Online information source for semiconductor professionals

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) is to expand its presence in the growing fluorine market, specifically in the semiconductor and LCD manufacturing sectors with the purchase of F2 Chemicals Limited. The company is based in the UK and is a joint venture between Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, F2 Chemicals had a capitalization value of £11 million pounds sterling and 33 employees. Read more >>

Hynix Semiconductor has sold a further share in its 300mm fab in Wuxi, China to Numonyx for approximately $100 million. Hynix’s stake in the fab will now fall to 72.3 percent, compared to 83.3 percent previously. The deal should be completed by year-end. Read more >>

On the back of a major settlement agreement with Intel, which will see the microprocessor giant make five annual future payments to Transmeta of $20 million per year and a cash payment of $91.5 million by September 30, 2008, Transmeta has hired Piper Jaffray & Co to find a buyer for the going concern. Read more >>

Renesas Technology has said that its aging 150mm fab in Landshut, Germany, used to fabricate microcontrollers for smart card applications, is to be sold to two of its managers and will be turned into an analog mixed signal foundry operation. Silicon Foundry Holding (SFH) will take over the fab and will be operated by former Renesas managers Michael Lehnert and Gerhard Spitzlsperger. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Read more >>

Novellus Systems, Inc. has announced that it has shipped its 300th SABRE Extreme electrochemical deposition system to a leading semiconductor manufacturer based in Korea. The tool, which will be used for copper layer deposition in flash and DRAM devices, was first launched 10 years ago. Read more >>

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Ltd (OIPT) has sold its Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) product line to RIBER SA. Details of the sale were not disclosed however OIPT said that its MBE sales has averaged £1.2 million per annum in recent years. Read more >>

Intevac and TES Co. have entered into a semiconductor capital equipment business alliance covering product development, manufacturing, and sales of the companies' chipmaking gear. Read more >>

As the price of DRAM sits below the variable manufacturing cost of between $1.30-1.50, DRAMeXchange believes that second tier DRAM producers faced with weakening cost structures should start to cut production. Recently, top tier suppliers Elpida, PSC and Hynix announced DRAM production cuts, which reduced total global DRAM production by approximately 5 to 6 percent, according to DRAMeXchange. Read more >>

Toshiba’s semiconductor business is now expected to post losses for the first half financial year as NAND flash ASPs have declined faster than the company expected, due to the continued over supply. Weak demand for its other semiconductor devices was also cited by the company. Read more >>

The latest North America semiconductor equipment sales for August 2008, highlights the continued spate of capital spending cuts with bookings of $884 million, which are at the lowest level since 2003, according to SEMI. Bookings are 36 percent less than the $1.37 billion in orders posted in August 2007. The book-to-bill ration was flat with July, 2008 at 0.83. Read more >>