Dell outsourcing plan may be tough to execute
(04:29 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
Dell plans to make fewer computers itself and rely on contract manufacturers to cut costs, but the company could find it hard to get rid of its North American factories at a good price.

SemIndia forms JV with Singapore's Jurong Technologies
(03:46 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
SemIndia has entered into a joint venture with Singapore-based Jurong Technologies Industries, part of Singapore's leading corporate house Jurong Group, to manufacture modules for cell phones, set-top boxes and broadband devices and equipment.

Virtual mixer harnesses DSP
(03:32 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
Universal Audio harnessed Analog Devices' Sharc digital-signal processor to enable even garden-variety PCs to perform all the same high-fidelity functions as a studio-quality mixer.

Technology Week in Review: No more Bell Nobels, robotic surgery, anti-cloaking
(02:49 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
Topping our weekly technology review: Bell Labs bows out of semiconductor research, a remote control robot performs surgery, and Chinese researchers develop an anti-cloaking layer.

FedEx Freight, BP Solar complete second solar installation
(02:44 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
FedEx and BP Solar have completed a second solar system installation for a FedEx Freight distribution center in Fontana, California, which will generate about 54 percent of the facility's energy needs.

SBD to build thin-film solar cell manufacturing plant
(02:29 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
SBD International Inc. is planning to build a thin-film solar panel plant in Florida to serve the Caribbean and South American markets.

Learning from iPod, Zune and iPhone failure modes
(02:27 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
Connectors, batteries, LCDs and component placement top the failure modes for the Apple iPod and iPhone, as well as the Microsoft Zune, according to mobile device repair specialists Rapid Repair.

Chrome could spark battle over Web tools
(01:50 PM EDT, 09/05/08)
Google's announcement of Chrome may spark a browser war, but it is also a significant push for Javascript as a Web application development language as opposed to Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, said one Web software executive.

Peratech touts polymer based RFID security material
(11:24 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
A small but fast growing British technology company, Peratech, (Richmond, Yorkshire, England) has developed switches made from an ultra-thin pressure sensitive material that it claims can overcome the problems and dangers of "contactless skimming" in security cards.

Federal agencies raid medical laser company
(10:30 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Federal agencies raid Spectranetics in actions looking for possible violations of component importation, executive compensation laws.

National Semiconductor profit falls
(10:06 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Analog chip maker National Semiconductor said its quarterly profit fell and it issued a revenue forecast that was slightly weaker than expected.

Microfabrica raises $22.5 million in Series B
(09:25 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
MEMS maker Microfabrica Inc. (Van Nuys, Calif.) has closed $22.5 million in Series B financing co-led by venture capital firms Versant Ventures and Interwest Partners. Previous investors in the company include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DynaFund Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Partech International who also participated in the round.

Dell hawking PC facilities: WSJ
(09:20 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Dell Inc. is trying to sell its remaining manufacturing facilities as part of plans to reduce operating costs by up to $3 billion annually and improve its ability to respond to changing market conditions, according to a newspaper report.

Nokia warns on global mobile phone sales
(08:40 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia Oy spooked stock markets in both Europe and the U.S. as it reduced significantly its third-quarter market share outlook.

Plasmon set to be acquired by equity group
(07:17 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Struggling electronic data storage group Plasmon (Cambridge, England) is set to accept an approach from an un-named U.S.-based private equity firm that values the company at just $25 million.

What's next for NXP?
(06:49 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
NXP Semiconductors, now a skeleton of its former self, faces formidable challenges in redefining itself as a going concern.

TSMC faces weak Q4, big utilization dip, says analyst
(05:49 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
Leading foundry chip vendor Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is seeing orders down substantially in the fourth quarter, according to Tristan Gerra, an analyst with financial management company Robert W. Baird & Co. (Milwaukee,Wisconsin).

Safety mandates reshape automotive MEMS market
(04:39 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
The market for automotive MEMS is heading for fundamental challenges. According to market researcher iSuppli, despite healthy overall growth the competition pressure is set to increase, with price erosion as a major consequence.

Tool targets metamaterial based wireless designs
(04:15 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
A British government backed project has led to the release of RF design tools for antennas and phase shifters that use metamaterials.

