Globalfoundries and IBM have announced an agreement to jointly manufacture advanced computer chips at both companies' semiconductor fabs in New York's "Tech Valley." The new products recently began initial production at IBM's 300mm fab in East Fishkill and Globalfoundries' Fab 8 in Saratoga County, and are planned to ramp to volume production in the second half of 2012.

SK Telecom won the antitrust regulator's approval to acquire a 21% stake in Hynix Semiconductor, bringing South Korea's biggest mobile-phone carrier one step closer to completing the transaction.

Rohm is scheduled to resume full-scale production of all products affected by the flooding in Thailand on January 1, 2012.

US Congressman Bill Owens will arrive in Taipei Wednesday to visit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to discuss a possible investment plan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Wireless chipmaker Broadcom provided a more upbeat view for the fourth quarter, contrasting with fellow semiconductor companies that have recently tempered their expectations.

Apple is reportedly going to use part of its enormous pile of cash to buy an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage solutions.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to reach US$309 billion in 2012, a 2.2% increase from 2011, according to Gartner. This outlook is down from Gartner's previous projection in the third quarter for 4.6% growth in 2012.

Wacker Chemie said Thursday streamlining at its Siltronic unit will result in a plant closure in Japan and expenses about of EUR70 million. Siltronic is Wacker Chemie's semiconductor division.

Sanyo Semiconductor (Thailand) will close down its factory at Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya after flooding caused extensive damage to its operations.

Hynix Semiconductor has set around KRW4 trillion (US$3.5 billion) for its 2012 capital expenditure, up 18% from the KRW3.4 trillion set for this year, an online news provider Edaily reported Thursday, citing industry sources.

Freescale Semiconductor has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) accusing MediaTek, Zoran and others of patent infringement, the ITC has said by way of an online posting of pending complaints.

China's second- and third-largest contract chipmakers Shanghai Hua Hong NEC and Grace Semiconductor have agreed to merge in a sector in need of a consolidation and technology upgrades, sources said on Thursday.

Researchers have designed a new computer chip that mimics synaptic plasticity-how a brain's neurons adapt in response to new information.

ARM expects the semiconductor industry to grow by "a few percent" in 2012, but its licensing growth will be slower after an exceptionally strong year in 2011, its senior executive said on Thursday.

Applied Materials has forecast first-quarter sales and profit that fell short of analysts' predictions, a sign that semiconductor makers are scaling back expansion plans.

Rambus has announced the jury in its anti-trust case against Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technology has found in favor of the defendants.

Infineon Technologies has said sales in fiscal 2012 will drop by a "mid-single-digit percentage" as customers hold off on orders.

SK Telecom has agreed to pay KRW3.4 trillion (US$3.1 billion) for 21% of Hynix Semiconductor.

Fears about a wave of successive layoffs by semiconductor firms were stoked last week when two chipmakers gave out walking papers.

SK Telecom has submitted a bid to buy 20% of Hynix Semiconductor amid a criminal investigation into whether the group's founding family misused funds.

The semiconductor market likely is bottoming, the chief executive of STMicroelectronics said, with conditions expected to improve in the coming weeks and months.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) board of directors has elected Freescale Semiconductor CEO Rich Beyer as its 2012 chairman.

Infineon Technologies is the global market leader in power semiconductors for the eighth consecutive year. According to IMS Research data, Infineon again strengthened its position in 2010 and commands an 11.2% share of the overall market.

Strong growth in customer numbers helped UK chipmaker ARM beat analysts' forecasts with its third-quarter results, despite "below seasonal growth in the semiconductor industry."

Japanese electronics maker Panasonic will scale back domestic semiconductor output by the end of March 2012 and cut about 1,000 jobs, reflecting its recent move to reduce TV panel production, the Nikkei business daily said.

TI's authorized semiconductor distributors include Arrow, Avnet, WPG, WT Microelectronics, and so on.

The Japanese semiconductor industry, which has been in decline for more than 20 years, needs to select key technology areas and refocus to rise again, Junshi Yamaguchi, former chairman of Renesas Electronics, told the International Electronics Forum being organized here.

Linear, which makes semiconductors for industrial equipment and luxury cars, ranked above Microsoft and Apple - two companies with market valuations that are 30 to 50 times larger.

US chipmakers ON Semiconductor and Microsemi said Tuesday they suspended production at factories in Thailand after floods damaged facilities, in a sign that supply chain disruptions could hurt production during a typically busy third quarter.

"We have a lot of big plans for it and we're working with Hynix Semiconductor to launch a replacement for flash in the summer of 2013 and also to address the solid-state drive market," said Stan Williams, senior fellow at HP Labs.

One reason for the delay in both Q1 and Q2 could have been uncertainty on how to record the loss of manufacturing capacity, and capacity utilization, at Japanese companies affected by the aftermath of the great earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan on March 11. This will have had a small but significant effect in the first quarter but is likely to have had a much bigger effect in the second quarter.

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation, a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, has launched a series of 650V High Voltage (HV) MOSFET products for use in LCD-TV and LCD monitor applications.

It's the first time since 1996 that IBM closed ahead of Microsoft. Microsoft was worth three times as much as IBM in 2000.

Toshiba and Amkor Technology have announced that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the acquisition by Amkor of Toshiba Electronics Malaysia, Toshiba's semiconductor assembly operation in Malaysia, together with a license to Amkor for certain related intellectual property rights.

Atmel has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Advanced Digital Design, a Spain-based developer of power line communication solutions. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in October.

TI will include National's contribution to financial performance in the company's third-quarter earnings announcement on October 24. TI's Analog semiconductor business now represents more than 50% of the company's revenues.

GCT Semiconductor, a maker of mobile chips used in smartphones, wireless routers and other devices, plans to raise up to US$100 million in an initial public offering, according to documents filed on September 15.

Infineon Technologies, flush with as much as US$3 billion in cash for acquisitions, is struggling to find an attractive target that would boost its most profitable business, power semiconductors.