| Editor's Note |
| The remarkable Morris Chang continues to hold tightly to the reins at foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Chip editor Mark LaPedus reports from a TSMC technology event that the 79-year-old chairman remains as sharp as ever, embracing all the challenges presented by a chaotic global chip industry. Chang is increasing TSMC's capital expenditures and says the foundry will hire as many as 4,000 new workers by the end of 2010. That's a bold plan. Elsewhere, R. Colin Johnson reports on how emerging memristor circuits could be used to emulate brain function. University of Michigan researchers are developing a prototype that could be used as part of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiative.
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| Top Story |
Seven things that surprised us at TSMC event
Here were the surprises and my observations at TSMC's one-day event:
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| Semiconductor News |
ASML raises sales, profits, sees upturn lasting into 2011
Lithography equipment vendor ASML Holding NV (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) made a strong profit on increased sales in Q1 and predicted a sustained semiconductor lasting into 2011.
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Multicore Expo: Panel to challenge the state-of-the-art in parallelization
Don't look for the Silver Bullet to remove software complexities of multicore.
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Applied Materials opens Singapore manufacturing site
Applied Materials Inc., the leading supplier of equipment for making chips, displays and solar cells, has opened a key manufacturing site in Changi North Industrial Park, Singapore. The site is said to involve an investment of $60 million and employ up to 800 workers.
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| Business News |
Samsung opens up over cancer allegations
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has denied chemicals used in its manufacture of integrated circuits cause leukemia or lymphoma during a planned tour of its Gi-Heung wafer fab facility, about 39 miles south of Seoul, according to reports.
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Linear's results: What analysts are saying
On Tuesday, Linear Technology Corp. posted record quarterly revenues of $311.3 million for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010, up 21 percent compared to the previous quarter's revenue of $256.4 million and up 55 percent over $200.9 million reported in the third quarter of fiscal year 2009.
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PC market booms on European demand
Worldwide PC shipments totaled 84.3 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 27.4 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009, according to preliminary results from Gartner Inc. Gartner had been expecting first quarter PC shipments to grow 22 percent.
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Consortium backs mobile interface for high def video
Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Silicon Image, Inc., Sony and Toshiba Corp. have formed the MHL Consortium. The group has created a draft specification for the Mobile High-Definition Link originally announced by Silicon Image in 2008 for sharing high-definition video between mobile devices and televisions.
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| Design News |
Accellera, The Spirit Consortium complete merger
EDA standards organizations Accellera and The Spirit Consortium announced they have completed their merger, and the new organization aims to further improve the development of electronic design language-based intellectual property standards.
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eSOL for Android unveiled
eSOL Co., Ltd. has just unveiled its eSOL for Android platform for one-stop development of embedded systems designs using Android, the open source platform from the Open Handset Alliance (OHA).
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| Technology News |
Memristor emulates neural learning
University of Michigan researchers recently demonstrated that a single memristor can learn using the same technique as the human brain.
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Seoul pushes Acriche LED to 150 lumens per watt
LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea) has said it has developed an AC LED capable of 150 lumens per watt, surpassing the luminous efficiency of DC LEDs.
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| Energy News |
Video: Panel sees limits to fast-rising battery sector
The multi-billion dollar battery industry is poised for huge growth, but lithium ion, today's fast rising technology, faces significant limits and a race is on to find better chemistries, according to a panel of experts.
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| ESC Silicon Valley 2010 |
| ESC Silicon Valley, the largest most complete technical conference/exhibition in North America where you can see, learn and get hands-on training on emerging embedded products and technologies. Attend and be part of the most valuable and efficient professional development you will experience all year.
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Dylan McGrath is editor of the EE Times Newsletter, which brings you the latest semiconductor and design news.
