Nearly 70 years ago, two physicists at Bell Telephone Laboratories—John Bardeen and Walter Brattain—pressed two thin gold contacts into a slab of germanium and made a third contact on the bottom of the slab. The flow of current through this configuration could be used to turn a small signal into a larger one. The result was the first transistor—the amplifier and switch that was, arguably, the greatest invention of…
October 25, 2016: China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. is seeking to buy South Korea’s only foundry chipmaker Dongbu HiTek Co., industry sources said Monday, a move that is expected to bring changes to the intensely competitive market. “Dongbu HiTek has not held an open bidding (since December), and is seeking a private contract,” an official from the Korea Development Bank said. “The company is currently negotiating with SMIC, which…
Veeco Announces Reduction in ALD Technology Investments and Guides Third Quarter 2016 Revenue to High End of Guidance Range PLAINVIEW, NY–(Marketwired – October 05, 2016) – Significantly reducing future investments in Atomic Layer Deposition (“ALD”) technology development ALD cost reductions expected to result in annualized savings of approximately $10 million Expecting to record pre-tax charges of between $56 and $62 million in Q3 2016, the vast majority of which…
Taiwan-based DRAM maker Nanya Technology is looking to invest a total of NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion) over the next two years to “enhance its product value rather than market share,” according to company president Pei-Ing Lee. Nanya will put its focus on new memory technologies including ReRAM and 3D XPoint, said Lee. Nanya recently issued a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) disclosing a total of NT$343 million…
Son Jeong-ui (or Masayoshi Son), chairman of SoftBank in Japan, will invest up to 5 trillion won (US$4.55 billion) in Korea for the next ten years. He is reportedly interested in making a large-scale investment in non-memory semiconductor chips so that he could propose a partnership model between Korea and Japan in the Internet-of-Things area. Mr. Son discussed his plans with President Park Geun-hye at Cheongwadae (Presidential Palace) on…
Qualcomm Inc. is in talks to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV, a deal that likely would cost more than $30 billion and accelerate a consolidation rush in the semiconductor industry. The companies could strike an agreement in the next two to three months, according to people familiar with the matter. As always, it is possible there won’t be one, and some of the people said Qualcomm is simultaneously exploring other…
Talk about boosting wafer sizes from 300mm to 450mm has been creeping back into presentations and discussions at conferences over the past couple months. Earlier this year, discussions focused on panel-level packaging. These are basically similar approaches to the same problem, which is that wafers need to be larger to reap efficiencies out of device scaling. Whether either of these approaches ever materializes is questionable. The cost of developing…
The key issues of cost and extendibility of an advanced FD-SOI offering are addressed by GlobalFoundries in the following release. GlobalFoundries Rolls Out 12nm FD-SOI Process Foundry also touts an ecosystem for its 22nm process. SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2016 – BY: JEFF DORSCH Semiconductor Engineering GlobalFoundries uncorked its 12FDX platform, incorporating a 12nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator process technology. The foundry’s Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany, will support customer development with the…
Western Digital Corp. Chief Executive Steve Milligan warned that China’s burgeoning semiconductor industry may flood global markets if the rapid growth of domestic chipmaking capacity runs unchecked. The country’s ongoing effort to build a world-class microchip industry requires careful planning and consideration because a global glut — a persistent concern for a largely commoditized memory sector — benefited neither companies, the government nor the market, the executive told Bloomberg…
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) reported a change of -1058.785 million in its assets and liabilities in the fiscal year ended 2016-06-30. For the 3-month period ended 2016-06-30, it reported a change of $-1058.785 million in its assets and liabilities. The company’s accounts payable amounted to $1440.73 million in the fiscal year ended 2016-06-30, seeing a change of $-96.4685 million. The accounts payable were $1440.73 million for the…
TECHCET CA LLC is an advisory services firm focused on materials supply-chain market analysis and technologies for electronic device markets.
Now integrated with TECHCET, the Critical Material Council (CMC) of leading semiconductor fabricators works to solve supply-chain issues in a pre-competitive environment.
as legacy products are replaced by leading edge San…
Risk of Supply Interruption Grows With an Increase in…