04/29/2004  It’s not every day that the 80s new wave act Dead or Alive’s song "You Spin Me Round" highlights a press conference dedicated to topics like pulsed laser deposition and qubit decoherence. But when the underlying theme is spintronics, and one of the people involved says one of the fundamental laws of physics could get turned on its head, perhaps one can forgive the pun.

04/28/2004  (April 28, 2004) Chandler, Ariz.—Amkor Technology Inc. reported first quarter sales of $465 million, up 1 percent sequentially, and up 36 percent over the first quarter of 2003. Amkor's first quarter net income was $12 million, or $0.07 per share, compared with $15 million, or $0.09 per share, in the first quarter of 2003.

04/28/2004 

04/27/2004  April 27, 2004 - Isonics Corp. has signed a letter of intent to acquire the silicon-wafer-manufacturing business and related assets from EnCompass Materials Group Ltd., Vancouver, WA, reports Health & Medicine Week.

04/27/2004  April 26, 2004 - Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has chalked up the first courtroom victory in the lawsuit brought against the company by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), reported the South China Morning Post.

04/23/2004  The nanotech community has been waiting for this. Forget the 1997 debut of Nanophase Technologies. Or last week’s Immunicon initial public offering. No, this is the big one. This is, of course, Nanosys Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals and the nascent nanotech sector’s de facto poster child. After months of rumors buzzing about an IPO, Nanosys came out of the lab closet Thursday.

04/22/2004  April 22, 2004 - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Sunnyvale, CA, posted sales of $1.236 billion in 1Q04 and a net income of $45 million, "solid results in a seasonally down quarter," but warned of foggy visibility into future quarters.

04/22/2004  April 22, 2004 - South Korea's Samsung reported record sales and earnings in 1Q04, due to demand for flash memory, rising DRAM prices, and more advanced shrink technologies.

04/21/2004  April 21, 2004 - Intel Corp. said it has started the process of converting its Fab 12 200mm wafer fab in Chandler, AZ, into a 300mm/65nm facility.

04/21/2004  (April 21, 2004) San Jose, Calif.—Ultratech Inc., a supplier of photolithography systems, has named Kosei Nomiya to the newly created position of chairman of Ultratech Japan KK.

04/21/2004  (April 21, 2004) San Jose, Calif.—The Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA), has announced the results of its quarterly Wafer Fabrication and Assembly/Test Pricing Survey, analyzing the average price paid per wafer by 129 fabless companies and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs). The "Q1 2004 Wafer Fabrication & Assembly/Test Report" indicates that average prices for wafers using 0.13-micron process geometry increased six percent from Q3 2003 to Q1 2004.

04/20/2004  April 20, 2004 - ASML, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, has taken the wraps off of its Twinscan XT:1400 lithography tool, used for 65nm volume production as well as development at the 45nm node.

04/19/2004  April 19, 2004 - AMD said its Fab 36 300mm facility in Dresden, Germany, is proceeding on schedule, with equipment move-in beginning in late 2004, first silicon in mid-2005, and commercial shipments in 1H06.

04/16/2004  APRIL 16--SUZHOU, China--Advanced Micro Devices today confirmed it would build a $100 million test, mark and pack facility here.

04/16/2004  Capital investments by chipmakers will grow 42% this year to $43.6 million, nearly an all-time high, but the most aggressive spenders are to be found in the foundry sector, according to a recent report from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA), Santa Cruz, CA.

04/16/2004 

04/15/2004  April 14, 2004 - Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp. plan to invest 270 billion yen to build a 300mm memory chip plant at Toshiba's operations in Yokkaichi, Japan.

04/15/2004  April 15, 2004 - Renesas Technology Corp., the JV between Hitachi and Mitsubishi, plans a 6x increase in capacity of AND-type flash memory by the end of March 2006, a move that would more than double its market share to 15%

04/15/2004  April 15, 2004 - Intel and AMD are beginning new construction projects in China to bring testing and packaging facilities online by next year.

04/15/2004  Japan’s nanotechnology budget for fiscal 2004, which began April 1, rose 3.1 percent to $875 million. Meanwhile, the two main government ministries responsible for about 90 percent of the country’s nanotechnology research programs are both seeing their budgets increased. The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry's overall science and technology budget designates nanotechnology and related materials research one of four top-priority areas.