While many experts have expressed doubts about the ability of flash memory to scale and indicated the need for an alternative non-volatile memory technology, Hynix has just gone ahead and produced a 15nm NAND flash memory cell which it plans to unveil at this year's International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).

Micron Technology has introduced its highest-density serial peripheral interface (SPI) NOR memory available, launching 1 gigabit (Gb), 512 megabit (Mb) and 256Mb products in both 1.8V and 3V power supply voltages.

The pressure in the DRAM business today is "untenable for a number of players," with something needing to happen to the struggling Asian memory makers within the next couple of quarters, Micron CEO Steve Appleton was quoted as saying.

Texas Memory Systems, best known for its pricey, yet extremely high-performance NAND flash-based storage arrays, has introduced a new system that it said competes with Tier 1 hard drives on a price-per-gigabyte basis.

Michael Van Buskirk, former chief technology officer at Spansion and a longtime engineer at AMD, was named CTO of non-volatile memory chip startup Adesto Technologies Tuesday (Aug. 16).

Samsung Electronics has acquired Grandis, a maker of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) technology known as spin transfer torque (STT-RAM). Samsung said Grandis will be merged into its R&D operations "that are focused on developing the next evolution of memory, where new semiconductor materials and structures are reviewed for their long-term commercial value."

Patent licensing company Rambus made a net loss of US$10.6 million on revenues of US$66.2 million in the second quarter of 2011. However, the company guided that it would be profitable in the third quarter on rising revenues.

Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung said on July 26 that the firm has no plans to revise down its capex for the second half and that its bread-and-butter memory chip business would get additional investment this year.

Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement that STX and SK Telecom, which both submitted their initial interest in a combined 15% stake, began six weeks of due diligence from Monday.

This particular poker game had a twist - the ante went up every hand and you had to play every hand. If you left the table, you were out of the game. Does the analogy hold true today?

Toshiba President Norio Sasaki also said the company is gaining on South Korea's Samsung Electronics in terms of flash memory global market share, though warned that the rivalry could undercut prices.

Elpida Memory plans to issue new shares to raise capital, a person familiar with the matter said, without specifying the amount of the equity financing.

STX Group, owner of the world's third-largest marine-engine maker, said it may team up with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to bid for a stake in Hynix Semiconductor.

Applied Materials has announced a trio of new systems designed to boost performance in the next generations of DRAM chips. These innovative systems overcome key challenges in fabricating the transistor and contact areas of memory chips.

Hyundai Heavy has announced it was dropping plans for a takeover of Hynix Semiconductor.

"In the past, the semiconductor market tended to be weaker in the first half and stronger in the second half, but for this year, it is likely to remain flat throughout the latter half..."

IBM has solved two related problems with phase-change memory and now says the fast next-generation data-storage technology will be ready for use in 2016 in servers.

Spansion has announced a collaboration with Freescale on a memory expansion module for the Freescale Tower System that provides design engineers more flexibility in prototyping a growing range of embedded applications.

Rambus played dirty in the market for PC memory chips and blames its competitors for the consequences of its own failed technology, lawyers for Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technology said in court.

IM Flash Technologies, the NAND flash memory joint venture between Intel and Micron Technology, is expanding its operations in Lehi, Utah, and adding 200 jobs, according to a statement issued Monday (June 20) by Utah's Governor and the state's economic development office.

Spansion has entered production of its 1Gb and 512Mb GL NOR flash memory for automotive, consumer electronics, gaming and telnet applications.

A US appeals court found memory chip designer Rambus Inc was wrong to shred hundreds of boxes of documents relevant in two patent infringement lawsuits it filed, sending its shares down sharply.

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.

"I don't think Samsung would ever want to be No. 2 in any market," said Catherine Morse, the general counsel and director of public affairs at Samsung Austin Semiconductor.

Consumer electronics giant Sony, chipmakers Elpida Memory and Renesas, and electronics firms Panasonic and Toshiba have all said that production at some plants in northern Japan had been halted again due to power cuts triggered by a major aftershock that shook the region on April 7.

Its top shareholders have sought to sell their stake worth about US$2.6 billion, but failed to find interested investors for a company that requires heavy capital investment to weather the highly volatile memory chip cycle.

Citigroup analyst Timothy Arcuri asserted in a research note that that FormFactor has received a "major order" from Elpida Memory for wafer probe cards.

Rambus has renewed its patent license agreement with Toshiba. This five year agreement covers Toshiba's products with DRAM memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, and other DRAM devices. Rambus will receive royalty payments based on the shipment of these memory controllers.

Apple's next-generation iPad contains chips made by Toshiba, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to an initial tear-down report by gadget-repair site iFixit. Toshiba supplied the device's storage chips, iFixit said, while Broadcom made the chips used for wireless Internet access. TI chips were used to control the iPad's touchscreen.

Fusion-io, a maker of NAND flash memory cards that enhance the performance of data center servers, has announced that it plans an initial public offering it hopes can raise US$150 million.

Hynix Semiconductor said in a regulatory filing that it would spend KRW637 billion (US$567.7 million) by March to expand and upgrade its existing plant and conduct R&D.

"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 profit gain was largely due to "a significantly improved performance in electronic devices, driven mainly by the return to profit of the LCD business and demand expansion in NAND flash memories," Toshiba said in a statement.

"A fall in DRAM prices, the appreciation of the yen, and inventory valuation losses resulted in a 26.9 billion yen operating loss," said CFO Yasuo Shirai. Elpida shares closed 0.24% higher in Tokyo trade ahead of the earnings announcement on February 2.

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was US$33.1 million as compared to net losses of US$20.6 million in the prior quarter and losses of US$23.3 million a year ago. Net profits for 2010 were US$150.9 million, compared to losses of US$92.2 million in 2009.

Flash memory specialist SanDisk topped Wall Street's estimates with its fourth-quarter results, boosted by strength in Asia and its mobile business.