05/01/2007  For testing smaller-sized, smaller-density DRAM devices (512 Mb and below), the PH150XP wafer probe card incorporates a MicroSpring contact design that accommodates more than 25,000 contacts. It suits testing of consumer and mobile DRAM packages with high pin counts.

05/01/2007  It's hard to feel upbeat about the future of mainstream semiconductor manufacturing after attending last week's SEMI Strategic Business Conference in Napa, CA, where presentations detailed the end of the good times. With the IC business now mature and just another part of the global electronics industry supporting future value-added technologies, the simplified message may well be this: 'Keep up the good work, and maybe you might even get paid some day.'

05/01/2007  May 1, 2007 - It was an ugly first quarter of 2007 for most DRAM firms, and the biggest benefit by attrition seems to be Hynix Semiconductor Inc., which significantly narrow the gap between No. 1 supplier Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., according to preliminary data from iSuppli Corp.

05/01/2007  If you haven't been watching the memory industry closely, here's a new flash: prices for both DRAM and NAND flash have been freefalling for months. So how are memory firms reacting, and is there a point where this trend could impact their equipment suppliers? Analysts give WaferNEWS their take on what (if anything) memory suppliers are likely to do in DRAM and NAND and when, if these price plunges continue.

05/01/2007  May 1, 2007 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it has begun mass production of 16Gbit multilevel-cell NAND flash devices on 51nm processes four months after announcing sampling of the devices claiming it is the first to achieve mass production of the memory density.

05/01/2007  As a pharmaceutical start-up matures, it must face an unavoidable decision: whether to develop, test, and produce its new product in-house or to outsource it.

04/30/2007  April 30, 2007 - Pricing woes continued in March across major markets in the semiconductor industry, which all saw sales decline despite higher unit shipments, according to the SIA's latest monthly data. Overall chip sales managed to inch up in March and 1Q07, but are still well below expectations.

04/30/2007  April 30, 2007 - Hynix Semiconductor Inc. says it has begun construction of its new 300mm facility, Fab M-11, in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, which it plans to have up and running by 3Q08 for sub-48nm NAND flash memory production. Total investment is projected to be about $4.10 billion over roughly 2.5 years.

04/30/2007  April 30, 2007 - The market for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) equipment and materials kept apace with the overall semiconductor equipment market in 2006, growing at about 24%, but despite a growing number of competitors two stalwarts still dominate the market, according to market research firm The Information Network.

04/30/2007  April 30, 2007 - Memory maker Hynix says its sales and operating profits took a hit in 1Q due to sharp price declines in both DRAM and NAND, but the DRAM side was offset by surging bit growth and a shift in capacity, at the expense of NAND flash operations.

04/27/2007  April 27, 2007 - Chinese flagship foundry SMIC posted an $8.8 million profit in 1Q07, vs. essentially breakeven in the prior quarter, on a small 1% uptick in sales to $388.3 million. After spending only ~13% of its FY07 capex budget in 1Q, the foundry is prepared to open its wallet to spend about 2/3 of that budget in 2Q.

04/27/2007  SanDisk Corporation and Qimonda AG will jointly develop and manufacture muli-chip packages (MCPs), incorporating SanDisk NAND flash and controllers with Qimonda low-power mobile DRAM, through a jointly owned company in Portugal. The MCPs target high-capacity memory requirements of data-intensive mobile applications.

04/26/2007  April 26, 2007 - Qimonda AG and SanDisk Corp. have agreed to jointly develop and manufacture multichip packages (MCP) targeting mobile handsets, combining SanDisk's NAND flash and controllers with Qimonda's low-power mobile DRAM.

04/26/2007  April 26, 2007 - Qimonda AG says it plans to build a new 300mm DRAM fab in Singapore, spending about 2 billion euros (~US $2.73 billion) over five years on the site that will boast 60,000 wafers/month when fully ramped.

04/25/2007  April 25, 2007 - IM Flash Technologies, the NAND flash JV between Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc., is sampling 16Gb die density, 50nm multilevel cell NAND flash devices, and work is underway on 40nm NAND as well, the companies said.

04/24/2007  April 24, 2007 - Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.'s 1Q07 earnings were its lowest since last summer, due to oversupplies and 60% price declines, but Taiwan's biggest memory chipmaker thinks the falling prices are spurring demand that will resurge later in the year, notes the Taipei Times.

04/24/2007  April 24, 2006 - Citing a number of factors ranging from mobile-phone shipments to lingering excess inventories and a slumping DRAM market, iSuppli Corp. has issued a "modest" revision, lowering its outlook for 2007 semiconductor sales to about 8% from 10.6%.

04/24/2007  Thin Film Electronics has signed two agreements to jointly develop production processes for its printed polymer memory technology. Prototypes are expected in fall 2007; volume processes in Q2 2008. Small Times' Tom Cheyney reports.

04/23/2007  April 23, 2007 - Taiwan's top three DRAM chipmakers -- Nanya Technology Corp., PowerChip Semiconductor Corp., and ProMos Technologies Inc. -- plan to collectively raise more than $3 billion in 2Q07 to fund various expansion activities, primarily 300mm fab projects, notes the Taiwan Economic News.

04/23/2007  April 23, 2007 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., has developed an all-DRAM stacked-memory package using through-silicon vias (TSVs) housed in aluminum pads to avoid performance slow-downs caused by the redistribution layer.