The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment continued to fall month-on-month in September to a ratio of 0.81. This is a decline of 25 percent compared to the same month last year. Suppliers reported $1.23 billion in orders in September 2007, according to SEMI. The bookings figure is also down about 10 percent from the final August 2007 level of $1.37 billion. 

The anticipated move by Sony to offload its Cell microprocessor production has been officially announced with Toshiba acquiring Sony’s 300mm Fab 2, part of Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation’s Nagasaki Technology Center (SKC). Sony will also be transferring production of its ‘RSX’ graphics chip to Toshiba and dissolving a previous joint venture arrangement regarding the product. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. 

The sale of Sanyo Semiconductor to Advantage Partners LLP, a Japanese private equity firm, has been abandoned due to the current credit crunch in financial markets, according to Reuters and other news agencies. 

Samsung is increasing capital spending further in its semiconductor division by 1.1 trillion won - an increase of 25 percent.  The increase is an effort to retain market share leadership in a period of over-capacity in DRAM and softening prices in NAND during the peak demand period leading up to the holiday season at the end of the year. Total spending is set to exceed 10 trillion won in 2007, which includes the ramp at its 300mm fab in Austin, Texas. 

Steve Newberry, President and CEO of Lam Research, believes that semiconductor capital spending will be flat in 2008 compared to 2007 with spending up for major foundries, microprocessor and NAND manufacturers. Newberry made these comments during a conference call with financial analysts to discuss the company’s first quarter 2008 financial results. 

Micronas Group is to restructure its consumer IC division due to significant market share and financial losses in that sector. Approximately 300 jobs will be cut across all sites with the majority of jobs going in R&D and a greater shift in IC design to its R&D facility in Shanghai, China. 

Amtech Systems has acquired R2D Ingenierie (R2D), a solar cell and semiconductor automation equipment manufacturing company located in Montpellier, France for $6.1 million. 

Spansion has said that it plans to acquire non-volatile memory IP specialist Saifun Semiconductors in a deal worth $368 million. This transaction is said to consolidate all ‘MirrorBit’ and NROM IP, design and manufacturing know-how into a single company. Spansion first licensed NROM IP technology from Saifun in 2002. Since then, Spansion has become the largest revenue generator for Saifun, Qimonda having dropped the technology exactly a year ago in October 2006.