With the forecast for packaging improving in 2010, business strategy is shifting toward more partnerships and joint ventures. And the focus on through-silicon vias (TSVs) is rapidly accelerating and may result in even more partnerships and joint ventures between foundries and packaging houses.

"Samsung is aiming to raise its global DRAM share to 45% in 2010 inspired by the bullish outlook in the memory chip sector," a Samsung executive told the paper.

Intel is now completing its first chip-fabrication plant in China; it will lag the technology used by other factories by two years, but the factory will still affect local know-how.

Applied Materials will acquire Semitool for up to US$364 million, positioning Applied in the growing markets of wafer-level packaging and copper memory interconnects.

The German government is funding a research project aiming at developing manufacturing processes for large-area OLED illuminants. In the Light InLine (LILi) project, Applied coordinates the activities of a team formed of its own experts as well as professionals from OLED materials manufacturer Merck KGaA and from the Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany).