RF chip maker MaxLinear files for IPO
(05:19 PM EST, 11/06/09)
MaxLinear Inc., a provider of CMOS-based radio-frequency analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock.

Analysts: TSMC still faces 40-nm problems
(04:54 PM EST, 11/06/09)
Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) is still having yield issues with its 40-nm process, according to analysts.

Top women executives, Moto analysis lead weekly story ranking
(02:37 PM EST, 11/06/09)
Here are the top five online stories for the week beginning Sunday, Nov. 1, as ranked by EE Times readers, up to and including Friday, Nov. 6. The ranking is based on the number of reader "views" or "hits" on a particular article.

Applied Materials buys Advent Solar
(02:18 PM EST, 11/06/09)
In a move to expand its solar business, Applied Materials Inc. has acquired the assets of Advent Solar Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount.

Nvidia tops Q3 forecasts, sees tepid Q4 growth
(01:46 PM EST, 11/06/09)
Nvidia's third quarter sales increased to $903.2 million, up 16 percent compared to the second quarter and up less than 1 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008.

Dolphin Integration readies dynamically self-configured cache controller
(12:32 PM EST, 11/06/09)
EDA and IP company Dolphin Integration SA (Meylan, France) has introduced I-Stratus-LP cache controller that is said to be dynamically self-configured to minimize power consumption.

Elpida, ProMOS ink foundry deal
(12:23 PM EST, 11/06/09)
Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. has expanded its foundry network.

Infineon completes Lantiq sale
(11:33 AM EST, 11/06/09)
Chip maker Infineon has completed the sale of its wireline business to investor Golden Gate Capital. The unit sold now operates under the name Lantiq — and claims to be the number 15 in the fabless semiconductor companies ranking.

Nvidia pokes fun at Intel with cartoon website
(11:31 AM EST, 11/06/09)
A satirical website has sprung up that has run a series of cartoons lampooning the behavior of the world's largest chip maker — Intel Corp. and which carry the logo of Nvidia Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.).

What is a patent? Join the debate
(10:56 AM EST, 11/06/09)
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday (Nov. 9) that go to the heart of what is a patent as it examines the case of Bernard Bilski.

U.S. unemployment soars to 10.2 percent
(09:27 AM EST, 11/06/09)
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped 0.4 percentage points to 10.2 percent in October, far higher than expectations, the Department of Labor said Friday.

E-reader market to boom fivefold in 2010, says analyst
(09:19 AM EST, 11/06/09)
In 2008 1.1 million e-readers with e-paper displays were sold and in 2010 that number will rise to about 6 million, according to market analysis firm MediaIdeas (New York, NY).

Comment: chip company ranking points to post-crisis order
(07:42 AM EST, 11/06/09)
The latest chip company top 20 ranking provided by IC Insights Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz.) has a topsy-turvy look about it — at least it does if, like me, you have been following the fortunes of chip companies for some time.

ARM helps Globalfoundries outline ecosystem plans
(07:09 AM EST, 11/06/09)
In its quest to compete against well-entrenched foundry giants, Globalfoundries is betting on creating an ecosystem of technology partners such as research institutes and IP vendors such as ARM. The message is that in a world of increasingly complex design and production issues only team player have a chance to succeed.

Mitsubishi deal brings professor's LED patent haul to $27 million
(05:38 AM EST, 11/06/09)
Mitsubishi has agreed terms with Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, professor emeritus at Columbia University, New York, over her assertion that Mitsubishi and dozens of other electronics manufacturers in Asia and Europe violated her patents for producing light emitting diodes and laser diodes.

Rankings: Top 20 IC suppliers got healthier in Q3
(03:57 AM EST, 11/06/09)
Thanks in part to a surging memory market, sales for the top 20 semiconductor manufacturers increased 19 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, according to market research firm IC Insights, which issued its ranking of the top chip vendors through the first three quarters of the year.

Executive pay: 10 notable chip company CEOs
(07:24 PM EST, 11/05/09)
The economy stinks. Rank-and-file engineers are feeling the pain. What about technology CEOs? We crunched the numbers buried in corporate financial statements to find out. Here's what we found.

