TOKYO—Toshiba Corp. announced it is selling its Virginia-based chip manufacturing plant to Micron Technology, thus exiting the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip manufacturing business.Toshiba expects the sale of Dominion Semiconductor to be completed by the end of January.
LONDON—NEC announced it will close a semiconductor plant in Scotland, eliminating 1,260 jobs.The Livingston, West Lothian, plant closure is blamed on the widespread downturn in demand for cellular phone systems. The plant will cease operation in April 2002.
GREENSBORO, N.C.-RF Micro Devices Inc. agreed to purchase IBM Corp.'s global positioning system development operation, the company said.The acquisition provides RFMD with advanced GPS technology and access to IBM's chipscale packaging technology. As part of the transaction, IBM has agreed to transfer to RFMD...
BEIJING—Philips Semiconductor and China's Huawei Technologies have agreed to jointly develop application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for 3G products.Philips Semiconductor will mainly provide technical support and manufacturing services. The company will provide Huawei with 0.18 micron ASICs.Both companies are also considering cooperating in the...
While 802.11b, otherwise known as Wi-Fi, has made huge inroads as the wireless local area network technology of choice, many companies providing equipment and support for the technology acknowledge higher-speed alternatives will eventually displace Wi-Fi as the WLAN standard. Those alternatives include 802.11a, which...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Hitachi Semiconductor Inc. said it has unveiled a new Flash memory product, called Mobile Media Chips, which saves space and enhances storage for multimedia functions in handheld PCs, personal digital assistants, mobile phones and pagers."The benefits make the Mobile Media Chip ideal...
SAN DIEGO—Qualcomm Inc. said it rolled out the first samples of its third-generation Mobile Station Modem, or MSM6050, which it claims to be the first baseband integrated circuit on 300mm wafers.The company produced the device in collaboration with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.The...
TOKYO—Citing sharp declines in demand, NEC Corp. is asking 6,600 semiconductor plant workers to stay at home with reduced pay for one to three days a month in November and December.The workers, who will be from eight different plants, will receive 80 percent of...
ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania, United States—Agere Systems announced its wireless platform and semiconductor will be used in Beijing-based PTIC Capitel's new small C76088 and C6288 models, which recently began selling to the Chinese markets.According to the company, the new phones are 30-percent smaller than a business...
TOKYO—Fujitsu, a leading communications vender in Japan, announced it is expecting to have a 310 billion yen (US$2.5 billion) net loss for fiscal year (FY) 2001, ending March 2002, due to reduced sales in its communications and semiconductor businesses. To cope with the critical...
TOKYO—NEC, a leading communications vender in Japan, announced that the firm is expecting its revenues for fiscal year (FY) 2001 ending March 2002 to decline by 2 percent, and the firm will have a 150 billion yen (US$1.2 billion) net loss for the period....
BEIJING—China's Datang Technology, China Electronics Corporation Wireless (CECW) and the Dutch firm Philips Semiconductors have agreed to form a joint venture to design and license core technology for TD-SCDMA mobile phones, including platform design, chipsets and software, China's Business Weekly reported in its 9...
TOKYO—NEC Corp. and Sony Corp. reviewed their earnings outlook and NEC announced measures to move its businesses back to profitability.Sony cut its forecast for the fiscal year from $7 billion in to $84 million, while NEC cuts its outlook from $1.7 billion to $250...
SALT LAKE CITY—Valence Semiconductor announced its VS7001 integrated circuit for GPS applications is now available. "The VS7001 represents a milestone in GPS design engineering and innovation moving toward the world's first single chip GPS," said Antony Beswick, vice president of strategic marketing for Valence....
DALLAS, United States—In a memorandum of understanding, L.M. Ericsson said it has agreed to combine Texas Instruments' semiconductors with its mobile platforms."TI's wireless digital signal processor and analog products and proven semiconductor manufacturing have enabled superior performance in Ericsson phones for more than a...
DALLAS-L.M. Ericsson said it has agreed to combine Texas Instruments' semiconductors with its mobile platforms in a memorandum of understanding."TI's wireless digital signal processor and analog products and proven semiconductor manufacturing have enabled superior performance in Ericsson phones for more than a decade," said...
MURRAY HILL, N.J.—Lucent Technologies Inc. said its bank group has given it the go-ahead to renegotiate its $4 billion loan by recording the business restructuring and other charges.The green light also allows the company to change the conditions to spin off its semiconductor unit,...
JapanToshiba Corp. said it would slash production of its domestic dynamic random access memory chip by 60 percent as part of its response to a flagging economy. The company said it would shut down a production line at its major semiconductor plant in Yokkaichi.Nokia...
SAN JOSE, California, United States—Analyst firm Gartner Dataquest said worldwide semiconductor revenue this year will be $168.1 billion, a 26-percent drop from last year."There are few signs of growth in design wins. Component prices and lead times are still low, and electronic system component...
Analysts wonder whether Motorola Inc. can reconcile its handset and semiconductor businesses in light of its announcement to sell its semiconductor technology to other manufacturers, including its rivals."That's where the confusion comes in," noted Jane Zweig, chief executive officer of The Shostek Group, adding...
BERLIN-Siemens AG posted a third-quarter net profit of $1.4 billion, enhanced by its transfer of stake from its semiconductor company Infineon to its pension fund.Excluding exceptional items or money spent on Infineon, the company posted a $430 million loss."Our third-quarter results are unsatisfactory," said...
SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. said it has decided not to spin off its semiconductor business, and the company's chief operating officer, Richard Sulpizio, resigned his position.Anthony S. Thornley will replace Sulpizio as COO in what the company describes as part of a restructuring plan.
NEW YORK-Oki Semiconductor, Sunnyvale, Calif., will make commercially available in September its new module, compatible with version 1.1 of the Bluetooth standard for short-range wireless applications.The Bluetooth module, which measures 18-by-38 millimeters, incorporates a Bluetooth RF and baseband controller, which has met Bluetooth Qualification...
As a counterfoil to a slackening economy, chip makers are striking up alliances, shrinking their product sizes and paring down prices to differentiate themselves in the face of layoffs, reduced spending and plant shutdowns.Some of the alliances are between NEC Corp. and Taiwanese Semiconductor...
