Once completed, Globalfoundries' Fab 2 project is expected to create more than 6,400 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

Compound Semiconductor Technologies (CST) Global, the Scottish foundry company, is to upgrade its manufacturing equipment thanks to new financing.

Germany-based concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) pioneer Concentrix Solar says that its plant in southern Spain is now consistently delivering the record power efficiency first achieved a year ago.

"We are in discussions with some local and foreign companies for possible cooperation. There might be some different business styles," ProMOS Vice-President Ben Tseng told Reuters.

Spansion and Samsung Electronics are set to resume their legal dispute after a bankruptcy judge rejected a $70 million patent settlement between the two companies.

Samsung may ask its key PC-related clients to pay more. Hynix was looking for a chance to raise its contract-based chip prices for the second straight month.

Although some have predicted exploding growth for thin-film photovoltaic technologies, the sector's expansion is likely to be tempered by dropping polysilicon prices, according to a new report from IC Insights.

The ever-optimistic Kinam Kim of Samsung Electronics noted that some people in industry say the limit of scaling is ~5 nm, to which he said, "I do not agree."

Solar power leaders remain hopeful in what could be a huge upturn in US solar demand, but continue to be careful about the rest of 2009 after being hit hard from the global credit predicament.

Synopsys has announced that its DesignWare DDR3/2 PHY and digital controller IP is the first DDR3 IP that has been fully verified in test silicon at 1600 Mbps, the maximum data-rate of the JEDEC DDR3 specification. DesignWare DDR3/2 PHY and the digital controller IP are available now in advanced process technologies for foundries.

As if the current downturn weren't challenging enough, the semiconductor industry is also headed for increasing challenges from higher design costs and production at smaller geometries, according to Aart de Geus, chairman and CEO of Synopsys.

SanDisk CEO Eli Harari once plotted to dethrone the iPod with a series of "iDon't" ads--a marketing campaign that cast Apple iPod users as fad-driven sheep, and promoted his company's Sansa media players as the smart alternative.

Pioneering Taiwan industry leader Morris Chang says better focus is needed. "I think that the Chinese side is still intent on building their own integrated supply chain. They are assisting their design companies and their foundries. It's such a shortsighted policy..."

Micron Technology on June 1 announced that it has signed an agreement to sell a majority interest in its imaging solutions business, Aptina Imaging. Micron will retain a 35% minority stake in the independent, privately held company.

Intel is interested in building another chip manufacturing plant in southern Israel by 2012 at a cost of US$2.5 billion, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday.

Socle Technology has announced its partnership with Catena and CoreSonic to develop a comprehensive design platform on Chartered's 65nm process with integrateable wireless subsystems.

Solar power stations that concentrate sunlight could generate up to one-quarter of the world's electricity needs by 2050. The technology, best suited to the desert regions of the world, could also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and save millions of tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.

The past several semiconductor downturns have resulted in transitions from one generation of packaging to the next. This one's no exception.

There is no such thing as a final deadline for the Qimonda negotiations, the company's insolvency administrator clarifies. The search for an investor continues.

Nikon has said it will reorganize its lithography operations, cutting 800 production workers in Japan and 200 marketing and support staff worldwide. By October, Nikon plans to combine four production subsidiaries into two, focused on IC and display equipment.

President Obama said on May 27 that he will use US$467 million in economic-stimulus money for initiatives that in two years will double the country's capacity for clean, renewable energy.

SanDisk and Samsung Electronics on May 27 announced they have reached an agreement to renew the cross license of their semiconductor patent portfolios. The companies have also signed a flash memory supply agreement under which Samsung will continue to make available to SanDisk a guaranteed portion of its flash memory production output.

Wind-farm developer Renewable Energy Holdings on May 29 said it has signed a non-binding deal of intent to buy PVStrom Energy Systems GmbH & Co KG's photovoltaic development assets in Sicily, Italy for an undisclosed amount.

Mentor Graphics has reported a narrower loss for its fiscal first quarter on higher sales, and its top executive said the semiconductor market appears to have stabilized.

Japan's Toshiba plans to raise its chip production in July to levels not seen since it implemented output cuts in January, national broadcaster NHK has reported, in a move that would reflect an improvement in nationwide output levels.

Singapore chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has said it hasn't received a bid from Advanced Technology Investment.

Canadian silicon processor Timminco has said it reached an agreement with Germany's Q-Cells for the supply of solar-grade silicon, replacing a contract signed in 2008 for the five-year period through 2013.