Scalise retires from SIA, group moves to D.C.
(06:42 PM EST, 11/05/09)
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is changing its leadership amid a shakeup in the group and a plan to expand its efforts in Washington, D.C.

SIA names chairman to replace Ruiz
(12:15 PM EST, 11/05/09)
The board of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) elected John Daane, president, chief executive, and chairman of the board of Altera Corp., as its 2010 chairman.

Nanomaterials lab licenses Infiniscale's behavioral modeling tool
(11:45 AM EST, 11/05/09)
CEA-Liten, France-based Laboratory for Innovation in New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials, has licensed TechModeler behavioral modeling tool suite from Infiniscale SA for its organic electronic devices modeling needs.

Elpida narrows loss, raises capex
(11:36 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Thanks to a rebound in DRAMs, Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. posted improved results and raised its capital spending forecast.

'Perfect calm' to drive 2010 chip sales up 20%, says analyst
(11:01 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Malcolm Penn, chief executive of market analysis firm Future Horizons (Sevenoaks, England), is looking forward to strong growth in the global chip market in 2010 after a 10 percent contraction in 2009.

Top ten Chinese chip design houses ranked
(07:56 AM EST, 11/05/09)
The Chinese IC design sector was worth 23.52 billion yuan (about $3.44 billion) in 2008, and threw up some changes in the top ten ranking, according a report by Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute.

Accelerometer propels HP into sensor networks
(07:45 AM EST, 11/05/09)
A secret side project for a Hewlett-Packard engineer has quietly spawned an ultra-sensitive accelerometer that the PC giant hopes to leverage to propel it into sensor networks, an emerging market it sees as the next big wave of computing.

SIA sees smaller chip sales decline for 2009
(07:32 AM EST, 11/05/09)
The Semiconductor Industry Association said improvements in the global economy is spurring demand for chips and now projects a smaller decline in sales for 2009 with the market returning to positive growth in 2010.

Samsung starts work on sub-28-nm foundry processes
(06:01 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced that a recently-formed semiconductor R&D center has begun work on advanced process development for use in foundry manufacturing.

Infineon, TSMC to develop 65-nm embedded flash for automotive and chip cards
(03:49 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Infineon Technologies AG and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are extending their development and production partnership to a 65nanometer embedded flash process technology.

Synchronous step-down DC/DC switching regulator controller offers wide input voltage range
(03:41 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Linear Technology Corporation has introduced a low minimum on-time wide input voltage range synchronous step-down DC/DC switching regulator controller that drives all N-channel power MOSFET stages.

Designer debuts OMAP boards for Android
(03:00 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Contract design company Moto Development Group (San Francisco) has announced a family of three reference platforms for the Google Android operating system aimed at giving OEMs a leg up on hardware engineering based on Moto's enhancements to the Texas Instruments Beagle board.

Tektronix Communications tests growing IP traffic
(01:04 AM EST, 11/05/09)
Tektronix Communications has expanded its test offerings for communications carriers to meet the ever increasing amount data that needs to be monitored, acquired and tested in all-Internet Protocol comms networks.

Seven early predictions for electronics in 2010
(08:04 PM EST, 11/04/09)
The electronics industry is recovering, but there is still some uncertainty in the market. So what's in store for the rest of this year and 2010?

Qualcomm misses estimates, extends Samsung license
(07:47 PM EST, 11/04/09)
Qualcomm reported quarterly sales and guidance that fell short of analyst expectations, but the company announced the extension of a license agreement with South Korea's Samsung Electronics reportedly worth more than $1.3 billion over 15 years.

On Semi buys EMI firm, enters India design front
(06:11 PM EST, 11/04/09)
Continuing on its buying spree, On Semiconductor Corp. has completed the acquisition of PulseCore Holdings (Cayman) Inc. in an all cash transaction for initial consideration of approximately $17 million.

Microchip beats forecast, sees growth
(05:43 PM EST, 11/04/09)
Microchip Technology Inc. beat Wall Street's forecast amid strong demand for its microcontroller lines and other products.

