Are Qualcomm patent royalties an unfair tax on cellphone makers? Or have they helped the industry? Those questions are at the heart of a high-stakes trial that begins in a U.S. courtroom in Delaware Wednesday. Cellphone giant Nokia, which says it has paid more than US$1 billion in royalties to Qualcomm since the 1990s, believes it is paying too much.

TransferJet is a Sony-developed wireless system that can send data at speeds of up to 375Mbps (bits per second) over distances of around 3 centimeters. It's designed to replace the cables that are typically needed to connect gadgets and its speed rivals that of USB2.0 and Firewire, the two dominant cable-based systems in use today.

...For the rest of the year, NXP continues to see a relatively flat market with a "year-over-year comparable mid single digit sales decrease, translating into similar sales levels as in the second quarter." That view was also stated at first quarter results...

The semiconductor industry cannot afford the R&D costs for both shrinking transistors and moving to 450mm wafers according to a report from Equipment Productivity Working Group (EPWG) of SEMI, the trade body of the semiconductor production equipment manufacturing industry. "450mm wafer scale-up represents a low-return, high-risk investment opportunity for the entire semiconductor ecosystem 450mm should, therefore, be an extremely low priority area for industry investment," said the SEMI report.

and Matsushita Electric Industrial will become the first Japanese companies to mass produce organic electroluminescent, or OEL, display panels, the Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, 60 percent owned by Toshiba and 40 percent by Matsushita, plans to produce 1 million 2.5 inch (6.3 centimeter) panels per month for use with devices such as mobile phones and car navigation systems beginning in the northern hemisphere's autumn of next year, the report said

The world economy will expand 4.1% this year, faster than the 3.7% pace projected in April, the fund said in a report released in Washington. The IMF raised growth forecasts for six of the Group of Seven industrial nations, with only Canada's economy downgraded. The outlooks for China, Brazil, Russia and India were also lifted.

For the past 10 years, U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has been filing complaints with regulators in the U.S., Europe, and Asia alleging that Intel engaged in anticompetitive practices that limit consumer choice. Every time, Intel has responded by painting the charges as nothing more than the gripes of a jealous foe.

Based on its recent analysis of the OLED display market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Samsung SDI with the 2007 Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership of the Year Award.

Japanese LED maker Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against its Korean rival, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The lawsuit claims that Seoul's Acriche series white LED product infringes the Nichia patent EP(DE)622858.

Seoul Semiconductor has a confident position to Nichia's assertion regarding to patent infringement because Acriche uses different technology from Nichia’s patent range.

ViewSonic Corp is all set to benefit its partners this month with the announcement of it's channel scheme 'ViewSonic Enlivens 2008'.

An Australian company BluGlass Ltd has developed a cheaper process of making LEDs by almost half. The process reduces polluting materials required in the manufacture of LEDS.