Around the web
12 May 201111 May 201110 May 20119 May 20116 May 2011
Consumer solid-state drives will have a break-out year in 2012 due to falling prices, which will make SSDs a primary storage option for mainstream users, Gartner said.
PC World
Wall Street Journal
New York Times
The Financial Times
Mosaid Technologies has commenced patent infringement litigation against Elpida Memory of Japan. Two other companies, Buffalo and Axiontech, are also named as defendants in the suit.
Company release
Taiwan's currency advanced 0.8% to NT$28.511 against its US counterpart as of 9:24 a.m. local time, according to Taipei Forex. It touched NT$28.495 earlier, the strongest level since October 1997.
Bloomberg
TSMC has said it won't start using three-dimensional transistors to produce semiconductors before the capacity of 2D chips reaches its limit, adding the infrastructure for the next generation of transistors is still "immature."
Wall Street Journal
Microsoft has confirmed that it has agreed to buy Internet phone service Skype. The deal will see Microsoft pay US$8.5 billion for Skype, making it Microsoft's largest acquisition.
BBC News
Globalfoundries is believed to be working on similar technology but is about two years behind Intel to bring it into the shops. However the outfit does not seem to be in any hurry.
Tech Eye.net
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. and First Solar Inc., the world's top solar panel suppliers, warned Monday that potential cuts in European government subsidies for solar power could lead to both lower demand and prices for their products, a combination that could hit their bottom lines.
Wall Street Journal
ARM expects to "compete at a consistently high level" in the mobile device market despite the news that rival Intel has a new process for making chips that could prove to be attractive to makers of tablets, smartphones and other similar devices.
PC Magazine
The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has asked the government for help compensating victims of the crisis.
BBC News
Microsoft is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies for between US$7 billion and US$8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, adding that the deal could be announced as early as Tuesday.
Wall Street Journal
Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 99.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011, nearly double from 55.4 million units a year ago.
IDC
Cree is announced to make a breakthrough on the record of 231 lumens per watt for a white power LED.
LEDinside
HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson drove Android shipments in the first quarter, with each vendor shipping well over three million devices, said Canalys Principal Analyst Pete Cunningham.
Company release
Broadcom announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SC Square, security software developer based in Israel.
Company release
The Register
As part of the investment volume planned for the 2011 fiscal year, Infineon Technologies is investing about Euro 198 million in production capacity expansion and in R&D in Austria. Infineon intends to create 400 jobs in Austria in the course of this fiscal year.
Company release
Toshiba has said it returned to the black for the year to March 2011, but warned the outlook remains uncertain due to the impact of the massive quake and tsunami in Japan.
AFP (via Google)
Semiconductor company Rubicon Technology, Inc. (RBCN: News ) reported Thursday a profit for the first quarter that climbed from last year, boosted by strong margin expansion and revenue growth amid strong demand.
RTTNEWS
Startup chip design company Adapteva has announced the multicore Epiphany processor, which is designed to accelerate applications in servers and low-power devices such as smartphones and tablets.
PC World
Applied Materials's US$4.9 billion purchase of Varian Semiconductor may trigger a round of acquisitions in the chip-machinery industry, making companies such as Novellus Systems possible targets.
Bloomberg
Finacial Times
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