Samsung reportedly mulls SanDisk acquisition
(02:03 AM EDT, 09/05/08)
South Korea's Samsung Electronics is considering acquiring flash memory maker SanDisk, according to reports.

GaAs device market grew 17% in 2007
(08:20 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
The gallium arsenide device market was worth $3.6 billion in 2007, up 17 percent year-to-year, according to market research consulting firm Strategy Analytics. The top three vendors accounted for more than 50 percent of the market, the firm said.

Comcast files appeal of FCC Web traffic order
(07:47 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
Comcast has filed an appeal to reverse a U.S. Federal Communication Commission decision ordering the cable operator to change how it manages its broadband Internet network.

UWB to ship in wireless HD-video role
(05:56 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
UWB isn't about to distribute video around a home via a wireless link, but it may finally offer an alternative to the HDMI cable. While the wireless alternative can enhance functionality compared to a cable, in terms of inputs and distance between source and destination, the technology remains very expensive for now.

Luminary appoints former Microchip exec to lead sales
(03:19 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
Microcontroller company Luminary Micro Inc. (Austin, Texas) has named Pete Zimmer as vice president of worldwide sales. Zimmer was most recently vice president of American sales for another microcontroller vendor, Microchip Technology Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.).

ASMI waits for new Applied Materials offer
(02:38 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International said it is waiting for Applied Materials and private equity firm Francisco Partners to make another offer after having rejected an earlier bid.

Fairchild to address energy efficiency at Embedded Power Conference
(12:40 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
Fairchild Semiconductor will discuss methods to increase energy efficiency in dc/dc designs at the Embedded Power Conference in San Jose, California, September 17-18.

LDK Solar supplies solar wafers to Solartech
(12:32 PM EDT, 09/04/08)
LDK Solar, a manufacturer of solar wafers, has signed a five-year contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to Taiwan-based Solartech Energy Corp.

Comment: When atoms count
(10:30 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
With the help of John Michael Williams of the Silicon Valley Technical Institute, Gabe Moretti muses about how thin process deposition layers can get.

Details finally due from AMD on "fab-lite"
(09:29 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
AMD could announce later this month a significant advance towards its long-touted fab-lite strategy that involves spinning out its Dresden, Germany fabs in a deal that includes an investment from a middle-East group to form a new company.

Has Imagination followed ARM's lead with Apple license?
(09:24 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
Imagination Technologies Group plc, licensor of graphics processor cores, has said it has concluded a multi-year, multi-use license agreement with an international electronics systems company. Imagination did not name the company or indicate how much money the deal might be worth.

Sony recalls Vaio laptops on overheating concern
(08:30 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
Japan's Sony Corp. is recalling thousands of its Vaio portable computers, citing a potential hazard that could cause them to overheat or short circuit.

UK firms, government target photonics advances
(07:56 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
British companies and the U.K. government are investing £15 million in projects that should lead to more energy efficient lighting, lasers and displays.

Innovative Silicon grabs former Spansion CTO
(07:51 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
Innovative Silicon Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.), a developer of "floating-body" silicon-on-insulator (SOI) memory has said it has appointed memory innovator and pioneer Michael Van Buskirk as senior vice president of engineering and operations. Van Buskirk comes to ISi from Spansion where he was chief technology officer and corporate vice president of engineering.

Acer seeks record notebook PC sales
(06:43 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
Taiwan's Acer Inc. said it expects its notebook PC sales to hit a record 3.8 million units in September, followed by further growth in October and November, despite an economic slowdown.

Analyst: More 3G baseband consolidation on the line
(06:40 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
There may be further consolidation amongst suppliers of UMTS/HSPA baseband chips but the possibilities are limited, with Infineon Technologies AG and Icera Inc. now the only independent sources for the parts (other than Qualcomm), following the pending merger between NXP Semiconductors/STMicroelectronics and Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP), according to market research analyst Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts.

Bosch opens APAC R&D center
(05:54 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
Bosch group has launched a regional center for research and advanced engineering in Singapore. With its Research and Technology Center Asia Pacific, the German group hopes to establish long-term R&D partnerships in the region.

