STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, NXP, and Renesas Technology each said they received surprise visits from investigators in late October. All of them were raided by European Commission investigators seeking information of collusion in the market for chips used in smart cards.

CSR is claiming it is possible to simplify and speed the development of Bluetooth headsets with high quality stereo audio with a new type of software development kit.

Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is mulling plans to buy ProMOS, according to sources. In the plan, TSMC would buy ProMOS' fabs and would shed the company's memory business, sources said.

The IEEE P1901 Working Group has confirmed and approved the baseline for IEEE's standard related to broadband over power lines (BPL), IEEE Std 1901, "Draft Standard for Broadband over Power Line Networks: Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications."

Taiwan's exports slumped by a record 41.9% in December on weaker demand from the US and China for laptops, mobile phones and computer chips.

Driven by increasing demand from mobile devices and automotive applications, wafer-level packaging (WLP) is moving up to higher I/O counts and finer pitches, experts said. Other WLP trends to watch in 2009 include high-power and high-accuracy precision devices, through-silicon vias (TSVs), fan-outs, and embedded flash.

SanDisk unveiled a portable digital music system based on memory cards preloaded with songs, signaling a shift in its strategy to compete against the iPod. The Sansa slotRadio player and companion line of slotRadio music cards were announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Nanya Technology, Taiwan's No. 2 DRAM chip maker, said on Wednesday it plans to raise the contract price of its chips by 10% in January from the level in late December.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China's top contract chip maker, is discussing the possibility of selling a strategic stake in itself to Intel, sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday. The possible alliance could help Intel expand its business in China, which it has described as its fastest-growing major market.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, will get underway on Wednesday in Las Vegas. And while conference organizers are still expecting a strong turnout, evidence abounds that many companies will be dialing back on their participation at what is normally a high-profile, and high-dollar, event.

A propagation and optimization solution provider wireless industry announced that it has acquired Wi-Sys Communications, an Ottawa, Canada based company that specializes in GPS antenna and receiver technology.

Japan's Sanyo Electric plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs to revamp its struggling businesses before being bought by Panasonic, a press report said Tuesday.