Leading vendors are diversifying their product lines, driving down operating costs and improving production efficiencies to mitigate ongoing problems in the mainstream DRAM industry. Manufacturers are putting renewed priority on developing more power-efficient parts. Meanwhile, DRAM manufacturers continue to push the process envelope to higher densities.

PRAM, known as perfect RAM, is the next-generation memory chip which features the advantages of NAND and NOR flash memories. Samsung will begin mass production of 65-nano 512MB PRAM in the first half of 2009 for the first time in the world.

For flat-panel makers, control over the supply of LED die appears to be a key strategic decision. But for a foundry company like TSMC, that argument is irrelevant. Any market entry for TSMC would only make sense if demand for LEDs with specific wavelengths and emission characteristics becomes huge. This could ultimately be the case in general lighting, where three or four individual chips might go into every solid-state lighting "bulb" for future domestic applications.

THine Electronics and Winbond Electronics has announced that the two companies agreed to transfer Winbond's Image Signal Processor (ISP) Business to THine. Winbond's ISP products are specially designed for high-end camera and mobile phones. Winbond will transfer assets including its intellectual property rights and ISP-related assets in fiscal year 2008, establishing a new company to transfer to THine.

Alvarion's Mobile WiMAX 4Motion solution will be used by Altitude to extend its coverage and provide voice and data services at 3.5 GHz to corporate, ISP and residential users in the Jura and Deux Sevres districts. The rollout of this commercial network is already underway, with plans to be completed in early 2009.

This option enables Motorola, within a specified time period, to enter into a pre-negotiated license agreement with Tessera and settle all outstanding litigation between the companies. If Motorola exercises the option and takes the license, it will pay royalties on all its products that include chips that use Tessera's technology and are sourced from companies who are not Tessera licensees. Detailed terms of the agreements including the time period, option fees, license fees and license royalties are confidential.

Taiwan announced measures to loosen loan and payment conditions on Monday to help the island's loss-making DRAM memory chip makers. Three major DRAM makers in Taiwan -- Powerchip, Nanya Technology and ProMOS -- are struggling with falling chip prices caused by oversupply. They have been in the red in the past several quarters.

Impacted by global financial meltdown, the major economic powers in Asia have witnessed remarkable outflow of foreign funds, and some of them have therefore experienced a sharp fall in their foreign exchange reserves. Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves suffered a slight drop of US$2.978 billion from a month earlier to US$278.152 billion as of the end of October.

SanDisk has been hurt by falling prices for NAND memory chips, a type of flash memory the company makes for consumer gadgets like music players and digital cameras. But a Goldman Sachs analyst said key intellectual property rights associated with the chips give the SanDisk more value than the market has recognized.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published the report from the Eugene, Oregon, “2008 Tour of Homes” demonstration of LED residential downlights and undercabinet lights.

Foxconn's channel division has been given an ultimatum, turn profitable before the end of second-quarter 20Q2'09 or that's it. That is not a lot of time for Foxconn Channel to sort things out, especially as the division has been plagued by production delays and a whole host of other issues. Hopefully the current restructuring will help improve things.

Swiss chip maker STMicroelectronics has begun laying off workers at its Phoenix factory after a hoped-for sale of the plant never materialized. Spokesman Mike Michael Markowitz said about 100 of the plant's 850 workers were let go this week and that the process would continue. The company announced plans to close the 25-year-old plant last year and move those jobs to lower-cost facilities overseas.

Backed by a strong investor, Advanced Micro Devices is expected to expand its production lines and next foundry service providers such as Fab 36 and Fab 38 in Dresden, Germany. During a congress in Munich, Udo Nothelfer, VP, manufacturing and technology, for AMD's Fab 36, gave details on the company's strategy and road map. "AMD's expansion plans are based on the presumption that the trend in the IC industry toward fab-lite and fabless business models will create added demand for foundry services," said Nothelfer.

IBM has also bolstered parts of the shaky SOI supply-chain to propel its initial SOI foundry service in the market. But some wonder if the technology will gain traction amid the current IC slowdown and economic crisis. To fuel a new class of SOI designs, IBM will provide a 45-nm foundry service within its own fabs. As part of the plan, Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing will act as a "second source" foundry for IBM's 45-nm SOI offering. And ARM Holdings announced a physical IP library offering for IBM's SOI technology.

SemiLEDs announced the release of its new-generation, high-brightness, low voltage LEDs designed for battery powered mobile applications.