The sales decline during the quarter was driven primarily by weaker than anticipated wireless communications sales to customers in Europe and North America.

The agreement extends access for ARM to assure early time-to-market readiness of the necessary platform of physical and processor IP solutions for nodes ranging from 20nm through 14nm.

Germany's planned cuts to subsidies for photovoltaic solar energy installations could take effect as early as July, people familiar with the matter have said.

ASML said it expects first-quarter net sales this year of about 1.4 billion euros (US$1.88 billion), and said the company has the potential for 2011 sales of more than five billion euros. Sales in 2010 rose to 4.51 billion euros.

Shares of Elpida Memory were up 2.3% in early Tokyo trading after business daily Nikkei reported in an unsourced story that the chipmaker plans to raise DRAM prices by about 10% as early as this month.

Intel is yet to be much of a player in the booming tablet and smartphone spaces, a concern for industry observers in the long term. However, for now the burgeoning markets are helping drive demand in some of Intel's traditional businesses.

Nanya Technology may sell its stake in Inotera Memories to Micron Technology, a move that will herald an industry reorganization, an analyst said.

Infineon Technologies has announced the Volkswagen AG Business Unit Braunschweig will use Infineon's Hall sensors in electric power steering systems for vehicles.

The Marlborough, Mass.-based solar technologies company said the closure will come as it ramps up its production in China. The company produces solar wafers at a company-owned plant in Wuhan, China.

OCZ Technology, once primarily known for its DRAM/memory products, has in recent years expanded its product portfolio to include cooling products and power supplies. Another product category that has seen large gains for the company has been the SSD market.

The Certitude software enables engineers to raise the quality of verification environments and IP design components required to develop microcontroller unit solutions for automotive electronics applications.

Globalfoundries plans to double its capital spending to US$5.4 billion in 2011, said CFO Robert Krakauer. The money will go toward upgrading a plant in Dresden, Germany, building another in upstate New York and planning a factory in Abu Dhabi.

Nintendo says it will ship about 1.5 million units of its 3DS console in the first month after debut, promising to avoid the huge shortages seen with the launch of earlier versions, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told the Nikkei in an interview ahead of the February 26 release in Japan of the device.

Elpida plans to finalize the business integration talks by the end of this month by obtaining approval from Taiwan authorities and securing support from financial institutions in Taiwan, sources said. Rexchip Electronics would become a holding company with Powerchip and ProMOS under its umbrella.

Fairchild Semiconductor will be closing the 6-inch manufacturing line in its South Portland, Maine manufacturing facility and transferring production to its 8-inch fab in the same site. The restructuring is expected to eliminate approximately 120 jobs at the facility over a nine-month period.

The deal is the largest takeover yet by Qualcomm. It also comes on the heels of Intel's US$1.4 billion purchase in August of Infineon's wireless chip business, which competes with Atheros. Many industry analysts believe Qualcomm's takeover of Atheros is the first of several potential deals in the semiconductor industry this year.

Amid a slowdown in DRAM, Samsung Electronics is reducing its capital spending by 14% for 2011.

Hynix Semiconductor said in a regulatory filing on January 6 that it plans 3.4 trillion won (US$3.03 billion) in facility investment in 2011.

Ingenic-designed MIPS-based SoCs are, for example, built into Velocity Micro's Cruz Tablets. The connection represented by MIPS-Ingenic-Velocity Micro illustrates an emerging paradigm in the consumer electronics market: A China-developed processor is driving a host of new consumer devices, while a big ODM community based in greater China (i.e. Foxconn) designs and manufactures them, which are, then, promoted by US-based marketing companies like Velocity Micro, who cultivate channel connections with top retailers.

Qualcomm Inc. agreed to buy Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros Communications Inc. for US$3.1 billion in cash as it aims to address growing demand for devices that use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet.

The latest data from Germany's solar installations database recorded 340.5 megawatts of solar installs in October, a decline of 151 MW from the September level of 492 MW.

The investors, including China Development Bank and China Construction Bank Corp., will take an 18.46 percent stake in the Chinese company's polysilicon unit.

The revenue shortfall is primarily attributable to order push-outs and cancellations from TV customers in the seasonally weak fourth quarter as well as slower than expected program ramp-up and a weaker retail segment for the company's set-top box products.

She was previously the chief operating officer of Osram Opto Semiconductor. She joined them in 2008. She also had executive positions at Altis, AMD, among others.

ON Semiconductor has announced the completion of the acquisition of Sanyo Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric, and other assets related to Sanyo Electric's semiconductor business.

Intel will receive a grant from the Israeli government to build a 12-inch plant dubbed Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat. Intel promised to employ 3,100 employees at the fab and boost R&D investment.