Tessera Technologies has said that it won a patent dispute over small-format semiconductor packaging products, with the International Trade Commission issuing a cease-and-desist order against rivals Motorola, Qualcomm, Freescale Semiconductor and Spansion.

Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba has said it will end production of mobile phones in Japan due to plummeting demand amid an economic slump. The company said its only domestic plant for mobile phones will halt operations in October.

Europe's depleted semiconductor sector needs a strong leader to unite the continent's chipmakers around common goals if chip manufacturing in the region is to survive, the European head of industry association SEMI said.

The cost and performance benefits of flip-chip packaging, combined with the increased cost of gold bonding wire, have made flip-chip technology competitive for applications ranging from cell phones to gaming chips.

Globalfoundries has announced a joint development agreement with T-RAM, as part of which the two firms will bring T-RAM's Thyristor-RAM embedded memory technology to "advanced technology nodes."

Sony Electronics Asia Pacific has introduced three new entry-level cameras. The new cameras support the Memory Stick Duo slot for high-capacity Memory Stick PRO Duo and Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo media, and the additional SD (Secure Digital) slot that is also SDHC-compliant.

Samsung Electronics said it will press ahead with its research and development effort. The world's biggest producer of DRAM chips is to spend some US$2 billion on chips R&D for 2009.

A collection of top memory manufacturers formalized their commitment to developing a low-power DRAM for use in mobile devices on Monday. The backdrop, unfortunately, was a catastrophic drop in DRAM revenue, as measured by Gartner.

Semiconductor packaging/assembly/test companies are gently ratcheting up their manufacturing capacity, but it won't be enough to prevent a culling of the herd, with nearly 20 (mostly older) facilities likely to be shuttered within a span of two years, according to new analyses from Gartner.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is in talks with lenders to change terms of debt due after 2010 as the global recession hurts earnings. Chartered Semi has S$3.9 billion (US$2.7 billion) of loans and bonds outstanding, including US$390 million of bonds due August 2010.

Synaptics has posted solid year-over-year sales and earnings growth despite the tough economy thanks to its involvement in two hot product categories, notebook computers and smartphones.

Berlin-based Solon has announced its first quarter of 2009 ended March 31, 2009 fell short of expectations. The long and harsh winter in southern Germany had a negative impact on demand for solar energy systems, as did the continuing lack of sufficient funding for larger photovolatics projects.

Suntech Power and Schott Solar announce plans for new US production plants as demand for panels continues to climb.

Applied Materials executives said customer confidence is improving, but cautioned that the company is seeing "a very dynamic environment" in all of its major segments. China's stimulus plans may continue to support cellphone and PC consumption there, said CEO Mike Splinter following release of fiscal Q2 financial results.

AMD's spun-off manufacturing arm, Globalfoundries, reportedly has convinced Subramani Kengeri to join its team. Kengeri comes from manufacturing giant TSMC and was one of the key people behind the recently announced TSMC/Intel deal.

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials swung to a loss in the fiscal second-quarter as sales plunged a less-than-feared 53% in a tough environment for the chip sector.