The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) workgroup was created in May of 2006 to standardize the low-level interface to NAND flash chips from different manufacturers. However, the two largest NAND flash manufacturers are not members of ONFI. Samsung and Toshiba together account for approximately 70% of global NAND flash production, although their market share has been dropping by around 10% annually since ONFI was first standardized. SanDisk is also notably absent from the list of members.

Micron Technology's decision to cut as many as 2,000 jobs and scale back memory chip production is a "prudent" move, a Deutsche Bank analyst said.

China reaffirmed on Monday that it will ramp up public spending and try to simulate domestic demand to ensure stable growth as the global financial crisis weighs on the economy.

Japan's chip industry, awash in red ink, plans to consolidate older fabs. Fujitsu, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology all detailed scheduled closings of older facilities. Also, executives at NEC and Toshiba, which have been discussing a merger of their system-on-chip (SoC) operations, appeared reluctant to go ahead with a merger until internal restructuring efforts take effect.

At Nikon's annual LithoVision symposium yesterday on the eve of the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference in San Jose, representatives from throughout the lithography community, as well as Nikon representatives, gave updates on progress being made in immersion lithography, double patterning and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Although they had much to tell on the technology advances, a common theme was the consternation at not yet having what appears to be a workable solution beyond 20nm.

Hynix is gratified that the court rejected Rambus' request for an injunction, but is disappointed by the district court's damages ruling and will file an appeal when the final judgment is entered. Hynix believes that Rambus's patents, as has been recently confirmed by certain rulings of the US Patent & Trademark Office, are invalid. In addition, Hynix maintains that Rambus' conduct in destroying evidence relevant to the litigation between Hynix and Rambus, and Rambus and the rest of the DRAM industry, bars Rambus from enforcing its patents.

Micron Technology will cut 2,000 jobs as it phases out 200- millimeter DRAM chip manufacturing operations in Boise, Idaho, by the end of its fiscal year in August. These layoffs are in addition to a 15% reduction, affecting about 2,850 employees, announced last fall as the company stopped production of some NAND flash-memory chips.

The ThinkEquity Partners' report centered on SanDisk, which is not one of the four companies Apple actually buys its memory components from (Samsung, Hynix, Toshiba and Micron). However, the report says Apple's voracious appetite for flash RAM is affecting the entire market.

Kyocera has announced the construction of a new solar module manufacturing plant in Tianjin City, China in order to expand production capacity at Kyocera (Tianjin) Solar Energy. Construction of the new plant is timed to align the production capacity of solar modules with the increase in production of solar cells which Kyocera is set to expand to 650MW by March 2012.

Global semiconductor equipment maker Analog Devices on Wednesday reported better-than-expected earnings for its first quarter after a bout of cost-cutting, and forecast earnings in line with estimates for the current quarter.

Chipmaking equipment orders received by Japanese manufacturers fell to the lowest level in more than seven years in January, according to preliminary figures released by an industry group on Wednesday. The book-to-bill ratio, which stands for orders divided by billings, came to 0.55, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said.

VLSI Research predicted overall solar equipment growth of 8% this year. Suppliers of equipment for silicon wafer-based solar cell manufacturing are expected to see declining revenues this year, but thin-film equipment vendors will more than offset that with strong growth.

ProMOS has announced that it intends to commence a tender offer (the "Tender Offer") for its US$350mm Zero Coupon Convertible Bonds issuance due 2012 (the "Convertible Bonds"). Funding for this Tender Offer will be provided by a new NT$3 billion syndicated loan facility arranged by Bank of Taiwan with commitment letter dated February 17, 2009 (the "Facility"). This Facility is, as yet, subject to finalization by each of the participating banks and represents the entire and only source of funding for this tender offer.

module supplier Kingston Technology has said it wants to help the DRAM chip sector consolidate as it remains mired in its worst downturn, and it expects to see an upturn as early as this year. "We want to play a helpful role," John Tu, president and co-founder of Kingston, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress trade show.

Qimonda's works council urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to help save the insolvent memory chipmaker. "Act now, dear Mrs Chancellor, so that technological dominance in semiconductors in Germany and Europe will not be lost."

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced today that its stockholders overwhelmingly approved a spinoff proposal to create The Foundry Company. The shareholder approval allows AMD to issue common stock and warrants to an affiliate of the Mubadala Development Co., paving the way for AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Co. of Abu Dhabi to create the new foundry.

The market for TFT-LCD equipment may have grown 30% in 2008, but it is expected to drop 41% in 2009, according to The Information Network.

Numonyx has taped out a 1Gbit phase change memory, according to company CTO Ed Doller. "We've taped out a 1Gb phase change device on 45nm", said Doller. "Our view is that it's scalable for NOR to the 32nm node".

According to new market share figures from Gartner, both Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology have gained the most share in the DRAM market in the fourth quarter of 2008, as rivals struggle to preserve cash by cutting production. Samsung held a 29.5% market share in 3Q08 but saw this increase to 31.1% in the 4Q08. Micron saw its share increase from 8.8% in 3Q08 to 11.0% in 4Q08, thanks to strong bit growth. Micron also moved into fourth place in Gartner's DRAM company rankings.

A combination of 200mm fab closures and slowing capacity expansions at existing 300mm fabs is expected to result in a NAND flash capital expenditure decline of 58.9% in 2009, according to DRAMeXchange. In 2008, NAND flash capex declined 27.7%.

Singapore's chip-packaging and testing firm STATS ChipPAC has said that it will not proceed with an exercise to reduce its capital because it was unable to obtain debt financing amid the financial turmoil.

US semiconductor maker Ramtron International has announced that it has entered into a foundry services agreement with IBM. The companies plan to install Ramtron's F-RAM semiconductor process technology in IBM's Burlington, Vermont, advanced wafer manufacturing facility.

Texas Instruments has sent out a little reminder that it won't be a cakewalk into the smartphone market for newcomers Intel and Nvidia. TI continues to upgrade its arsenal of ARM-design-based processors, which have been shipping for years to cell phone customers.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and flat screens, is planning to reduce its capital expenditure by 35% in 2009, the Korea Economic Daily has reported.

Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest chipmaker, would consider merging with another company although a partner may be hard to find because of the economic crisis, CEO Peter Bauer said.

Global chipmakers, battling slower technology demand, are betting size matters as they pin their hopes for future growth on small and easy to carry mobile devices such as netbooks and smartphones.

Fujitsu and Toshiba has announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the transfer of Fujitsu's hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba. The companies plan to conclude a transfer contract at an early date, and aim to complete the transaction in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.