NEC Electronics has announced it plans to double production of its USB-IF certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) host controller, and is expecting to reach monthly production of two million units starting April 2010.

Representatives from GlobalFoundries and TSMC said their companies are focused on tighter cooperation with EDA and IP vendors. The comments were part of a panel discussion at the Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE) conference, held last week in Dresden, Germany.

Ramifications of slowed manufacturing capacity output and a lack of capital expenditure over the past 24 months, combined with increased demand driven by a hot PC market, has resulted in a very positive environment for DRAM pricing.

Elpida Memory is expected to return to the black with an operating profit of almost 20 billion yen (US$222 million) for the year ending this month, buoyed by a recovery in DRAM chip prices, according to the Nikkei business daily.

Dongbu, MagnaChip, TowerJazz and X-Fab are expanding their wings with new capabilities or alliances.

Applied Materials topped the list of semiconductor equipment vendors for the eighteenth consecutive year in 2009, a year in which mere survival was noteworthy amid a painful recession and steep industry downturn, according to VLSI Research.

Applied Materials has ramped up its lobbying effort during the last three months of 2009, spending close to a half-million dollars trying to sway lawmakers on energy policy and other issues.

Two of China's top chipmakers and Intel's lone China factory are all running at or near full capacity, as China's sector rebounds more quickly than the rest of the world, according to senior executives at the three firms.

China-based Vimicro International, which has posted two consecutive annual losses, may break even in 2010 as economic recovery bolsters its domestic sales, according to company chairman John Deng.

MagnaChip Semiconductor has filed to raise up to US$250 million in an initial public offering of common stock under the proposed trading symbol of MX on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hynix Semiconductor creditors sold a 923.2 billion won (US$814 million) stake in the world's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips after three failed attempts.

On the heels of OCZ Technology's release of its first sub-US$100 solid-state drive (SSD), Intel has revealed it is shipping a US$125 SSD called the X25-V Value SATA SSD.

Abu Dhabi-backed foundry Globalfoundries is planning to spend US$2.5 billion to increase its 300mm wafer manufacturing capacity by 50% in 2010, according to Udo Nothelfer, company VP and general manager of Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 jolted northern Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo some 240km (150 miles) away. Fujitsu has said operations at its semiconductor plant in Fukushima prefecture, northeast Japan, were not affected by the quake.

A JP Morgan analyst has warned of what he considers to be the first warning signs that supply may be starting to outstrip demand in the chip sector. "After a strong start to 2010 characterized by low inventory, rampant component shortages, and extended lead times, we are starting to see our first negative data points..."

Hynix Semiconductor has said it would invest 465 billion won (US$410 million) to expand and upgrade its production capacity and research and development.

Former Sun Microsystems chief made announcement on personal blog this week

Technology managers have strong opinions on the merits of the gate-first and gate-last methods of depositing high-k dielectrics and metal gate electrodes. Controlling the PMOS V appears challenging with the gate-first method, while the gate-last approach requires layout engineers to adhere to new restrictive design rules to accommodate planarization requirements.

FormFactor, which makes probe cards used for testing wafers directly, has opened a new facility in Singapore as part of efforts to grow its business in Asia.

Konica Minolta has decided to enhance its production capacity of glass substrates of hard disk drives (HDDs) by adding production line in response to a rapid growth in demand and the accelerated increase in storage density.

In a major departure, Samsung Electronics is reportedly exploring an alternative in high-k dielectrics: It is looking at gate-last technology, according to sources.

Abu Dhabi government-owned Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) plans to spend US$2-3 billion this year in capacity expansion as it eyes a larger share of the global contract chip industry.

First Solar has announced a power purchase agreement to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with renewable electricity from a 300 megawatt utility-scale photovoltaic solar power facility that First Solar is developing in Southern California.

Carmakers will be scrambling to meet demand for electric cars - and the lithium batteries that power them - within the next two years, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, has predicted.

Elpida Memory has said it bought flash-chip technology assets from Spansion to develop semiconductors for use in mobile phones.

Elpida Memory has decided not to receive capital from a Taiwanese company because businesses are improving, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing an interview with President Yukio Sakamoto.

Plextor, a maker of optical drives, has announced the release of its first-generation SSDs that use Marvell controller chipsets. Plextor SSDs are available now, with MSRP around US$225 for 64GB and US$400 for 128GB.