Project aims at 32nm mask lithography and beyond
(05:01 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
In a joint R&D project, the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC, Dresden), semiconductor equipment provider Vistec (Weilburg and Jena, Germany) and the German metrology institute PTB (Braunschweig) will develop technologies and measurement processes for next-generation chip production.

Polycrystalline price affects thin film solar growth
(04:12 AM EDT, 09/04/08)
During the time through 2015, the global solar cell market will exhibit a breathtaking growth — from a market volume of 5.6 GW in 2008 to 79.5 GW in 2015. The market for the materials required will grow accordingly. But not all materials will benefit in equal measure.

Researchers grow nano-scale wire nets
(07:56 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Researchers at Boston College say they have produced a flexible webbing of nano-scale wires that may eventually be used in electronics and energy harvesting.

Analyst: NAND flash market has 'fallen apart'
(06:06 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
While the market remains strong for many semiconductor categories, the NAND flash memory market has "fallen apart" over the past two months, according to Bryan Lewis, an analyst at Gartner.

China counters U.S. invisibility cloak
(04:18 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Chinese researchers, fearful that a U.S. invisibility cloak could hide objects from view while also blinding anyone inside, have devised what they call an anti-cloaking layer that solves the latter problem.

Satcon delivers 1-megawatt photovoltaic inverter
(04:08 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Satcon Technology is taking orders for its PowerGate Plus 1-megawatt (MW) commercial PV inverter system, designed with advanced features for large-scale utility installations.

GT Solar inks deal with DC Chemical
(03:58 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
GT Solar Inc. has signed a $173 million contract with DC Chemical Co., Ltd., a Korean chemical company, to supply polysilicon production equipment.

Pricing continues to slide for DRAMs, NAND flash
(03:50 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
DRAM and NAND flash contract and spot pricing continued to fall in August, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.

Qualcomm says cellphone replacements slowing
(03:38 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Shares in wireless companies fell as much as 4 percent after mobile chipmaker Qualcomm said consumer cellphone upgrades were slowing and a JPMorgan analyst cut his forecast for mobile phone sales for the rest of the year, citing economic weakness.

Gartner lowers 2008 IC forecast
(03:19 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Market research firm Gartner has revised its 2008 and 2009 semiconductor forecasts downward, saying macroeconomic trends, the collapse of the flash memory market and disturbing reports of slowing revenue growth from the industry's No. 1 foundry are weighing on the sector even as individual chip markets remain strong.

IBM, EMC storage gurus debate future of flash
(01:27 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
In a candid online exchange, storage gurus from IBM Corp. and EMC Corp. agreed solid-state drives will rewrite the rules for system storage, but took significantly different views on how to implement solid state disks in servers.

Arris expands R&D at Irish operation
(12:50 PM EDT, 09/03/08)
Arris Corporation, the U.S. cable communications technology company, is investing Euros 4.5 million into research and development at its Irish operation in Cork.

Percello femtocell baseband to use Ceva DSP core
(11:47 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Percello, the Israeli start-up focusing on baseband chips for the growing femtocell market, has licensed the CEVA-TeakLite-III DSP core for the development of its next generation femtocell baseband chipsets.

Juniper predicts $600 billion gross mobile payments figure for 2013
(11:23 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Juniper Research predicts tenfold increase for mobile payments using Near-Field Communications, but $600 billion number covers transactions and goods, not technology.

Virtual musician learns any playing style
(10:24 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
By learning the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic features of any musical style, a virtual musician called iMe is being billed as the world's first intelligent musical instrument capable of playing along with any soloist.

Chipidea founder Jose Franca resigns
(10:09 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Jose Franca, co-founder of Portuguese analog IP design house Chipidea Microelectronica, S.A., has resigned, just over a year after MIPS Technologies bought the company he helped create 11 years ago.

Advent Solar rolls scalable photovoltaic manufacturing technology
(09:54 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Advent Solar, Inc. has announced the solar industry's first cell-to-module solar architecture that combines semiconductor manufacturing methods with optimized photovoltaic cell design.

IPextreme rolls cJTAG IP core
(09:31 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
IPextreme Inc. has announced the availability of the industry's first synthesizable IP core that implements the upcoming IEEE 1149.7 standard, which will be ratified in early 2009.

