Around the web
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Micron has offered a total of JPY220 billion in financial assistance and would also allow Elpida to retain its two main plants in Hiroshima and Akita prefectures, according to sources.
The Japan Times
Chip maker SK Hynix said in a regulatory filing that its shareholders have agreed to call off a bid for Elpida. There were no further details in the statement.
Wall Street Journal
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) posted a smaller first-quarter loss despite weak demand amid warm weather, but the company plans to see revenue growth this summer as prices rise.
Wall Street Journal
A shakeout that is rattling the solar panel industry has sent First Solar, once among the industry's biggest and strongest companies, to a wide quarterly loss.
Business Week
Declining prices whether on the spot market or long-term supply agreements are making business conditions very tough for polysilicon producers, regardless of their market size or purity of the material they produce.
PV-Tech
South Korean prosecutors said Thursday they are investigating flat-panel maker LG Display Co. over its alleged infringement of rival Samsung Mobile Display's ultra-thin display technology.
Marketwatch.com (Dow Jones)
North Seattle LED Lighting Company Solid Apollo introduces a simple and progressive way to connect LED strips by launching a product line of durable Snap and Lite Easy Connectors. These state-of-the-art adaptors, joiners and connectors fit every LED strip on the market. These new products will enable electrical contractors, architects, lighting designers, and interior designers to quickly and easily install LED lighting systems. Now you can achieve solderless electrical connections in just seconds.
San Francisco Chronicle
Pocahontas, Iowa, population about 1,700, is on the cutting edge of a tech revolution. It replaced all 280 of its street lamps with semiconductors that convert electricity into light.
San Francisco Chronicle
Unemployment in the eurozone reached a record high again in March 2012 as spending cuts continued to hit the working population.
BBC News
German microchip maker Infineon raised its full-year sales outlook after demand for its energy efficiency, mobility and security chips, particularly from the car industry, helped second-quarter results beat expectations.
Reuters
Toshiba has announced that it will rebuild its semiconductor manufacturing operations in Thailand by relocating Toshiba Semiconductor Thailand to a new manufacturing facility.
Company release
China's Hony Capital plans to sell or outsource the operations at Elpida Memory's Hiroshima DRAM plant to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) if its bid for the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker is successful, the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday.
Reuters (via Yahoo! News)
Marketwatch.com (Dow Jones)
At its Fab 8 campus in New York, Globalfoundries has begun installation of a special set of production tools to create TSVs in semiconductor wafers processed on the company's leading-edge 20nm technology platform.
Company release
More companies are being linked to the Indian government's plan to get one or more semiconductor wafer fabs constructed on the sub-continent. At least five chip companies have expressed an interest in supporting the project, according to a Hindu Business Line report.
EDN.com
Company release
LDK Solar Co. (LDK), the world's second- largest maker of wafers for cells, cut 5,554 jobs this year after plunging prices cut margins to a record low amid a renewable-energy shakeout that's pushed at least eight solar companies into bankruptcy and prompted thousands of industry firings.
Bloomberg
The selection process for a sponsor to support the rehabilitation of Elpida Memory has reached its final stage. Micron Technology, SK Hynix and a consortium of US and Chinese investment funds are expected to participate in the second round of bidding, which will likely wrap up Friday.
The Japan Times
Toshiba will not participate in the second round of bidding for failed chipmaker Elpida Memory, the Sankei Shimbun reported in its Tuesday morning edition.
Marketwatch.com (Dow Jones)
RF chip maker TriQuint Semiconductor cut about 70 jobs in Florida last week after issuing a disappointing quarterly report and sales forecast, according to a report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
EE Times
Company release
The San Mateo, Calif., company said it filed confidential draft registration documents last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was unclear when the company planned to file public registration documents and when it plans to go public.
The Guardian
Solar panel installations have fallen by almost 90% in the weeks since the government halved cut the subsidy available, according to Department of Energy and Climate Change figures.
The Guardian
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