Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and LCD screens, reported on Friday its best ever quarterly net profit on a resurgent memory sector and forecast a strong 2010.

Samsung Electronics will seek to sharply expand sales in its semiconductor sector over the next three years through improved product quality and cost savings, according to the company. It hopes to register US$25.5 billion in revenue from its semiconductor division in 2012, up more than 50% from this year's goal of US$16 billion.

The major supplier of NAND flash silicon invested "millions" in Fusion-io, said Fusion-io President and CEO David Flynn, though he declined to give a more specific figure. The two will jointly evaluate technology for new applications of solid-state storage.

Taiwan's DRAM makers "don't have enough money to invest in new technology," said Keich Lee, manager of memory marketing for Samsung Electronics. "We think after the downturn, the strong will get stronger and the weak will get weaker."

Samsung's new SSD conforms to the new mini-SATA (mSATA) interface, and is about one-quarter the size of a 2.5-in SSD.

Hynix, IMEC, Intel, Samsung, Toshiba and possibly TSMC are the initial customers for ASML's "pre-production" extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tool, according to an analyst.

Samsung sees size and power benefits in phase-change memory (PCM), a memory type that is being pushed as a replacement for memory that goes into devices like mobile phones today.

Samsung Electronics has said it is considering absorbing its camera-making unit Samsung Digital Imaging. Samsung Digital Imaging currently develops and manufactures cameras, which are sold, distributed and marketed by Samsung.

Samsung Electronics has estimated it made a record quarterly operating profit of 4.1 trillion won (3.5 billion dollars) in July-September. Consolidated sales for the quarter are estimated at 36 trillion won, up from 30.27 trillion a year ago.

"We spend many months developing and then fine-tuning the controller and firmware technology for our SSDs, working very closely with most of the major PC OEMs..."

Murata Electronics North America has asked the US International Trade Commission to investigate whether two subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics have been importing electronic components into the country that infringe four of its patents covering ceramic capacitors.

"Of course every transition to a new process has its problems," stated one source who requested anonymity. "We just weren't expecting it to be this slow."

Samsung and Hynix sources said strong demand for advanced DRAM or DDR3 chips, has resulted in a price upturn for both DRAM and NAND flash memory chips used in high-end handheld gadgets such as smart phones.

The world's leading semiconductor manufacturers plan to discuss ways to prevent overproduction and enforce fair competition at an industry-wide annual meeting on Jeju Island, according to the South Korean government.

South Korean telecom regulators have approved the sale of Apple's iPhone in a market currently dominated by local handset manufacturers. Officials at KT, the country's number-two mobile service provider, said they plan to start selling iPhones next month.

A court in August had sentenced Lee Kun-Hee to a suspended three-year prison term and a fine of 110 billion won (91.2 million dollars) for his role in a 1999 bond issue.