Ruiz bows out of SIA awards dinner
(03:26 PM EST, 11/04/09)
Hector Ruiz, who resigned as chairman of Globalfoundries earlier this week after being reportedly linked to a high-profile insider-trading case, will not speak as planned at the Semiconductor Industry Association awards dinner Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the SIA.

Bosch group launches power electronics competence center
(12:47 PM EST, 11/04/09)
The Bosch group has announced to launch an R&D center for power electronics. The move aims at applications in HEVs and electric cars as well as at renewable energies, in particular photovoltaics.

Update: NY files antitrust suit against Intel
(12:10 PM EST, 11/04/09)
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Intel, alleging that the world's No. 1 chip maker violated state and federal anti-monopoly laws by engaging in illegal conduct.

Job losses continue, but slow down
(11:36 AM EST, 11/04/09)
Non-farm job losses slowed September to October for the seventh consecutive month, Automatic Data Processing reported Wednesday.

Irish mobile video startup changes name, adds execs
(10:48 AM EST, 11/04/09)
Two weeks after changing its name from Movidia, fabless mobile video chip company Movidius Ltd. has announced two additions to its senior management team.

ST-Ericsson's recruitment gain is Intel's loss
(08:58 AM EST, 11/04/09)
Wireless chip company ST-Ericsson NV (Geneva, Switzerland) has appointed Edgar Auslander as senior vice president, head of strategic planning. Prior to joining ST-Ericsson, Auslander was director of the ultra mobility group at Intel.

Chartered shareholders approve Abu Dhabi takeover
(07:58 AM EST, 11/04/09)
Shareholders in Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Singapore) have voted in favor of a takeover of the company by Advanced Technology Investment Company LLC (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi.

MaxCaps research program to integrate capacitors on chips
(05:45 AM EST, 11/04/09)
As a project within the European Medea+ research program, the MaxCaps project has been launched. 17 research partners are getting granular on novel methods to integrate capacitors on chips.

EE Times' Top 10 women in microelectronics
(03:48 AM EST, 11/04/09)
EE Times has compiled an international list that celebrates women who are business and technology leaders in microelectronics.

SRC expands R&D centers
(08:22 PM EST, 11/03/09)
The Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) has added a new center to its R&D efforts.

FEI sells SEM line, posts results
(08:10 PM EST, 11/03/09)
Phenom-World--a majority-owned subsidiary of NTS Group B.V. (NTS) of Eindhoven, the Netherlands--has acquired FEI Co.'s Phenom desktop scanning electron microscope line.

MagnaChip gains new owner, seeks comeback
(07:37 PM EST, 11/03/09)
Having emerged from a recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, South Korean chip maker MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd. is on the comeback trail.

Jury finds for TSMC over SMIC in trade secrets case
(07:02 PM EST, 11/03/09)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has won a jury verdict over China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. in a long-running trade secrets dispute between the two foundries, according to an attorney involved in the case.

Lenovo: Win7 beats Linux in netbooks
(05:52 PM EST, 11/03/09)
Improvements in Windows 7 will make it less likely notebook makers will adopt Linux-based operating systems, said a technology executive at Lenovo, but the notebook giant will evaluate new alternatives including Google's Chrome OS.

Solar cells spring from optical fibers
(04:40 PM EST, 11/03/09)
Solar cells are no longer confined to flat panels thanks to a new technique that turns optical fibers into long, thin solar cells.

Analysis: NSN restructuring reflects industry transformation
(12:46 PM EST, 11/03/09)
The cost-cutting measures at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) don't come by surprise: Also NSN's customers increasingly are under pressure. Other telecommunication equipment vendors will have to implement similar measures.

Is Nvidia devising x86 processor?
(12:30 PM EST, 11/03/09)
The rumors have once again surfaced that Nvidia Corp. may enter the x86-based microprocessor market.

Dolphin Integration opens competency center in Israel
(11:49 AM EST, 11/03/09)
EDA and IP company Dolphin Integration SA (Meylan, France) has created Dolphin Integration Ltd. in Netania, Israel, in a view to foster the company's product developments in advanced memories, analog and mixed-signal circuits.

