Ramifications of slowed manufacturing capacity output and a lack of capital expenditure over the past 24 months, combined with increased demand driven by a hot PC market, has resulted in a very positive environment for DRAM pricing.

Elpida Memory is expected to return to the black with an operating profit of almost 20 billion yen (US$222 million) for the year ending this month, buoyed by a recovery in DRAM chip prices, according to the Nikkei business daily.

Dongbu, MagnaChip, TowerJazz and X-Fab are expanding their wings with new capabilities or alliances.

Applied Materials topped the list of semiconductor equipment vendors for the eighteenth consecutive year in 2009, a year in which mere survival was noteworthy amid a painful recession and steep industry downturn, according to VLSI Research.

Applied Materials has ramped up its lobbying effort during the last three months of 2009, spending close to a half-million dollars trying to sway lawmakers on energy policy and other issues.

Two of China's top chipmakers and Intel's lone China factory are all running at or near full capacity, as China's sector rebounds more quickly than the rest of the world, according to senior executives at the three firms.

China-based Vimicro International, which has posted two consecutive annual losses, may break even in 2010 as economic recovery bolsters its domestic sales, according to company chairman John Deng.

MagnaChip Semiconductor has filed to raise up to US$250 million in an initial public offering of common stock under the proposed trading symbol of MX on the New York Stock Exchange.

BYD has massive expansion plans for 2010 and would consider building a plant in the US, the company said a day after announcing annual profits had tripled. The automaker will put aside 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) this year to grow its business.

Hynix Semiconductor creditors sold a 923.2 billion won (US$814 million) stake in the world's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips after three failed attempts.

Popular social-networking site Facebook will open an office in India, joining a long list of international firms that have looked to tap a skilled workforce that provides support services at relatively cheap wages.

On the heels of OCZ Technology's release of its first sub-US$100 solid-state drive (SSD), Intel has revealed it is shipping a US$125 SSD called the X25-V Value SATA SSD.

Abu Dhabi-backed foundry Globalfoundries is planning to spend US$2.5 billion to increase its 300mm wafer manufacturing capacity by 50% in 2010, according to Udo Nothelfer, company VP and general manager of Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.

BYD, a Chinese car and battery maker backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Sunday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 500% thanks to robust car sales primed by tax incentives from Beijing.

The arrival of the highly-anticipated Plastic Logic Que proReader models have been delayed until the summer. Pre-orders of the thin US$649-799 business-focused readers are already sold out; they had been expected to turn up in mid-April. Instead notifications were sent to customers Thursday informing them of the delay.

LCD panel maker LG Display will spend US$1.3 billion to raise output and help meet robust customer demand and is betting on booming premium LCD TV sales to drive strong growth this year.