Solar-power company LDK Solar boosted its wafer shipment forecast for the second quarter on stronger-than-expected demand but issued a revenue view below Wall Street estimates.

Sales of semiconductors in Europe in May again underperformed other regions, according to an analysis of the figures by the Semiconductor Industry Association provided by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization.

NEC Electronics, which has inked an integration contract with fellow chip maker Renesas Technology, is eyeing either Toshiba or Panasonic as its partner in developing an advanced semiconductor system, President Junshi Yamaguchi said.

Barco creates world’s first transformable 360° LED screen for U2. With its 360° shape, the LED screen surrounds the band while performing and can change shape in all directions during the concert.

Semiconductor player RF Micro Devices announced it is cooperating with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a commercially viable and high volume-capable compound semiconductor-based process for high-performance photovoltaic (PV) cells.

In addition to exclusive IT Brand Shops, the company is also setting up IT displays within the existing Samsung Digital Plazas. Samsung has around 300 Digital Plazas for its consumer electronics products in India at present. Samsung IT products are also available through large format retail stores like Croma, e-zone, etc. as well as in its Printer Demo Zones in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

"...key customers who are increasing 40nm tape-outs have already started to evaluate other foundries (UMC) in case yields do not improve soon," said Mehdi Hosseini, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, in a report.

Raj Seth, an analyst with Cowen and Co. LLC, has indicated that Teradyne is readying a tester for "DDR3" applications. That implies that the automatic test equipment giant is entering the DRAM test market, thereby going toe-to-toe with Japan's Advantest.

Taiwan's health authorities reported the first mass infection of swine flu in the country, which involved seven adolescents from the United States, Canada and Hong Kong. The confirmation of these cases brought to 68 the total number of recorded influenza A(H1N1) infections in Taiwan, according to the Central Epidemics Command Center (CECC). The students had come to Taiwan to study Chinese.

Taiwan will open up 64 sectors in manufacturing, 25 in services and 11 public infrastructure projects from today, the Ministry of Economics Affairs told a briefing in Taipei. Foundries and the liquid-crystal-display and telecommunications industries will remain closed, the ministry said.

Thirty large enterprises have expressed interest in taking on new hires, including AUO, Chipbond, Innolux, Mediatek, Realtek, SPIL, Suplus, TSMC, UMC and Vanguard International. HSP administration believes this trend indicates the park’s capacity utilization rate has risen to between 70% and 80%.

Standard Microsystems Corporation (SMSC) has announced plans to outsource some of its production test operations to Asian suppliers. The transfer of the production test operations is expected to improve the company's gross margin once completed at the end of its fiscal year.