"The third quarter will be better from the previous quarter as chip prices are in the normalization stages after a years-long slump," said Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's chip division.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said in a disclosure that it is no longer pursuing a plan to purchase SanDisk.

Freescale Semiconductor plans to transfer its 3G cellular IP to Beijing Capital Semiconductor in a deal valued at US$30-40 million, according to a market analyst.

Mitsubishi Electric and industrial design company IHI are now teaming up in the race to develop new technology within four years that can beam electricity back to Earth without the use of cables.

Lead times for immersion lithography tools are being extended from approximately nine months to about 12 or more, thanks to aggressive tool buying by the likes of Samsung and TSMC, according to analysts at Barclays Capital.

South Korea's exports fell for a tenth consecutive month as global demand for the nation's automobiles, mobile phones, textiles and steel faltered.

SSD is breaking into the mainstream due to the proliferation of models and the lower prices that have come in the last year from increased competition and improved production processes.