electronics industry.

A federal jury in Pennsylvania on Wednesday ordered Marvell Technology to pay US$1.17 billion in damages after finding it infringed on two patents held by Carnegie Mellon University.

There is a growing demand for solid-state drives (SSDs) despite declining numbers in the PC sector. The company said it has seen a 20-percent rise in SSD orders during 1QF13 alone.

Bucking the industry trend and rising three places to No. 3, Qualcomm attributed its 29.6% growth to continued adoption of smartphones and the growth of 3G and LTE technology in emerging regions, such as China and India.

Processors, memory, manufacturing processes, chip architecture, EDA, MEMS, RF, touch screens, servers and the Internet of Things are markets where startups can still make a difference.

Renesas Electronics announced that its latest USB 3.0 hub controller (part number uPD720210) has passed USB 3.0 compliance and certification testing by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).

If Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is planning on building a chip plant in the United States, the only place that would make sense is Malta, New York, an analyst said.

Industrial conglomerate Siemens will cut an additional 1,100 jobs at its energy sector in Germany by 2014, a spokesman said Thursday.

Micron Technology has reported a wider fiscal first-quarter loss as a slump in demand for personal computers led to a supply glut, weighing down prices.

Samsung Electronics has acquired Nvelo, a Silicon Valley vendor of products for caching data on flash-based SSDs.

There's a hubbub of current speculation which once again claims Apple intends launching the next iteration of its iPhone in or around June: it's important to take claims of a June launch with a pinch of salt as there's been similar speculation in the past and the product didn't actually appear until Q4.

Micron Technology said it will lay off at least 30 workers as it retreats on plans to develop energy-efficient lighting technology, a move that marks the latest blow to alternative energy initiatives in Idaho.

Contract chipmaker Globalfoundries chief executive Ajit Manocha said European governments should do more to encourage chip manufacturers to set-up shop in the region, rather than going to Asia where they receive large subsidies.

The US International Trade Commission said Tuesday it won't challenge an administrative law judge's decision that Nanya Technology could end its memory patent probe into bankrupt Elpida Memory after licensee Micron Technology offered to acquire Elpida for US$2.5 billion.

or most of the last two decades personal computers have accounted for a third or more of annual IC sales, but standard PCs are now on the brink of being replaced as the largest end-use product category for ICs.

Qualcomm has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, introduced a new ultra-low power near field communication (NFC) solution that will enable mobile devices with contactless communications and data exchange, including next-generation mobile payments.

There's nothing surprising about Japan going out of its way to bail out Renesas Electronics. The obvious objective is to maintain a steady flow of Renesas chips into domestic products, especially Toyota and Nissan automobiles.

"Today we are announcing the new ST, aligned with the new market environment," said Carlo Bozotti, president and CEO of ST. "Based on that, we have made the decision to exit ST-Ericsson after a transition period."

"Since Mike joined SMIC last year, he and his team have brought in record-breaking sales from the Americas region," said SMIC CEO Tzu-Yin Chiu. "We are excited to have him leading our sales force as we partner with new and existing customers and expand our service offerings."