05/21/2007  May 21, 2007 - Renesas Technology Corp. says it is developing a new CPU architecture to provide "revolutionary" enhancements to 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers in terms of code efficiency, processing performance, and power consumption. The company won't reveal specifics of the architecture until early next year, though, and the new CPUs aren't expected to hit the market until mid-2009.

05/21/2007  Some industry observers figure that the industry will probably have only a handful of major players in the form of IDMs, alliances, top foundries, and some fab-lite companies. Tokyo Electron America's president, Harvey Frye, on the other hand, thinks there is probably room for at least 10 companies globally that could remain IDMs in some form, and listed likely candidates and working strategies in a Monday morning panel discussion at the ConFab.

05/21/2007  Flash memory manufacturer Spansion, is the outgrowth of the successful AMD/Fujitsu joint venture, so Spansion EVP & COO, James Doran, brings solid experience to bear on the ConFab topic of how to manage successful manufacturing alliances. "Manufacturing alliances work best when each partner provides something the other partner needs, and both partners, together, benefit from the outcome," Doran said.

05/21/2007  In a fab-lite/process-lite business environment, consortia would be expected to have even more power and responsibility as more companies rely upon a shared cost model for process and materials R&D. In addition to the usual consortia membership (IDMs, foundries, and equipment/materials suppliers), IMEC's director of strategic program partnerships, Lode Lauwers, expects memory manufacturers, and more recently, fab-lite converts, to add their own needs or "flavors" to consortia research programs.

05/21/2007  While the semiconductor industry continues to promise ever higher rewards (with high-single-digit CAGRs for many years to come), few companies will be able to survive the increasing risks of competing in the market unless they form novel heterogeneous manufacturing alliances, similar to the research partnerships that have proven successful in managing escalating R&D costs, according to Ajit Manocha, EVP and CMO of NXP, keynote speaker kicking off this year's ConFab event.

05/15/2007  The new crop of tomorrow's DRAM and NAND flash memory fabs will be twice as big in 2009 as they were just five years earlier, and the costs to equip these behemoths will simply squeeze most chip companies out of the business unless they can hook into one of the growing number of industry alliances. Analyst George Burns with Strategic Marketing Associates reviews the delicate balance that memory firms constantly fight to maintain, who has the "flash religion" and who's likely to abandon ship.

05/15/2007  May 15, 2007 - Spansion Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) have expanded their existing partnership to extend development of Spansion's MirrorBit flash memory technology down to 40nm and below.

05/15/2007  Cadence Design Systems, Inc., released product and technology enhancements within its Allegro system interconnect design platform for PCB design, including constraint-driven flow and global routing.

05/15/2007  May 14, 2007 - Capital investments from Japan's top seven chipmakers is expected to be about 970 billion (US $8.09 billion) in this current fiscal year started in April, down 8% year-on-year but still the second-highest level on record, according to the Nikkei daily paper, which gives a rundown of individual capex plans from Toshiba Corp., Elpida Memory Inc., Renesas Technology Corp., NEC Electronics Corp., Sony Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., and Matsushita Industrial Co.

05/14/2007  May 14, 2007 - Continuing a multistep process to slough off noncore businesses, Cypress Semiconductor is selling its PSRAM product line, including IP, photomasks, and probe card assets, to Taiwan's Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology Inc. (ESMT), who had been rumored to be interested in the business.

05/14/2007  To develop a next-generation hardware and software solution for USB flash drives, Microsoft and SanDisk Corporation will collaborate and open an entity for licensing compatible hardware designs and intellectual property (IP). Revenues from the joint venture will be shared. Microsoft is discussing licensing software with third-party hardware vendors.

05/10/2007  May 10, 1007 - International SEMATECH is moving its headquarters from Austin, TX, to its operations located at the U. of Albany, and will launch a significant expansion there, matching $300 million in state investments for facility upgrades.

05/09/2007  Shizuka Ishikawa, president of Samsung partner Tomen Devices Corp., shares his opinions with the Nikkei Business Daily about ongoing memory price volatility, and whether memory firms are investing too heavily in DRAM.

05/09/2007  In a fascinating observation, Chipworks' Dick James did a teardown of a 4Gbit iPod's Samsung flash memory chip and found himself face-to-face with the apparent visage of Jesus Christ. ALSO: What could be more fun than an afternoon of social networking and hurling heavy spherical projectiles in support of a noble cause?

05/08/2007  Among the most significant developments in interconnect to look for at the upcoming International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC, June 4-6, in Burlingame, CA) are those involving 3D chip architectures. Sitaram Arkalgud, director of SEMATECH's interconnect division, discusses the "new religion" of 3D chip architecture with WaferNEWS, and explains why it's the most promising route to eliminating the main stumbling block to higher chip speeds and lower power consumption.

05/08/2007  May 8, 2007 - Inventory corrections and memory price volatility helped cause a shakeup among the top-ranked IC providers in 1Q07, and will likely keep the list of top chipmakers in flux through the rest of the year, according to new rankings from IC Insights Inc.

05/08/2007  May 8, 2007 - Samsung Electronics Co. has filed a lawsuit in the US against Renesas Technology Corp. and its US subsidiary, alleging patent infringement of two memory chip patents, according to various media reports.

05/04/2007  May 4, 2007 - Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology Inc. is eyeing new business providing memory chips for mobile homes, after being passed by Etron Technology Inc. as Taiwan's top memory design house, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

05/03/2007  May 3, 2007 - IBM Corp. is touting a two-generation performance improvement with what it claims is a new technique that self-assembles vacuum "airgaps" to insulate wiring connecting transistors.

05/02/2007  May 2, 2007 - Spansion Inc. has secured a 48.4 billion yen (US ~$411 million) 45-month term loan -- one of the largest semiconductor financings in the history of Japanese financial markets -- to restructure its operating lease obligations and equip its SP1 300mm fab in Aizuwakamatsu, Japan, for 65nm flash memory production.