Analysis: Reality check for Motorola
(11:48 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Motorola Inc. co-CEO Sanjay Jha is counting almost singularly on smartphone sales to help the company recover in the mobile handset market but this is a risky strategy that could backfire and result in a nasty pricing war among equipment vendors.

CSR in hiring push seeks R&D engineers, finance execs
(11:25 AM EST, 11/03/09)
CSR plc, a fabless chip supplier for applications ranging from Bluetooth to GPS communications, is making a major hiring push according to open positions listed at its website.

CIA expands investments in semis
(11:18 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Cambrios Technologies Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) has received investments totaling $14.5 million in a first closing of its Series D financing round.

ST, LG Display define advanced interface standard for LCD TVs
(11:01 AM EST, 11/03/09)
STMicroelectronics NV and LG Display Co. have teamed to develop the iDP (Internal DisplayPort) interface standard in a view to facilitate interconnection and boost performance of high-refresh-rate LCD TVs.

Startup turns SD cards into game cartridges
(11:00 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Startup FXI Technologies AS hopes to bring the Nintendo game cartridge into the cellphone era with a vengeance when it releases in early 2011 mobile games packaged with their own acceleration hardware on microSD cards.

Micron offers NAND-DRAM memory in multichip package
(10:41 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Micron Technologies Inc. (Boise, Idaho) has introduced a multi-chip package (MCP) memory for smart phones, personal media players, and mobile Internet devices (MIDs) that includes a 4-Gbit NAND flash memory die and a 2-Gbit low-power DDR die.

Radisys, 6Wind, Aricent ready integrated ATCA platform for LTE market
(09:55 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Radisys Corp. has teamed with Aricent and 6Wind SA to deliver application-ready ATCA platforms for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Packet Core.

Nokia Siemens Networks cuts thousands of jobs
(09:22 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Only two weeks after having published massive losses in its third quarter, network equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has announced far-reaching restructuring plans.

Comment: ESIA exposes Chinese chip sales
(09:10 AM EST, 11/03/09)
My support and congratulations go out to the European Semiconductor Industry Association for breaking out the Chinese semiconductor sales figures in its monthly reports.

3Leaf links 32 AMD chips in one server
(08:00 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Startup 3Leaf Systems has released an ASIC that can link 32 Opteron processors into a single server and is working on a version that could do the same for 64 Intel Nehalem processors.

CSR, TSMC collaborate on 40-nm RF process
(07:14 AM EST, 11/03/09)
CSR plc, a fabless supplier of silicon for applications ranging from Bluetooth to GPS communications, has announced it is collaborating with foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) to develop a 40-nm low power RF manufacturing process.

AdaptivEnergy, GainSpan link on energy harvesting Wi-Fi nodes
(06:34 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Energy harvesting company AdaptivEnergy Inc. (Hampton Roads, Va.) and GainSpan Corp. (San Jose, Calif.), a developer of Wi-Fi sensor network technology, have entered into a technology development partnership.

Productronica to reflect crisis and turn-around, CEO says
(06:08 AM EST, 11/03/09)
When in mid-November electronics manufacturing technology fair Productronica will open its gates, many visitors will note that the event has shrunk significantly. Nevertheless, manufacturing experts and managers can expect food for thought and and insights in trend-setting technologies, the organizer promises.

Update: Apache job post points to an EDA IPO
(05:23 AM EST, 11/03/09)
Apache Design Solutions Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), a vendor of power and noise analysis EDA software, has posted a job opening on its website which indicates the company is considering an initial public offering of shares in the company.

Researchers detail new power management technique
(05:15 PM EST, 11/02/09)
University researchers have proposed a new power management technique that they say significantly reduces system-level energy consumption without negatively impacting the reliability of the system.

SoC startup obtains funding
(05:03 PM EST, 11/02/09)
Link_A_Media Devices Corp. has secured $18 million in series C funding.

Analyst raises chip market forecast on September strength
(12:56 PM EST, 11/02/09)
Bruce Diesen, analyst with Carnegie ASA (Oslo, Norway) has raised his forecast for the 2009 chip market. The market will still be down but the market shrink will be less than Carnegie previously predicted.

