Altera, which along with competitor Xilinx dominates the programmable logic chips market, said it was increasing its 2011 R&D budget by 26% to US$330 million as it introduces a new generation of chips. It will ship a 28nm microchip in the first quarter, and announce more 28nm chip families during 2011.

Device fingerprinting, or collecting digital identifiers from computers, cellphones and TV set-top boxes, is emerging as the latest tool for companies who sell the information to advertisers willing to pay for granular data about people's interests and activities.

For 2011, the fab tool growth will be driven by foundry and NAND to offset a "pause in DRAM" ...

Applied Materials and Samsung Electronics have reached a settlement agreement that resolves potential civil claims and removes the risk of civil litigation between the parties relating to the alleged acquisition, misappropriation and misuse of Samsung's confidential semiconductor information in Korea.

More Americans went shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend than in recent memory, and online shopping accounted for the highest percentage of the weekend's sales yet.

"Compared with its peer, Nanya Technology, which saw lukewarm demand and was undersubscribed in a mid--November offering, issued at par, too, we don't see significant upside potential to Elpida's planned TDRs," Primasia Investment Consultancy Co said in a client note.

Over the past five years, ST has reduced the size of MEMS accelerometers and gyroscopes from more than 500mm3 to less than 10mm3 while increasing resolution, accuracy, temperature stability and reducing power consumption by a factor 10.

Verigy has reported a profit for the August-October period, as higher sales of semiconductor test systems helped it come back from a loss a year earlier. The company's guidance fell short of Wall Street's expectations, however.

Samsung Electronics has said its new SSD with built-in hardware encryption provides the highest level of protection against unauthorized access to sensitive information on a lost or stolen laptop.

Integrated Silicon Solution (ISSI) has announced that it is working with Micron Technology to become an alternate supplier of Micron's third-generation reduced-latency DRAM (RLDRAM 3 memory).

Micron and SanDisk are chief competitors of South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor in the memory-processor market.

China will make energy saving a compulsory target, establishing carbon trading markets and green taxes.

The semiconductor sector of Abu Dhabi's economy is set to pump US$4 billion into the capital, creating up to 6,000 new employment positions in Abu Dhabi over the next decade, according to industry insiders.

Micron Technology is investing US$56 million to expand its Manassas facility and bring 123 new jobs to the area, Virginia officials said Tuesday.

Shares of SanDisk jumped Monday after a Robert W. Baird analyst upgraded the stock, projecting better prices for the company's flash memory cards heading into next year. The analyst even predicted there could be NAND shortages in the second half of 2011.

With this arrangement, Samsung Electronics gains access to Intellectual Ventures' patent portfolio, which includes IP in a variety of segments "critical" to Samsung's business operations.

"Capex will go up when our customers see the potential of the market. It will go down when it's not there. Every discussion we've had with customers indicates capex will not go down (next year)," ASML CFO Wennink said.

The investment will be spent by the end of December, the company told the stock exchange.

Europe certainly sounds like they are years ahead in BIPV compared with the US.

The equipment vendor has commented that DRAM companies are expected to scale back their spending "considerably" throughout 2011, and investments in LCD technology will likely be weak for at least a couple of quarters.

Solar panel producer Suntech Power Holdings Co. said Wednesday it is buying 375 megawatts of wafer manufacturing capacity in China for $127 million.

Toshiba will shut its No.2 plant in Yokkaichi, central Japan, by the end of December and phase out low-end chips used in products such as memory sticks. The company will also farm out production of so-called logic chips next year to cut costs at a business that's "barely breaking even."

The new cells are specially designed to meet tough French regulations on the aesthetics of solar installations.

This new investment round was led by Intel Capital and includes new funding from strategic investors and Anobit's current investors. Anobit is a provider of NAND-based products and systems ranging from embedded flash controllers to enterprise-class SSD.

Warren East, chief executive of ARM, said the market for tablet PCs could grow to as much as 60m unit sales in 2011 as he brushed aside concerns that Intel would pose a major competitive threat to the UK chip company in the fast-growing market.

German chipmaker Infineon has reported strong fourth-quarter results, and said it plans to give back cash to shareholders for the first time in a decade.

AMD said it has joined open source MeeGo project, led by rival Intel and Nokia.

TV panel chipmaker MStar Semiconductor plans to raise up to US$300 million in an IPO ahead of a listing in Taiwan slated for December, according to a person familiar with the deal.