Pacific Crest Securities has downgraded SanDisk to underperform, saying the maker of memory chips may be headed for a period of flat market dynamics.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has said it plans to book several charges to its 2009 results. It also raised its first-quarter revenue guidance, projecting a 4%-6% increase from fourth-quarter revenues of US$333.1 million.

Most believe TSMC will remain a foundry in the IC sector, but not in LEDs. There is little or no business model in the LED foundry sector. Most LED vendors have their own fabs and the startup costs are minor compared to the IC industry. The real value-added in LEDs is technology and the channels.

South Korea's leading mobile company, SK Telecom, said Monday that it is planning to expand into the Chinese mobile game market beginning in the second half of this year

Ultimately, only ramped up production will drive SSD prices down, and that is not expected to begin until 2011.

For some time, there has been shortages of DRAMs, causing prices to increase for both DDR2 and DDR3. Now, PC OEMs have reached the boiling point amid the price hikes.

DDR3 spot pricing has been stable for several weeks; however, with several contract price increases the gap between spot and direct is narrowing.

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street powerhouse, has been accused of defrauding investors by America's financial regulator.

Spansion has received approval and confirmation of its plan of reorganization from the US Bankruptcy Court, which clears the way for Spansion's emergence from Chapter 11.

Passengers face further disruption after flight restrictions were extended until 1900 BST on Sunday (Apr. 18) as the danger from Icelandic volcanic ash continues.

In an interview with AFP, Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou said the framework agreement was just a first step, but that he was confident it would lead to deeper trade agreements with China and continue to lower tensions between the former enemies.

Chip equipment maker Novellus Systems now expects to earn US$0.43 per share, US$0.04 above the high end of the range it had forecast in March. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 21.