The factory will be Toshiba's fifth at its manufacturing base in Yokkaichi in western Japan. It will initially be used to produce conventional NAND flash chips, but Toshiba plans to expand this to new types of 3D memory where chips and components are stacked vertically.

"Advanced technology is not only about cost. At 45nm we have showed that we can go to high volume production very quickly at high yield..."

LG Electronics warned that profits at its struggling handset division would be slow to recover, as it retools its business to introduce Android-based devices in a fast-growing, high-end smartphone segment, including new models for Verizon.

Micron Technology has completed its acquisition of Numonyx in an all stock transaction valued at approximately US$1.2 billion.

The German parliament yesterday approved long-expected cuts to solar energy incentives prompting US shares in solar companies to tumble amid fears that demand from one of the world's largest markets for soalr panels will now fall.

Hynix Semiconductor's board has approved the issuance of 557.9 billion won in five-year convertible bonds to secure operating funds and expand production capacity.

Micron officials did not return phone calls to the Statesman, but Boise fire spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said regular operations at the Micron campus were not affected.

Arab nations are leading a "historic" charge to make the world wide web live up to its name. Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters.

TSMC, working with ASML and Mapper, have developed a prototype multi-e-beam tool for semiconductor lithography, according to company CTO Jack Sun speaking to the International Electronics Forum 2010 in Dresden.

MEMC Electronic Materials will raise its prices for silicon wafers in both the second and third quarters by the "low- to mid-single digits." SEH, Sumco, Wacker and others are also believed to be raising their silicon wafer prices.

At the Web 2.0 conference, Adobe is cheering for Android with demonstrations on Android devices, free Android phones for its employees and now, a demonstration of Flash running on an Android tablet powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2.

The 32GB model is being positioned for use as a boot drive for basic setups, whereas the the larger 256GB SSD is reccomended for use in more high-end systems.

GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC appear to be engaged in a new capital spending race in an effort to gain share in current and future cycles. They will survive, observers said, adding that UMC and SMIC could hit the wall and/or may get acquired.

The measures include speeding up current plans to integrate Europe's air space, creating a "single European regulator for a single European sky."