Dutch semiconductor-manufacturing equipment maker ASML said Wednesday it sees weak demand in memory chips, and adjusted its second half net sales guidance to the lower end of its earlier EUR2.2 billion-EUR2.4 billion range.

The report continues, quoting an anonymous Samsung official speaking about the A6 chip. "Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis." That's a change from the past, when Apple worked with Samsung on chip development and/or design.

Amazon.Com is in advanced talks to buy the supplier of processors for its Kindle tablet computer, Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist reported on Monday, a step toward vertical integration that could portend a push into smartphones.

At the 2012 International Symposium on Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, industry and research experts named the timely development of a source suited for high-volume manufacturing as the most critical issue. Other challenges remain the development of yielding masks and the further development of high-quality EUV resists.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) share in the 28nm contract chipmaking sector may drop from 80% to 50% next year on fierce competition from Samsung, according to research firm Topology.

Tens of thousands of factory workers took part in a general strike across Indonesia on Wednesday, calling for higher wages, more social security and an end to employers' use of temporary contracts to circumvent the country's strict labour laws.

Rambus has signed a patent licensing agreement with Fujitsu Semiconductor for an undisclosed sum. Per the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu can use Rambus' patented technology for its integrated circuit products for six years. Rambus, on the other hand, will receive royalty payments based on the shipment of these devices during the contract period.

A HP executive recently said that the company has decided to postpone manufacturing commercial memristor-based ReRAM products until late 2013. The company originally planned to go into production during 2Q/3Q 2013.

Qualcomm has announced the addition of two new Snapdragon S4 mobile processors: the MSM8225Q and MSM8625Q. Both are members of the Snapdragon S4 Play processor tier, optimized specifically for a broad range of smartphone users seeking faster applications and better user experiences.

Texas Instruments said it will shift its wireless investment focus from products like smartphones to a broader market including industrial clients like carmakers where it is hoping for a more profitable and stable business.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2013 Infineon expects a revenue decline of up to 10% relative to the fourth quarter of the 2012 fiscal year. The management board will define and implement measures to improve profitability beyond the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year.

"Samsung's 2013 semiconductor capex will be conducted in a very conservative way. Opinions are gathering into a significant cut in facility investment next year," a senior official at Samsung was quoted as saying.

UMC has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Allegro for Allegro to utilize UMC for foundry technology and production for power management chips.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) has announced the availability of its 1.2-volt low-power embedded EEPROM platform, which is fully compatible with its 0.13-micron low-leakage (LL) process.

Intel is talking to Cisco about becoming its foundry, says investment bank Piper Jaffray.

The billings figure is 4% lower than the first quarter of 2012 and 13% lower than the same quarter a year ago, while the bookings figure shows decreases of 10% on year and 4% on quarter, according to SEMI.

Rayfield worked for the past seven years as the vice president and general manager of Nvidia's Mobile Business Unit where his team created advanced computer on a chip technology and won key mobile industry reference designs.

A Japanese court has delayed its ruling on two competing plans to restructure failed chipmaker Elpida Memory, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

STMicroelectronics is planning production stoppages at its wafer fabs in Crolles, France, and Catania, Italy, amid reports that CEO Carlo Bozotti will soon announce a reorganization of the company that may include a change of business model.

The new members added include Jackson Hu, chairman and CEO for NeoEnergy Microelectronics, Qiang Liu, chairman and CEO for Ingenic Semiconductor, and Vincent Tai, co-founder, chairman and CEO for RDA Microelectronics.

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has announced the appointment of Leo Li, chairman, CEO and president of Spreadtrum Communications, to its board of directors. In his new position, Li will represent Asia-Pacific as the first board director based in China.

TrendForce believes that, for the A6 and A7 chips, Apple will just as likely turn to Globalfoundries and Intel, which currently provides the Core i processors for Apple's notebooks. The ultimate choice will likely narrow down to whose products fits or performs up to Apple's product standards.

The QFN package design kit enhances package modeling and simulation accuracy with Agilent's ADS electronic design automation (EDA) software for radio frequency (RF), microwave and high-speed digital applications for RF semiconductors.

Prior to joining Globalfoundries, Chen held key senior management positions in Marvell where he was responsible for sales, support and customer service for the company's business in China.

Kionix has announced the release of the KXCNL, a configurable accelerometer with dual state machines to allow designers to dynamically program the device for numerous applications.

Apple instead picked Japan's Toshiba, Elpida Memory and Korea's SK Hynix to supply DRAM and NAND chips.

The architectural, software and process innovations Altera is making at 20nm enable the development of an enhanced mixed-system fabric that delivers new levels of performance, bandwidth, integration and power efficiency.

KLA-Tencor has announced two new additions to the company's IC fab-based reticle inspection portfolio: the X5.2 and Teron 611 systems. As the latest offering in the successful 5XX product line, the new X5.2 applies its high performance to capture defects and pattern degradation on masks currently in production, with extended capability for the upcoming 20nm node.

Cadence Design Systems has announced that the first products in the Cadence DDR4 SDRAM PHY and memory controller design IP family have been proven in silicon on TSMC's 28HPM and 28HP process technologies.

Elpida Memory said it opposes moves by a group of bondholders to block its sale to Micron Technology because it would interfere with an "entirely fair" reorganization.

FormFactor will acquire MicroProbe, a provider of advanced SOC wafer test solutions, for US$100 million in cash and US$16.8 million in stock, subject to customary adjustments. The merger is expected to close in the first half of FormFactor's fiscal quarter ending December 29, 2012.

Intel's R&D expenditures accounted for 32% of the top-10 spending and about 17% of total R&D expenses at all semiconductor companies worldwide-counting IDMs, fabless suppliers and foundries.

Samsung Electronics said on Monday it would inspect 250 Chinese companies which make products for the South Korean firm to ensure no labour laws are broken.

Warren East, chief executive of ARM, said the chipmaker was holding back on some of its recruitment plans in 2012 amid fears of a slowdown in sales in the second half of the year.

The objective of the agreement is for Fujitsu Semiconductor and J-Devices to build a long-term, mutually beneficial strategic partnership in the semiconductor manufacturing business.

SEMI has announced the introduction of 450 Central (www.semi.org/450), a web-based information service to help the semiconductor industry efficiently transition to 450mm-ready solutions and keep the industry informed of important news and perspectives on 450mm wafer processing.

US private equity firm KKR & Co has approached struggling Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics and its shareholders with an offer of investment, people with knowledge of the proposal said Wednesday.

About 20 bondholders of Elpida Memory are negotiating with alternative sponsors to replace a takeover offer by Micron Technology they consider too low, a representative said.

Apple and Qualcomm were rebuffed in separate attempts to invest cash with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in a bid to secure exclusive access to smartphone chips, people with knowledge of the matter said.