OLED project focuses on lighting, signage
(12:00 PM EST, 11/02/09)
A research project in Germany is intended to bring OLED-based large-area displays lighting applications closer to commercialization. The project focuses on materials, with longevity and efficiency being the central aspects.

September 'actual' chip sales narrow the gap on 2008
(11:25 AM EST, 11/02/09)
September's global market for semiconductors was $23.98 billion, down 8.7 percent from the $26.26 billion value for sales recorded in September 2008, according to "actual" data from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organization.

Maxim sells RFID IP, takes stake in firm
(11:13 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Analog chip maker Maxim Integrated Products Inc. has sold some RFID intellectual-property (IP) to Intelleflex Corp.

Renesas to transfer fab tool unit to Hitachi
(10:44 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Seeking to cut costs amid a major merger, Japan's Renesas Technology Corp. has sold its IC-equipment business to Hitachi High-Technologies Corp.

MIT develops AI-based 'driving buddy'
(10:36 AM EST, 11/02/09)
MIT researchers are collaborating with Volkswagen and Audi to develop an AI-based "driving buddy" that could help motorists avoid traffic jams or remind them to fill an empty gas tank.

Ireland key to Analog Devices re-org, promotions
(10:20 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Analog Devices Inc. (Norwood, Mass.) has created two groups as part of an organizational change. Both will be led by executives who began their careers with ADI in Ireland, where the company has had a presence for many years.

Ruiz resigns as Globalfoundries chairman
(09:31 AM EST, 11/02/09)
In the wake of allegations that he passed along confidential information, Globalfoundries Chairman Hector Ruiz has stepped down, effective immediately.

MIPS debuts new cores, instruction set
(09:00 AM EST, 11/02/09)
MIPS Technologies Inc. is upgrading two of its cores and introducing a new instruction set architecture to expand the company's relatively small presence in 32-bit microcontrollers and leverage its strength in wired consumer systems to attack sockets in wireless devices.

Q-Cells moves to end supply contract with LDK Solar
(08:54 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Embattled solar cell manufacturer Q-Cells SE has terminated a contract with Chinese wafer supplier LDK Solar. Q-Cells accused its former business partner of unspecified contract violations.

EE Times begins accepting ACE Award nominations
(08:43 AM EST, 11/02/09)
EE Times to start accepting submissions for ACE Awards.

Altera announces Cyclone IV FPGAs
(08:01 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Altera announced the newest Cyclone low-cost FPGA family, which adds support for mainstream serial protocols as well as a rich supply of logic, memory and DSP capabilities. The company also rolled out version 9.1 of its Quartus II design software.

Atheros targets cellphone with Wi-Fi chip
(08:00 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Atheros Communications debuts a Wi-Fi chip for cellphones that supports a single-stream version of the latest 802.11n standard, attacking giants such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments who have been winning sockets in handsets with .11g chips that have integrated Bluetooth and FM radio features.

China chip market growth below rest of Asia-Pacific, says ESIA
(07:23 AM EST, 11/02/09)
The September three-month average for chip sales in China was $4.07 billion up 8.3 percent from $3.76 billion in August 09, according to data released by the European Semiconductor Industry Association.

SEMI Europe launches new thrust for funding
(06:20 AM EST, 11/02/09)
Chip equipment vendors' organization SEMI Europe has rendered more precisely its demands towards the European Commission for better business conditions. For its European clientele, the organization demanded incentives comparable to those in the US and in Asia.

September averaged global chip sales show 8.2% growth
(05:40 AM EST, 11/02/09)
The three-month average of global sales of semiconductors rose to $20.64 billion in September, up 8.2 percent from an upwardly revised $19.07 billion in August, and down 10.1 percent from September 2008, according to the European Semiconductor Industry Association.

Top vendors increase NAND flash market share, says research
(05:07 AM EST, 11/02/09)
The top three vendors of branded NAND flash memory increased their market share in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to DRAMexchange, a market analysis company.