01/23/2007  January 23, 2006 - Seeking a more robust path toward leading-edge chip technology R&D, Freescale Semiconductor is aligning with longtime partner IBM and its chipmaking alliance including Chartered, Samsung, and Infineon -- at the expense of programs currently done through its participation in the Crolles chipmaking partnership.

01/23/2007  January 23, 2007 - In its conference call announcing 4Q06 financial results, Texas Instruments Inc. execs revealed plans to increase the company's use of foundries and reduce spending and internal process development, in an effort to manage demand and investments based on lessons learned from a similar market environment two years ago.

01/23/2007  Surface Technology Systems, announced that they won an EU tender for an MPX Pegasus system from the Fraunhofer-Institut für Zuverlässigkeit und Mikrointegration IZM.

01/22/2007  January 22, 2007 - A coalition of memory suppliers formed last spring to develop a chip-level standard interface for NAND flash memory has delivered its first specification, which the group says simplifies flash controller design to facilitate integration of a wide range of NAND flash components into diverse end-use applications.

01/22/2007  January 22, 2007 - Having finally received the green light from Taiwan's government to transfer 200mm/0.18-micron technologies to mainland China, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. reportedly will expand its current partnership with Japan's Renesas to include setting up a 200mm fab in China

01/19/2007  January 19, 2007 - New demand for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment continued to slow in December, but sales surged during what was the final fiscal month for most North American companies, according to the latest data from SEMI.

01/19/2007  January 19, 2007 - Praxair Inc. says its China unit has been tabbed to supply industrial gases to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.'s (SMIC) Fab 8 300mm/90nm facility in Shanghai, where significant expansions are expected to come online later this year.

01/18/2007  January 18, 2007 - Brion Technologies Inc. and Japan's TOOL Corp. have agred to combine TOOL's LAVIS layout visualization platform with Brion's Tachyon OPC and RET/OPC verification system, in a bid to help users more easily obtain litho simulation results without difficult and complex data preparation.

01/18/2007  January 18, 2007 - Ibis Technology Corp., a provider of SIMOX-SOI implantation equipment, says it should report a $0.4 million profit for 2006 on sales of $14.0 million (based on two tool sales), vs. a $9.2 million loss on just $0.6 million in revenues in the prior year, representing the company's return to profitability since stopping SOI wafer sales two years ago.

01/18/2007  January 18, 2007 - Lam Research Corp. said 4Q06 net income nearly doubled from a year ago on 77% higher revenues, beating Wall Street expectations thanks to surging demand from DRAM and NAND flash customers. But the company warned that it's already seeing signs of order postponements from customers in what promises to be a "transition year" in 2007.

01/18/2007  Consumer products have become a leading technological and market driver of the semiconductor industry, fostering an ever-increasing demand for power density in devices targeted for that segment.

01/17/2007  January 17, 2006 - Lithography tool vendor ASML says its profits surged fourfold in 4Q06 from a year ago to about $265 million on record revenues, and expects to continue the good news with " healthy" order levels in 1Q07 and a yearlong ramp-up of 45nm volume manufacturing utilizing immersion lithography.

01/16/2007  January 16, 2007 - Renesas Technology Corp. and Taiwanese memory foundry Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. say they will establish a joint venture to design advanced memory devices and "overcome key issues they are currently facing," according to a statement.

01/16/2007  As the industry crosses the 100nm barrier, design-for-manufacturing (DFM) tools will be the key to helping chipmakers deal with a new class of systematic defects and improve yields, according to Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research, speaking at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) conference last week in Half Moon Bay, CA. And in the process, he said, DFM "will revolutionize the nature of competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry."

01/16/2007  January 16, 2007 - Ending months of speculation following its private-equity buyout, former Philips chip unit NXP Semiconductor is ending its participation in the Crolles chipmaking partnership with STMicroelectonics and Freescale at the end of this year, although ST says it's still committed to the partnership.

01/16/2007  January 16, 2007 - Ovonyx Inc. and Qimonda AG have entered into a long-term cross license agreement targeting discrete memory products using their IP related to phase-change random-access memory (PCRAM) technology, with Ovonyx supporting Qimonda's program to develop products based on the memory technology.

01/15/2007  January 15, 2007 - Metrosol Inc., Austin-TX, a developer of optical reflectometry systems, has appointed Kevin Fahey as president and CEO, formerly VP and GM of FEI Co.'s fab market division.

01/12/2007  January 12, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has slightly lowered its planned capex for 2007 despite higher sales and profits in 2006, though the company sees better demand in early 2007 and hinted at "significant" growth later in the year from new products.

01/12/2007  Heidelberg Instruments, a German manufacturer of maskless lithography systems, announced a record order intake in 2006.

01/11/2007  January 11, 2007 - ProMos Technologies Inc. plans to establish a $10 million fabless operation in the US to design sensor chips using CMOS processes for handheld devices, reportedly with Cypress Semiconductor Corp. as a partner, according to the Taiwan Economic News.