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MoU signed between Micron and Nanya on joint development
Micron Technology and Nanya Technology have confirmed previous reports
that the two memory manufacturers were planning a joint venture that
could include both a technology and a manufacturing partnership. The
two companies have now signed a memorandum of understanding to explore
potential partnerships in these areas and expect a definitive agreement
to be made in the next few months.
Tool Order: OIPT garners multiple orders from Malaysia
Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Ltd (OIPT) has received 20 tool
orders in the month of February, one of which was for five production
tools for a manufacturing facility in Malaysia. A separate order
included an Ion Beam Cluster System to the value of over £1million
(approx. $2 million), according to the company.
Read more >>January semiconductor sales reach $21.5 billion, says SIA
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has said that worldwide
sales of semiconductors in January were $21.5 billion, just 0.03
percent higher than January 2007, and that sales would have been 8.1
percent above last year’s figure if memory devices had been excluded
from the figures.
Read more >>Gartner cuts NAND flash market growth for 2008 by half
Gartner has reduced its NAND flash growth forecast by half for 2008
due to oversupply conditions in a softening market that is not expected
to relent until the third quarter of 2008. Gartner’s previous
projection showed close to 30 percent growth for the NAND market in
2008 but the market research firm now believes that a worse than
expected pricing environment will cut growth levels to less than 15
percent for the year.
Asyst says unsolicited offer was previously rejected
Asyst Technologies has said that an unsolicited offer had been
rejected by its board of directors for all shares in the company. Asyst
said that Gores Group and Aquest Systems’ offer was inadequate and
significantly undervalued the company.
Read more >>SanDisk reveals increased capital spending through 2010
SanDisk executives revealed detailed capital expenditure plans
through 2010 at the company’s annual financial analysts day, held on
February 26th. SanDisk is the joint manufacturing partner of Toshiba
for NAND flash memory. Despite an ASP decline of 60 percent in each of
the last two years, SanDisk is projecting its own share of the capital
equipment burden to increase sequentially, reaching a peak of $3
billion in 2009.
Read more >>Ibis Technology looking for an exit
SIMOX-SOI implant equipment company Ibis Technology has employed the
investment bank BlueLake Partners to look at ‘strategic alternatives’
for the company that could include offering the company for sale.
Read more >>Nova’s 3090Next CD metrology system integrated into Sokudo’s RF3 track system
Nova Measuring Instruments’ optical critical dimension (CD) metrology
platform has been qualified on Sokudo's RF3 coat/develop track systems,
the companies have said. The NovaScan 3090Next is an advanced metrology
platform for Optical CD Control and shape-profiling, implementing
polarized normal incidence spectroscopic scatterometry.
AMD and IBM successfully produce first EUV ‘full-field’ test chip
AMD and IBM have said they have successfully produced a working test
chip utilizing “full-field” EUV lithography for the critical first
layer - instead of ‘narrow field’ (R&D sample applications) - in
the fabrication process across an entire 22mm x 33mm AMD 45nm node test
chip.
Read more >>Tool Order: Gigaphoton ships first GT62A 90W laser
Gigaphoton has shipped the first of its new GT62A ArF 90W laser light
sources to a lithography equipment company that is designed for
double-patterning immersion lithography.
Read more >>