Intel plows more into WiMax technology
(09:08 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Intel's venture capital arm has invested $3 million in Aicent Inc. with the funds set to be used to accelerate the startups 3G and 4G data roaming initiatives, including mobile WiMax.

Quad SerDes integrates clock jitter cleaner
(09:08 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
TI's latest SerDes features a wide speed range, making it easy for designers to implement various communications standards with one device.

Chrome reflects Google's youthful ambitions
(09:02 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
My short trip to Google headquarters for the launch of its new browser left me charged up about how this company has become a magnet for fresh thinking in computer science, but my even shorter test drive of the Chrome beta made it equally clear this application is not ready for mainstream computing.

Infineon shares gain on talk of "imminent" Qimonda sale
(08:10 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Shares in Infineon Technologies AG are again rising on various reports that a sale of its remaining stake in DRAM supplier Qimonda AG is imminent, with Micron Technologies (Boise, Idaho) now being quoted as the most likely buyer.

X-Fab Sarawak expands process spectrum
(06:01 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
Foundry services provider X-Fab AG (Erfurt, Germany) says its fab in Kuching (Malaysia) is ready to launch volume production of its XH035 35 micron Analog/Mixed Signal High-Voltage process. For the X-Fab's specific customer and product structure, the process is of central importance.

Tata takes blow against low-price car production
(04:36 AM EDT, 09/03/08)
After protests of angry Farmers, Indian vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors has stopped the construction of the factory for its 'Nano' car in Singur, India. The Nano had been announced at a price of about $2000 which would make it the world's cheapest car.

IC polysilicon demand softening, MEMC warns
(10:18 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Silicon wafer supplier MEMC Electronic Materials warned of "increased softness in demand" from semiconductor manufacturers, primarily due to inventory reduction initiatives.

Alchip selects Sony's semi group for packaging
(08:50 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Foundry ASIC provider Alchip Technologies has selected Sony's semiconductor group as its package partner in advanced system-on-chip ASICs for its worldwide customers.

Google's browser engine running on ARM
(05:51 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Google has ported a core part of its new Chrome browser to the ARM processor as well as to the x86, and believes the browser—or key parts of its underpinnings--could be available for mobile devices such as cellphones within a few months.

Ex-Tyco CEO Kozlowski appeals to top NY court
(05:32 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Lawyers for imprisoned former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski and ex-financial chief Mark Swartz asked New York's highest court to throw out their convictions, saying a jury hadinsufficient evidence when it found them guilty.

Samsung reportedly accepts Nokia's Symbian buyout offer
(05:12 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Nokia said that Samsung Electronics has accepted an offer from the world's No. 1 mobile handset vendor to buy out its stake in software firm Symbian, according to a Reuters report.

Tegal buying product lines from Alcatel Lucent subsidiary
(04:50 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Tegal has signed an agreement with Alcatel Micro Machining Systems and parent company Alcatel Lucent to acquire their deep reactive ion etch and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition products in a restricted stock deal valued at about $5 million.

NSF sponsors multicore university research
(02:36 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
The U.S. National Science Foundation and semiconductor university-research consortium Semiconductor Research Corporation have launched a three-year joint initiative focused on multi-core chip design and architecture.

Google claims browser is easy on memory, CPUs
(01:41 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
Internet search giant Google will release an open-source Web browser sporting what it claims are innovations to make better use of processor and memory resources in a browser that is more stable and secure than the competition.

Suntech inks polysilicon supply agreement
(01:32 PM EDT, 09/02/08)
China's Suntech Power Holdings, a supplier of photovoltaic cells and modules, has signed a seven-year, $750 million polysilicon supply agreement with DC Chemical, a chemicals producer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

More ATE consolidation: Teradyne to buy Eagle Test
(11:37 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
In the latest of a wave of ATE consolidation, Teradyne has signed a definitive agreement to acquire fellow semiconductor automated test equipment vendor Eagle Test Systems for approximately $250 million in cash, the companies said.

Organic Electronics Association wants its own congress
(10:35 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
The Organic Electronics Association (OE-A) has announced to launch its own congress and fair. In the past, the organization had carried out a joint event with British consultancy Cintelliq Inc.

