Nakaya Microdevices, Amkor Technology and Toshiba have jointly announced the start of their joint venture will be postponed. The operation was initially scheduled to begin on October 1.

"Semiconductor shipments rose to meet current OEM demand, after an overcorrection earlier this year, driving an increase in our variable royalty payments and consequently higher expected revenue for the quarter," said Harold Hughes, president and chief executive officer at Rambus.

Samsung Electronics has taken its first step towards the mass-production of its solar cells with the launch of a pilot production line for solar cells in Giheung. The vendor held a ceremony on September 13 to mark the opening of its R&D and testing facility for crystalline silicon solar cells.

The trial of former Infineon CEO Ulrich Schumacher has started today (Sept. 14) in Munich. Schumacher is charged with corruption in connection with Infineon's motor sport sponsoring business.

Cymer, the world's leading supplier of light sources used by chipmakers to create advanced semiconductor chips, now anticipates revenues for third-quarter 2009 to increase around 30% sequentially.

The European Semiconductor Sales index climbed 1.2% in July, says market research company e-forecasting.com. The indicator has increased month over months in a row over the last six months.

Foreign investment has been one of the factors helping drive the rapid growth of China's economy. The investment increased in August, after 10 consecutive months of declines.

Google chief economist Hal Varian is pretty confident the US economy is recovering, and he's not just basing that on government data.

TSMC and SMIC reached a US$175 million deal in 2005 to settle a claim by TSMC. But the Taiwan-based company now alleges SMIC reneged on the deal, and oral arguments began yesterday in Oakland.

National Semiconductor's fiscal first-quarter profits dropped 63% as revenues fell by a third, but the analog chip maker indicated demand was rebounding.

Taiwan plans to sign an agreement with China in October that will allow some of the mainland's huge pool of liquidity to start flowing into the island's stockmarket, according to local media.