ASE, NXP sign China chip joint venture pact
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(InfoWorld) - One of Europe's largest chip makers is teaming up with Taiwan's biggest chip packaging and testing company on a joint venture in China, despiteÂ strict regulations regarding chip-related investmentsÂ on the part of Taiwan. NXP Semiconductors, the former chip division of Koninklijke Philips Electronics, and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) on Friday said they signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint chip packaging and testing venture in Suzhou, China. ASE will take a 60 percent stake in the venture, while NXP will hold the remaining 40 percent. The companies said the deal will only go through if it meets regulatory approval, but they indicated that the Chinese and Taiwanese governments have been cooperative. "We're pleased to be able to strengthen our relationship with ASE through the formation of this JV and appreciate the willingness of governments to help in this regard," said Ajit Manocha, chief manufacturing officer at NXP, in a statement. Taiwan and China remain enemies after splitting in 1949 amid civil war. The islandÂ heavily regulates China-bound chip investmentÂ over fears China could use the technology to bolster its military. Chip makers on the island find the rules a hindrance. But despite the strained relationship, China remains the favored destination for Taiwanese investment due to their shared language and culture, as well as China's lower costs and incentives for building factories. Â
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(InfoWorld) - A China Telecommunications Group (China Telecom) subsidiary in Jiangsu province and Hewlett-Packard are offering customers a desktop computer with broadband Internet access for 198 renminbi, or $26, per month. The promotion offer underscores how competitive China's PC and Internet markets have become, and the extent to which the market has become saturated after years of breakneck growth. For a monthly payment of 198 renminbi and a 27-month contract, China Telecom customers in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, get an HP Compaq DX2308 desktop PC with a 3.2GHz Intel Celeron D processor, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and a 17-inch CRT monitor, according to an online advertisement (in Chinese). The bundle includes 150 hours of broadband Internet access per month, most likely a 512Kbps DSL (digital subscriber line) connection, the most common in China. For an additional 700 renminbi, customers can upgrade to a 17-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor. A similar deal is available in other Jiangsu cities, including Nantong (in Chinese). This isn't the first time China Telecom and HP have offered a PC bundled with broadband for 198 renminbi. Similar deals were offered in Jiangsu province earlier this year. Bundles like this are not yet common in China, although several vendors have experimented with them and seen mixed results, said Bryan Ma, director of personal system research at IDC Asia-Pacific. Besides the low-cost desktop, China Telecom and HP are offering a couple of other options to Taizhou customers, including an HP Compaq NX6515 notebook with a dual-core 1.6GHz Turion 64 X2 processor, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB hard disk, and a 14-inch screen. The notebook deal involves a one-time payment of 6,998 renminbi, or $923, and includes 1,660 hours of broadband Internet access during school vacation periods. HP may be the world's biggest PC maker, but the company still lags behind Lenovo Group in China. During 2006, the company was the fourth-largest PC maker in China, with a market share of 8.2 percent. HP's market share increased to 12.5 percent during the first quarter of 2007, thanks to aggressive notebook sales, Ma said
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U.K. semiconductor design company Arm Holdings PLC has agreed to acquire a Sunnyvale, California, provider of components for chip manufacturing in a deal valued at around $913 million in cash and stock.
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British and Chinese companies have signed key business agreements, including a multi-millon-dollar engine deal between Rolls-Royce and Air China, witnessed by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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Graphics-chip suppler ATI Technologies Inc. recently announced it would introduce 90-nm graphics chips in mid-2005 and contract foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
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Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp and Japan's Elpida Memory Inc have announced a $1.23 billion dollar joint venture with plans to invest almost 14 billion dollars over five years.
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Chartered Semiconductor's process validated, sources claim Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor looks set to continue its foundry partnership with AMD into the 65nm era, if industry-insider claims that the chip maker has validated Chartered's 65nm production facility.â¦
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China and the United States on Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China, a multibillion dollar deal.
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Imagination Technologies Group Plc   said on Monday it had signed licensing agreements with  Intel Corp.  and Texas Instruments Inc. .
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South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Swiss-based STMicroelectronics NV signed a joint-venture agreement on Tuesday to construct a memory chip manufacturing plant in Wuxi, about 100 kilometers west of Shanghai, in China.
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(InfoWorld) - Taiwanese chip assembler Advanced Semiconductor EngineeringÂ (ASE) plans to invest $60 million in a low-end chip assembly company based in China. ASE's board of directors approved a plan to invest in Global Advanced Packaging Technology, a Shanghai company, ASE said Thursday. ASE will need approval from Taiwanese regulators to move forward on the investment due to strict regulations meant to keep Taiwanese technology from ending up in missiles and other military hardware aimed at the island by rival China. Taiwan and China remain enemies after splitting in 1949 amid civil war. Despite the strained relationship andÂ tough investment rules, China remains by far the favored destination for Taiwanese investment due to their shared language and culture, and China's lower costs and huge potential market. Currently, ASE has no chip assembly investments in China, despite the fact that earlier this year Taipei gave a green light to chip makers to invest in low-end chip assembly. Although the government announced it would allow such investments, not a single application has been approved by Taipei, and companies remain unsure of how to apply to regulators. Analysts say that the approval process remains very much subject to politics in Taiwan, due mainly to the rivalry with China. In related news, ASE said it will form a special committee to evaluate aÂ possible $5.5 billion dealÂ to be bought out by a consortium led by The Carlyle Group. So far, ASE has only received an indication of interest from Carlyle, not a formal offer. The deal could transform ASE into a U.S. company, where Carlyle is based, thereby allowing ASE to invest in China without asking Taipei for permission. China's growing electronics industry requires chips, and chip assembly factories nearby can help ensure quick placement inside gadgets. Carlyle's interest in ASE is also a sign of the times. There have been a string of private equity deals in the chip industry recently. A few months ago, Carlyle was part of a team that sealed a deal to buy Freescale SemiconductorÂ for $17.6 billion, while Koninklijke Philips ElectronicsÂ sold a majority in its chip unit to another group for around $10.6 billion. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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AMD and IBM are extending a deal which has seen them co-operating on chip-making technology since 2002. The deal was due to end next year it will now run until December 2008.
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By Rodney Tanaka, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.  Dec. 13--PASADENA -- A local tech company is partnering with IBM to build  chips used in digital cameras and X-ray machines.
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NVIDIA and Intel today announced the companies have signed a broad, multi-year patent cross-license agreement spanning multiple product lines and product generations.
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Intel Corp. has received approval to build a $2.5 billion chip plant in China amid booming Chinese demand for chips used in personal computers and mobile phones, the government said Tuesday.
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InfoWorld - Advanced Micro Devices is undaunted by rival Intel&#8217;s recent headline-grabbing announcements of 45-nm (nanometer) processing technology and a deal to supply Xeon chips to Sun Microsystems.
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US-based Sun Microsystems Inc Wednesday named Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) as its foundry partner for a deal expected to generate 500 million dollars a year for the Taiwan chipmaker.