03/14/2012 

Japan's NAND flash memory supplier Toshiba rapidly rebounded from the devastating Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami that hit one year ago this week, says IHS, thanks to fortunate fab location, quick wafer supply replenishment, and strong demand.

03/13/2012 

SemiSouth Laboratories Inc., high-voltage silicon-carbide (SiC) semiconductor device manufacturer, launched its second major capacity expansion within 18 months.

03/13/2012 

Worldwide semiconductor revenue is projected to total $316 billion in 2012, a 4% increase from 2011, according to Gartner Inc. This outlook is up from Gartner's previous forecast, made in Q4 2011, for 2.2% growth.

03/12/2012 

ST-Ericsson, wireless and semiconductor company, selected planar fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) technology from Soitec for use in future mobile platforms.

03/09/2012 

Media tablets, experiencing "remarkably rapid ascension," will become the 4th largest application for semiconductors by 2014, up from 35th in 2010, according to IHS.

03/09/2012 

IBM scientists developed a prototype optical chipset, Holey Optochip, that can transfer 1Tbit per second as a parallel optical transceiver, using optical vias through a standard 90nm CMOS chip.

03/08/2012 

Historically, US presidential election years have been very good for the semiconductor market as many elected officials attempt to pass (mostly short-term) legislation to boost the economy, reports IC Insights.

03/08/2012 

The HDD industry is rapidly recovering in 2012 and beyond, after surviving natural disasters and tepid market conditions in 2011, according to a report by TRENDFOCUS.

03/07/2012 

The gallium nitride (GaN) power elec market is currently small, but new entrants are ramping to production, silicon-based electronics suppliers developing GaN, and LED makers diversifying capacity to make power semis.

03/06/2012 

Imec has released an early-version process development kit (PDK) for 14nm logic chips, targeting the introduction of numerous new key technologies, such as FinFET architectures and EUV lithography.

03/05/2012 

HRL Laboratories LLC will now offer products in its GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology commercially to customers in select markets, such as high-data-rate wireless links, radars and active sensors.

03/05/2012 

TSMC (NYSE:TSM) named 3 co-chief operating officers at a special meeting of the foundry's Board of Directors. All three executives will report directly to Chairman and CEO Dr. Morris Chang.

03/05/2012 

The SIA reports worldwide semiconductor sales of $23.1 billion in January 2012, an 8.8% decrease year-over-year, but SIA expects positive demand as 2012 progresses.

03/05/2012 

AMD (NYSE:AMD) amended its wafer supply agreement with GLOBALFOUNDRIES. The new agreement most notably gives AMD "flexibility to manufacture 28nm parts elsewhere," reports FBR Capital Markets.

03/02/2012 

The International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) brought the best and brightest minds in semiconductors together to share the results of the past year’s research and development efforts. Memory analyst Jim Handy, Objective Analysis, was there to cover some highly interesting presentations.

03/02/2012 

Elpida Memory Inc. (Tokyo: 6665) resolved to file a petition for the commencement of corporate reorganization proceedings, and filed the same with the Tokyo District Court. Akita Elpida Memory Inc. also saw the commencement of corporate reorganization proceedings

02/29/2012 

Seagate recaptured the lead in HDD shipments during Q4 2011, ousting Western Digital thanks to "a fortuitous accident in geography" that kept Seagate's Thailand HDD manufacturing plant out of the floods last year, said IHS.

02/29/2012 

M+W Group, a global engineering and construction company, is reporting a major contract from Infineon Technologies for a new 100,000-sq.m. semiconductor plant in Kulim/Malaysia.

02/29/2012 

IBM Research established new records for reducing errors in elementary computations and retaining the integrity of quantum mechanical properties in qubits for quantum computing, using superconducting qubits.

02/29/2012 

Intel Corporation and Micron Technology, Inc., entered into agreements to expand their NAND Flash memory joint venture relationship, wherein Intel will sell its stake in 2 fabs to Micron, IMFS and IMFT.