The number of US bank failures this year has topped more than 100 after US federal regulators shut down a trio of small Florida banks.

In January, China's exports to its Southeast Asia neighbors counted for around one third of that to the EU. Eight months later, China's exports to Asean countries had grown to the equivalent of about half of exports to the EU.

China is launching its long-awaited Nasdaq-style stock market in the southern city of Shenzhen. Twenty eight small- and medium-sized enterprises are expected to debut on the new exchange.

"Lam Research had strong shipments and revenue performance in the September quarter, allowing the company to return to profitability and generate positive cash flow once again," company president and CEO Steve Newberry said in a statement.

ATMI, which provides specialty materials to semiconductor makers, saw revenues for third-quarter 2009 improve sequentially and beat Wall Street's expectations.

Allvia, a through-silicon via (TSV) foundry, has purchased a manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, for high volume production of their products with TSV technology. Over the next several months Allvia will proceed with manufacturing equipment tool selection for TSV production, and expects the facility to be operational in 2010.

Rambus Technology has posted a net loss of US$27.5 million in the third quarter compared to losses of US$24.0 million in the second quarter and US$30.9 million a year ago.

Chartered Semiconductor has reported a net loss of US$4.7 million in the third quarter, compared to losses of US$39.4 million in the prior quarter and US$24.4 million in third-quarter 2008. In light of the proposed acquisition by ATIC, Chartered said it will not be providing guidance for its fourth quarter ending December 31, 2009.

Gross domestic product during the July-September period expanded 2.9% from the second quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. That was the most rapid pace since the first quarter of 2002.

NOR flash supplier Spansion has put its 300mm fab up for sale, according to sources at the ISMI Symposium here.

TriQuint earned US$10.5 million, or US$0.07 per share in the third quarter compared with US$11.8 million, or US$0.08 cents a share in third-quarter 2008.

The International Monetary Fund has warned Asian nations not to withdraw their stimulus spending too soon.

Sematech has claimed that it continues to make progress in 450mm fab technology, saying that it is in the "test wafer generation" stage in the arena.

SanDisk has admitted that far not all solid-state drives (SSDs) that are on the market right now are really reliable, which is why many of them are never used inside branded personal computers.

"Even if Taiwanese and Japanese players ramp up production, the possibility of oversupply is slim as worries over a double-dip in the global economy are easing," says chief executive of Hynix Semiconductor. Sources estimated Hynix' capex for 2010 will double to 2 trillion won.

Nokia has sued Apple over claims that the iPhone infringes on 10 of its wireless technology patents. The suit appears to be an attempt to squeeze Apple for higher royalties than the iPhone maker is currently willing to pay.

The Obama administration has made increasing US exports a key part of its strategy to reduce unemployment and is moving on several fronts to do that, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has said.

Japan's exports fell by the smallest margin in 10 months in September, showing a deep slump in the world's second-largest economy may be easing.

Rambus has evolved its mobile memory technology further in its second generation silicon, which brings its high-bandwidth mobile memory controller to an achievable power efficiency of 2.2mW/Gbps.

Seagate's first 2010 fiscal quarter (ended October 2, 2009) brought cheering news and a better outlook as its numbers continue to recover and it beings sampling its solid state drive (SSD) with OEMs.

Figures just published suggest China exceeded its target for economic growth for the first time in 2009 in the third quarter.