"...the two companies also are negotiating a plan relating to transferring a part of Nokia's IC operations to STMicroelectronics...will enable STMicroelectronics to design and manufacture 3G chipsets based on Nokia's modem technologies..."

"...foundry customers about a possible shortfall of capacity at the major foundries by the end of 2007 and into 2008...Big 4 foundries are forecast to register 42% more wafer shipments in 4Q07 as compared to 1Q07..."

If AMD decides to keep part of its microprocessor product line in SOI and part in bulk, it would increase its own design complexity and could limit its ability to use microprocessor cores with the graphic processors it acquired as part of the ATI decision. Two separate processor design groups — one in SOI and another in bulk — would hurt AMD's design flexibility and cost structure, one source said, asking to remain unidentified.

In recent months, both have detailed plans to build energy-efficient microprocessors specially designed for portable electronic devices. The catch is that a mass-market for these devices is still largely nonexistent. But with the frenzy over Apple's iPhone, the chipmakers are keen to secure a central role in a class of product that some believe could soon rival the PC.

President Bush decided not to veto a US International Trade Commission ruling barring the importation of new 3G cell phones that contain Qualcomm chips found to have infringed on a Broadcom patent.

"...The Bluetooth SIG anticipates silicon vendors such as Broadcom, CSR, Infineon and Texas Instruments will have Bluetooth v2.1+ EDR chips available immediately and that the first products will follow by the end of the year...."

"...HSSL, the joint venture between Hynix and STMicroelectronics, and Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing China have signed a memorandum of understanding to sell the equipment of the C1 line of the Wuxi plant to CSMC...CSMC is in an expanding phase and our purchasing department is continuously looking for and sourcing additional equipment ..."

"...Samsung said on Friday 1/3 of its lines at a chip plant near Seoul were down after a transformer malfunctioned on August 3 afternoon...ome of the six chip production lines that were affected were halted..."

The US chipmaker last month announced plans to shed 1,100, or 5% of its global work force as part of a restructuring program. But now Micron's president and CEO Mark Durcan said his company aims to reduce its global work force by another 5% within the next 12 to 18 months.

United Test and Assembly Center (UTAC) has reported a 12%fall in first half profit to US$32 million. This is despite a 61% increase in sales to US$359 million. For the second quarter alone, earnings fell 10% on year to US$13.8 million.

Certainly, plenty of people in the industry are not convinced that EUV lithography is the right way to go. They are latching on to double patterning as a way to get them to 32 nm (since there's little doubt that EUV won't be the answer at that node, anyway). EUV has become an Intel-led political battle, with many employees jumping ship because of it — whether immersing themselves in Sematech activities or full-out quitting their current companies, they are finding ways to get away from the EUV development work.

MotionDSP announced this week that the CIA's investment arm, In-Q-Tel, had provided MotionDSP with its first bit of outside funding - an investment of less than a million dollars. The CIA also committed to more than a million dollars in contracts for the firm's technology, which can take grainy or blurry video footage and make it clearer. The company is hoping the CIA deal will help his firm cash in on a burgeoning area: the sharing of images and video over cell phones.