"...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.

Rather than a costly cap-and-trade system, the US should invest in more environmentally sound renewable projects.

Elpida Memory, which operates one of the world's largest DRAM memory fabs in Hiroshima (Japan), will undergo a major internal transformation as the company battles a continued over capacity in the memory markets and seeks Japanese Government funds to continue operations.

The majority of people in Taiwan view China as nothing more than a business partner, while most people in China see Taiwan as "kin, " according to the results of a survey released Tuesday.

Japanese chipmaker Elpida was thrown a 160-billion-yen (US$1.7 billion) financial lifeline on June 30, including public funds, to help it survive the economic downturn, officials said.