"Despite positive earnings pre-announcements, the overall tone from companies remains relatively muted and cautious," said Doug Freedman, an analyst for Broadpoint AmTech.

Last October, Doug Grose was given a daunting task–turning the semiconductor manufacturing operations of AMD into a service that would also serve other chip designers. Now it looks like his job may effectively double.

ASML has reported a business pick-up above previous guidance resulting mainly from the short- and mid-term needs in the DRAM memory and Logic segments.

CEO Mike Splinter said that his company must respond to the fundamental changes in the markets it serves.

The 50-page report from research firm Objective Analysis said that Braidwood's flash memory is less expensive to install because it resides directly on the motherboard and will offer all the same benefits of an SSD at a lower cost.

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies said it planned to repay early an issue of 2010 exchangeable bonds after the prinicipal amount outstanding fell below 43 million euros (US$61.9 million).

Investors have speculated about a Temasek exit from the chip industry since its failed attempt to buy out and delist Stats Chippac two years ago. Stats Chippac and Chartered Semiconductor have slashed costs to weather the global slowdown that came amid slumping semiconductor prices and more competition from Taiwan.

"In the US, energy policy is made on the state level," CEO Mike Ahearn said. "Every state has a different approach." In contrast, Ahearn said China has designated a region within the country for renewable energy production and transmission.

Creditors of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor have started the sale process for their controlling stake in the second-largest memory chipmaker.

Toshiba is in talks with Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor and Globalfoundries about outsourcing production of some of its next-generation system chips to help cut costs, two company sources said.

A new super central processing unit (CPU), jointly developed by Japan's big chipmakers and funded by the Tokyo government, is coming up to challenge Intel.

Despite its increased cost cutting course, Infineon plans no further job cuts.

Elpida Memory said it has developed a copper through-silicon via technology (Cu-TSV) and applied it to an 8Gb DRAM with vertical connections among eight memory die and an interface chip.

Japan's Sumco, the world's No.2 maker of silicon wafers used to make chips, said it tumbled to a first-half loss on weaker wafer demand from chipmakers.

Word on the street is that Micron is seeking to enter the NOR flash market. Some also speculated that Intel wants to unload its interest in Numonyx.

Shares of memory chip developer Rambus rose 8% on September 4 on speculation that Samsung Electronics would buy the company, but Samsung said it had no such plans.

Novellus Systems narrowed the range of its expected third-quarter per-share loss to US$0.09 to break-even, from US$0.15 to break-even, as conditions in the semiconductor sector continue to improve.

The antitrust trial between memory chip designer Rambus and several chip makers, including Micron Technology, has been postponed, according to reports.

A new Microelectronics Innovation Center is being formed at the Université de Sherbrooke in Bromont, Québec, to focus on 200mm MEMS and 3D wafer-level packaging, and advanced technologies associated with the assembly and packaging of silicon chips.

Hitachi researchers have developed a method to form cavities in the interconnect layers of CMOS ICs, allowing MEMS sensors to be created in the wiring layers.

"The third quarter will be better from the previous quarter as chip prices are in the normalization stages after a years-long slump," said Kwon Oh-hyun, president of Samsung's chip division.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said in a disclosure that it is no longer pursuing a plan to purchase SanDisk.

Freescale Semiconductor plans to transfer its 3G cellular IP to Beijing Capital Semiconductor in a deal valued at US$30-40 million, according to a market analyst.