"We didn't use any of Samsung Electronics' copper-based processing technology in our memory lines. Hynix is confident we will be cleared of such allegations in court," CEO Kim Jong-kap told The Korea Times.

That's good news for Samsung, but bad news for its memory rivals that use ASML's tools, such as Elpida, Hynix, IM Flash, Micron, Nanya and others. NAND rival Toshiba is said to use scanners from Nikon.

Hynix Semiconductor has claimed it has developed a NAND flash memory chip using 26nm process technology, designed to hold 64 gigabits of data.

"I am hearing rumors that Micron maybe buying Numonyx. This deal would only make sense to give Micron a one stop memory source for wireless and all other applications, especially to satisfy Nokia..."

"I think in the next four years or five years, it's probably going to be the case that NAND will no longer be the storage medium," said a flash memory analyst with Forward Insights. "Everybody's looking at alternatives."

European Union regulators are to charge ten memory chipmakers, including Samsung Electronics, Infineon and Hynix Semiconductor, with fixing prices in breach of EU antitrust rules.

Toshiba has announced that Toshiba LSI Package Solutions will transfer its memory backend function from Fukuoka to Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture, in order to be closer to Toshiba's main memory production facility, Yokkaichi Operations. The move will take place by November.

The company, which receives licensing fees from patents of its memory chip designs, lost US$23.3 million compared with a loss of US$15.5 million in fourth-quarter 2008.

Samsung Electronics has overtaken Hewlett-Packard as the world's biggest technology company by sales, a sign of how strongly some South Korean companies have bounced back from the economic downturn.

SanDisk beat analysts' estimates as sales for memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras, USB flash drives and other electronics climbed 22% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Apple's iPad device may significantly increase demand for components such as touch screens and memory chips, especially if it succeeds in creating a new product category and spawning competitors, according to industry analysts.

The Japanese conglomerate, whose business encompasses everything from memory chips to household electronics to nuclear power plants, has said it booked a much smaller loss in the October-December quarter than a year earlier.

A vice president of Samsung Electronics has committed suicide. He joined Samsung in 1992 and mostly worked at its semiconductor and flash memory division.

Rambus, which designs memory chips, said that an administrative judge for the US International Trade Commission has ruled that graphics chip maker Nvidia has violated three of its patents.

We closed the year as planned with improved sales and strong bookings, as the semiconductor business recovers driven by technology and capacity buys from major Foundry customers and the memory market segments, according to ASML president and CEO Eric Meurice.

Samsung Electronics and Rambus have reached an agreement settling all claims between them and the licensing of Rambus' patent portfolio for all Samsung semiconductor products.

"Samsung Group will invest 26.5 trillion won (US$23.61 billion) and Samsung Electronics will spend 18.4 trillion won," said the official who declined to be identified.

Answer: Yes and no.

The world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips and flat screen TVs has predicted an operating profit of up to US$3.44 billion for the fourth quarter of 2009 after racking up its first ever loss a year earlier. It did not give a net profit estimate.

Flash memory vendor Spansion Inc. Thursday (Dec. 31) reported its first quarterly profit since going public—despite declining sales—and said it plans to emerge from bankruptcy early in 2010.

South Korea's antitrust agency on Dec. 30, 2009 said it has found no evidence to back allegations that makers of flash memory chips were engaged in international price fixing, after investigating the issue for nearly three years.

Hynix Semiconductor expects to be profitable in 2010 after posting huge losses in the early part of this year, in an indication that an industry downturn is ending and memory-chip business is poised for a recovery.

Toshiba may invest 200 billion yen (US$2.2 billion) to expand production of NAND flash memory by about 40% in April 2010, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported without citing anyone.

Micron Technology has announced that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing from The New York Stock Exchange to the NASDAQ Global Select Market effective Dec. 30, 2009.

Non-volatile memory supplier Numonyx could add a refresh cycle to its chalcogenide phase-change memory to allow it to work at elevated temperatures.

Elpida Memory may post its first annual operating profit in three years as growth in demand outpaces industry production, according to company CEO Yukio Sakamoto.

Hynix Semiconductor plans to invest about 2.3 trillion won (about US$2 billion) in its semiconductor business – 1.5 trillion won in DRAM and 800 billion won in NAND flash memory and logic – in 2010, a 130% jump from one trillion won this year.

Europe's top antitrust regulator agreed to end its investigation of memory chip maker Rambus on December 9, after the firm agreed to change the way it licenses its industry-standard technology.

Samsung doesn't get it. The foundry sector is a service business. It has nothing to do with churning out cheap and simple commodities like memories.

Rambus has announced that Samsung Electronics will offer a 1Gb XDR DRAM memory device, which will broaden the availability of XDR technology for gaming, computing and consumer electronics applications.

Samsung Electronics plans to invest around seven trillion won (US$6.05 billion) in its semiconductor business for 2010 - five trillion won in DRAM and two trillion won in NAND flash memory and system LSI, according to industry sources.

Spansion has announced its MirrorBit flash memory is now available as a verified configuration solution for the new Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA family.

"Once the STT-MRAM is developed, South Korea may be able to control roughly 45% of the 30nm type memory chip market by 2015..."

European regulators are set to accept a proposal by Rambus to cut royalties to settle antitrust charges, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Samsung Electronics has set its 2010 capital expenditure at 8.5 trillion won (US$7.4 billion), up from this year's planned seven trillion won, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported in its early Thursday edition.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips, has dismissed market speculation that it may bid for German chipmaker Infineon. "Such talk is untrue...we have never studied the possibility."

"Samsung is aiming to raise its global DRAM share to 45% in 2010 inspired by the bullish outlook in the memory chip sector," a Samsung executive told the paper.

South Korea's Hyosung has withdrawn its bid for Hynix Semiconductor, throwing the future of the world's second-largest memory chipmaker into doubt again.

Samsung unveiled a multi-chip memory package that it claims is the thinnest ever, for smartphones, portable media players, laptops and other mobile electronics.