Spansion is in the midst of a crisis. Asked if Spansion would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US as some have speculated, a spokeswoman for the company said: "Legally, this filing (in Japan) does not automatically require a filing in the US Management is committed to working diligently with outside advisors to help guide the company through the restructuring process. We can't comment on speculation beyond (the Japan) announcement."

ARM, the company that has designed most of the processors in mobile phones, on Monday announced a new, low-cost processor called "Sparrow" at the Mobile World Congress trade show. The company said it is aiming to conquer the netbook market with its multi-core Cortex A9 architecture.

Swiss chipmaker STMicroelectronics says in a warn letter that a three-year plan to phase out positions as the company moves towards the closing of its Carrollton plant is going forward with a staffing reduction that will impact 36 workers in the near future.

Amkor Technology swung to a net loss of US$623 million in 4Q08, compared to a profit of US$32 million in the previous quarter. The US packaging and testing house has said its 1Q09 sales to drop 30-38% sequentially with gross margin between 5% and negative 2%. Meanwhile, Amkor estimated to see its second straight quarterly loss in 1Q09.

Applied Materials announced that its president and CEO Mike Splinter met with President Obama and CEOs of several of America's largest companies at the White House today to discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Splinter focused his remarks on key aspects of the clean technology agenda, including incentives for solar energy adoption as a way to create new jobs as the new administration and both houses of Congress look to reinvigorate and stimulate the US economy.

Using natural butterfly wings as a template, researchers have transferred their light-harvesting structures to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The study shows that some microstructures on the wing surface are effective solar collectors or blocks.

For the troubled memory maker Qimonda things may get even tougher as the company is facing a class-action lawsuit from the former employees of its plant based in Richmond, Virginia.

Commenting on the negotiations with the Taiwanese manufacturers, Elpida's President and CEO Yukio Sakamoto said, "Basically, we would like to form a capital alliance with them. As for DRAM business, it's best if Japan and Taiwan come together."

Elpida Memory will raise about 40 billion yen ($435 million) to 45 billion yen from partners, the Nikkei reported, citing President Yukio Sakamoto.

The largest series of solar installations in history, more than 1,300 megawatts, is planned for the desert outside Los Angeles, according to a new deal between the utility Southern California Edison and solar power plant maker, BrightSource.

Altera Corp will spend US$20-25 million this year on its worldwide operations to grow new technologies and products. The company is also looking to open R&D sites in its Penang plant (Malaysia).

SanDisk and Toshiba has announced the co-development of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory using 32nm process technology to produce a 32Gb 3-bits-per-cell (X3) memory chip for products ranging from memory cards to solid state drives (SSD).

SanDisk has announced that it will begin mass-production of 4-bits-per-cell (X4) flash memory. Using 43nm process technology, this breakthrough enables 64Gb memory in a single die. The X4 memory chip combines with the X4 controller chip in a multi-chip package (MCP) to provide a complete, integrated and low-cost storage solution.

Infineon Technologies AG CEO Peter Bauer said he will take a 20% pay cut in 2009 as Europe's second-largest maker of semiconductors faces a "difficult year" filled with "many tough challenges."

After months of potential acquisition talks, Microchip Technology Inc Tuesday officially ended its pursuit of FPGA maker Atmel.

Rumors at ISSCC and other events are that Taiwan foundry vendor United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) is mulling over plans to join IBM's "fab club." The group, which co-develops advanced process technology and shares the associated costs, consists of AMD, Chartered, IBM, Infineon, ST, Toshiba, NEC, Freescale and Sony. AMD's proposed foundry spin-off is also part of the group.

Applied Materials, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment, posted its first quarterly loss since 2003 and said it would cut back production, sending its shares sliding 3.2%.

Ailing Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory has said that it was in alliance talks with three Taiwanese firms but denied a report that they had reached an accord on merging their operations. The Nikkei economic daily reported Wednesday that Elpida had reached a basic agreement with the Taiwanese companies to integrate in a bid to survive amid falling demand for semiconductors.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, revenues were US$481.1 million compared to US$1.2 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of 60%. For the twelve months ended January 25, 2009, revenues were US$3.4 billion compared to US$4.1 billion for the twelve months ended January 27, 2008, a decrease of 16%.

German technology company Infineon Technologies AG has said it would expand a Hungarian production facility which makes components for solar and wind power systems, as a result of strong demand for the products.

Elpida Memory executives met Taiwan officials in Taipei today (Feb 11) to discuss integration of the memory-chip industry, Chen Chao-yih, head of Taiwan's industrial development bureau, said in a phone interview.

Advanced Micro Devices has said that it failed to get enough shareholders at its special meeting in order to vote for the creation of The Foundry Company (TFC) and spin off manufacturing capacities for the company. The company will now delay the vote by more than a week to get a quorum.

SanDisk is disclosing at a San Francisco technology conference Tuesday that it will begin mass production of memory chips that will allow consumers to store up to 64GB of data on tiny flash cards. The company's X4 technology will pack four bits of data into each memory cell. To date, flash memory chipmakers typically stored one bit or two bits per cell.

Qimonda AG, the German chipmaker that has filed for insolvency protection, has begun reducing production at its plant in Dresden to about one quarter of capacity, cutting the amount of silicon wafers it processes.

A Qimonda spokesman, Ralph Heinrich, said in a telephone interview that the division is in talks with potential investors in Asia. Wirtschaftswoche magazine reported that CSMC Technologies, a unit of China Resources Microelectronics, is interested in buying Munich-based Qimonda and has been negotiating with the company for months, citing an unidentified person in the industry.

Toshiba has developed a higher capacity version of its FeRAM (Ferroelectric RAM) memory that can send and receive data at eight times the speed of its previously detailed prototype.