Spansion targets mobiles with NAND flash
(10:13 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
Flash memory specialist and NOR market leader Spansion Inc. will start sampling later this year its ORNAND2 MirrorBit technology based NAND devices, targeting handset makers.

DuPont to expand production of Tedlar films
(10:00 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
U.S. chemical and electronic materials maker DuPont Co. said it intends to expand production capacity for its Tedlar films, due to a surge in global demand for solar energy.

300mm wafers start dominating capacity, says SIA
(06:25 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
300mm wafers for the first time account for the largest share of wafer manufacturing capacity and actual wafers processed, with 44 percent of total capacity and 47 percent of total silicon processed, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

Alcatel-Lucent confirms top executive changes
(05:05 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed that Ben Verwaayen, who left BT group earlier this year from a similar role, will take over as CEO of the communications infrastructure group, and that Philippe Camus, a former key executive at plane maker Airbus's parent EADS becomes non- executive chairman.

Ultrawideband chip debuts at tough time for wireless USB
(12:01 AM EDT, 09/02/08)
Staccato Communications aims to escape a predicted shakeout in ultrawideband chips for wireless USB with its Ripcord2 that uses 65 nm process technology to hit size, power and cost levels it hopes will attract the kinds of volume uses that have eluded the technology to date.

Alcatel Lucent picks new CEO, chairman: WSJ
(11:14 PM EDT, 09/01/08)
Alcatel Lucent has selected two European executives to replace outgoing CEO Patricia Russo and chairman Sergey Tchuruk as the company overhauls its management as part of an ongoing reorganization meant to return the company to profitability.

China space walk reportedly planned for late September
(08:43 PM EDT, 09/01/08)
China plans to launch its next manned space flight and stage its first space walk in late September, bringing forward the latest display of the country's growing might, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.

Analysis: Chip sales ease in July
(11:58 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
The three-month moving average of global semiconductor sales came in at $22.18 bn for July according to figures from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, in line with expectations. However, the figures confirm this ends a run of strong chip market growth.

Intel buys British mobile Linux developer
(10:22 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
Intel has acquired, for an undisclosed sum, mobile Linux development firm OpenedHand (London, England).

German customs raid Hyundai at Berlin's IFA, say reports
(08:59 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
German customs police raided Korea's Hyundai IT Corp in Berlin over the weekend, seizing flat-screen televisions from its stand at IFA, the world's largest consumer electronics fair.

OFDMA startup Runcom raises $10 million
(08:50 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
Runcom Technologies Ltd. (Rishon Letziyon, Israel), a provider of OFDMA ICs for mobile WiBro and WiMax user terminals and basestations, said Monday (Sept. 1) that it has secured a $10 million Series C investment from TLcom Capital LLP. Runcom said it would use the money to sustain its market share in the broadband wireless market.

IMEC, Plextronics partner on solar cells
(07:07 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
European research organization IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) has teamed with Plextronics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA.), a specialist in printed solar, lighting and other organic electronics, to develop a reproducible process for organic solar cells using Plextronics' materials and inks.

Global semi sales up 2.8% in July
(05:17 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
Sales of semiconductors in Europe in July grew by 0.7 percent to reach $3.39 bn according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, up 3.3 percent on the corresponding period last year. On a year to date basis, sales increased by 1.6 percent against the same period last year.

Infineon retains power semi pole position
(03:54 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
The market for power semiconductors has grown almost 10 percent to a volume of $13.6 billion in 2007, market researcher IMS Research has found out. For the fifth consecutive year, Infineon (Munich, Germany) holds the position of the the top supplier.

Fraunhofer demos DAB Surround broadcast
(01:00 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
At the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Fraunhofer IIS demonstrates a method to transmit 5.1 surround sound across DAB radio channels. The technology is compatible with existing DAB radio.

Will memristors prove irresistible?
(12:01 AM EDT, 09/01/08)
The transistor was invented in 1925 but lay dormant until finding a corporate champion in Bell Labs during the 1950s. Now another groundbreaking electronic circuit may be poised for the same kind of success after languishing as an academic curiosity for more than three decades.