Hans Stork joins ON Semiconductor after three years with Applied Materials as Group VP of the Si Systems Group and six years with Texas Instruments as the company's CTO and Senior VP of Si Technology Development.

"Recent data points have circulated in the past weeks suggesting OmniVision's BSI (backside illumination) yields have been adversely impacted out of TSMC, which could be backed-up on strong demand for general CMOS image sensors into smartphones and tablets," said analyst Doug Freedman of Gleacher & Co. in a new report.

Toshiba has developed a new flip-flop circuit using 40nm CMOS process that the company claims will reduce power consumption in mobile equipment. Measured data verifies that the power dissipation of the new flip-flop is up to 77% less than that of a conventional flip-flop and that it achieves a 24% reduction in total power consumption when applied to a wireless LAN chip.

Today FTC Chairman John Leibowitz wrote a letter to Rep. Ed Markey saying he would review the way Apple is marketing in-app purchases, in particular apps aimed at children.

Eurozone manufacturing and service activity in February 2011 hit levels last seen in July 2006 but inflation, an increasing concern, also jumped sharply, a closely watched survey has shown.

The firm said an internal investigation had discovered more than 1,000 fraud cases in both 2009 and 2010. Chief executive David Wei Zhe and chief operating officer Elvis Lee Shi-Huei were not involved in the frauds but were taking responsibility for a "systemic breakdown".

Shares of wireless chipmaker Anadigics are down US$0.57, almost 8%, at US$5.96, after the company reported 4Q results ahead of expectations, but forecast a surprise net loss this quarter and much lower-than-expected revenue, citing "softness in China" and an inventory pile-up.

CSR and Zoran have entered into a merger agreement under which Zoran will merge with CSR for an equity value equivalent to approximately US$679 million. The merged company will provide differentiated, integrated technology that addresses the rapidly-growing market for connected, location-aware multimedia devices including handsets, digital cameras and home entertainment equipment.

TomTom said consumer business revenues would "contract modestly" in 2011 due to a decline in the size of the market for personal navigation devices. To compensate, the firm expects to sign more agreements with car manufacturers and license its products to more commercial customers.

"Leading-edge capacity excess, driven by Globalfoundries' expansion primarily, means pricing is going to come down," said Intel CEO Paul Otellini. "As leading-edge pricing comes down, so does the trailing-edge [pricing], hollowing out the business. That means real trouble for Globalfoundries and TSMC over the next few years." He conceded that Samsung was a different case with its memory and logic operations.

Micron Technology has acquired Canon's interest in Tech Semiconductor Singapore for about US$121 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Micron also seems to be taking the lead in its joint venture with Intel.

The European Parliament has ratified a free-trade pact between the EU and South Korea - clearing the way for the deal to come into effect from July.

Losing the deal to Google could have landed a fatal blow to Microsoft's chances in the mobile market.

The chipmaker made the announcement Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress, where it also introduced mobile communications chips for phones. Medfield is Intel's second smartphone processor. The first, Moorestown, did not have much success in the market due to power consumption too high for smartphones.

Like Ford Sync, it will allow you to use your smartphone, play music and other vehicle functions by voice command. It has a feature that displays and name of the musical artist and the song.

Deutsche B繹rse and NYSE Euronext have unveiled their plan to create what would be the largest stock and derivatives exchange, while a second proposed merger would bring together the London Stock Exchange and Canada's TMX Group.

Samsung Fine Chemicals agreed with MEMC to set up an equally owned venture for a poly-Si plant in South Korea. They will build the facility on an existing Samsung Fine Chemicals property in Ulsan, according to a joint e-mail statement.

Just as tablets with dual-core processors start to hit shelves, chip makers are now shipping samples of quad-core chips that could make the devices even faster. Nevertheless, quad-core chips could be overkill as use of all cores could drain battery quickly...

"Shares of MIPS are selling off today because ARM announced a subscription license agreement with Broadcom," said Gary Mobley, an analyst with The Benchmark Company, in a report. "Because of Broadcom's heavy use of MIPS cores, Broadcom is MIPS' largest customer. We estimate Broadcom's royalties paid to MIPS represent 35% of MIPS' royalty revenue, or 15% of total revenue."