Intel and STMicro form flash firm
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US chip manufacturing giant Intel and European rival STMicro are merging their flash memory businesses.
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Company adds to Flex, its Flash server software for Java developers.
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Infineon and ProMOS have finally ended a long running argument over licensing for DRAM chips. The two were part of a joint venture with Mosel Vitelic which ran from 1996.
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Promoting its "Montecito" processor, Intel will sell "white box" systems that can be emblazoned with other computer makers' logos. Photos: New Itanium servers
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SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 14  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.), , a leader in flash memory technology, today rounded out its 1.8V low-density flash product portfolio with the announcement of a 16-Mbit Multi-Purpose Flash Plus (MPF+) device.
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Toshiba and SanDisk will build a state-of-the-art NAND flash memory factory and share the chips.
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GENEVA, Dec. 14  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics is celebrating ten years at the forefront of digital radio technology.
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Scientists have developed an alloy they say can be used to create memory chips more than 500 times as fast as todayÂs flash chips.
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Rival memory, semiconductor and mobile device makers have joined forces to support the new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) specification.
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Loan cutbacks put dent in Numonyx Intel and STMicroelectronics NV have been forced to delay the merger of their cash-starved flash memory units because of "significant turmoil" in the financial markets.â¦
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With an eye on gaining a stronger foothold in the wireless market, Intel has launched new flash memory software, along with a developer toolset, to speed the design and deployment of applications for next-generation multimedia phones.
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(InfoWorld) - Flash memory stick makers are showing off USB (Universal Serial Bus) drives at Computex that have been certified to work with Windows Vista's ReadyBoot and ReadyBoost functions, which improve boot-up times and the software start-up speeds in PCs. The certification has been done to ensure users know exactly which flash devices they can use for the function, although it's not necessary. Windows Vista can scan any USB flash device and determine on its own if the device is fast enough and has the correct capacity to work with ReadyBoot and ReadyBoost. The idea is the same asÂ Intel's Robson technology, except that the flash memory sticks are external devices, while Robson is built inside a laptop PC. "It's not as fast as Robson," said Dave Lee, product manager for flash memory at Kingston Technology. Still, the flash sticks work faster and better than the hard drive for users who don't have Robson in their laptops. Robson is a relatively new technology for laptop PCs, so users with older models can use flash sticks instead. Microsoft is also offering to certify other forms of flash memory, including SD cards and CompactFlash for ReadyBoost and ReadyBoot. Initially, users need to set up their system to draw on the external flash drive for the speedier boot-up and software launch, said Lee. Flash devices with a Vista-certified logo from Microsoft ensures it works with the OS. Kingston is showing several devices that have been certified within the past month, as is SanDiskÂ and A-Data Technology.
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In an announcement before semiconductor engineers in San Francisco this morning, AMD and IBM put forth proof of what could be their breakthrough process - their response to Intel in the race to reduction.  It could pull AMD back even with Intel by 2008, if Intel doesn't respond in the intervening months.
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By MARK BOSLET, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS  Hewlett-Packard is preparing its first laptop with flash memory chips in another sign of the market's gradual migration away from the use of hard drives to store data and software.
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Intel'sÂ deal with STMicroelectronics to create a new semiconductor company was a hit this week with IT investors, who continue to reward bold merger and acquisition moves in hard-fought tech markets like chips and Internet services. Rumors of aÂ Salesforce.com hook up with GoogleÂ andÂ Yahoo's continuing search for Web 2.0 companiesÂ also are stoking investor interest.
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(InfoWorld) - Intel'sÂ deal with STMicroelectronics to create a new semiconductor company was a hit this week with IT investors, who continue to reward bold merger and acquisition moves in hard-fought tech markets like chips and Internet services. Rumors of aÂ Salesforce.com hook up with GoogleÂ andÂ Yahoo's continuing search for Web 2.0 companiesÂ also are stoking investor interest. Intel's deal with ST allows them to get immediate cash for money-losing operations while laying claim to future profits in the flash market. They are spinning off flash memory units into a new company, which will borrow money to pay the parent corporations cash for the deal: $432 million for Intel and $468 million for ST. The new company, as yet unnamed, will have annual revenue of $3.6 billion, ahead of rival Spansion, which is itself a spinoff from AMD. There were shadows on the deal, however. Though parts of the flash market are hot because the components go into cell phones and digital cameras, Intel has been losing money for years on its NOR flash memory products, more suited for storing code than multimedia files and considered less of a growth market than other areas of the flash sector. On balance, traders saw the deal as a clever way of protecting the parents while reaping immediate rewards for the investments they have made. When the deal was announced Tuesday, Intel shares rose to $22.99, up $0.36, and ST shares rose to $20.26, up by $0.38. Investors have been excited about deals in the most competitive areas of technology, including mature enterprise software as well as the burgeoning Internet services arena. Rumors of a possible new deal between Salesforce and Google this week combined interest in precisely these areas. Discussions between the two companies, reported Monday by The Wall Street Journal, played into long-time speculation that an outright acquisition of Salesforce would make sense: In one stroke, it would give Google a solid foothold in enterprise software-as-a-service technology, and it would give Salesforce the vast resources of the high-flying Internet search champion. The companies already cooperate in the development of a number of software projects. Salesforce shares jumped to $47.76 Monday, up by $1.96, while Google shares ticked up to $470.60, up by $0.30. The companies, however, remain silent on the matter. Yahoo shares fell Tuesday on the other hand, when officials quashed rumors that the company was going to buy social-networking site Bebo. Yahoo shares fell $0.43 cents to $28.92. While bold moves have been rewarded lately, the long-anticipated move by historically direct-sales vendor Dell into the retail market Thursday failed to get a rise from investors. Dell shares fell Thursday by $0.37 to close at $25.89. Financially beleaguered Dell, suffering from price pressure and competition from a rejuvenated Hewlett-Packard PC unit, has been applauded lately for getting serious about cost-cutting measures and a more flexible sales strategy. But a potential boost from the entrance in retail, which will seeÂ Dell selling desktop PCs at Wal-Mart, may have been dampened by the overall down market. Remarks this week by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan about the potential fragility of China's economic expansion weighed heavy on the technology-oriented Nasdaq. The Nasdaq, which has been riding high on strong technology company revenue this quarter, closed at 2537.92 Thursday, down by 39.13. Sometimes macroeconomic concerns trump sector issues.
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(InfoWorld) - The investment arm of chip maker Intel said Thursday it agreed to invest $65 million in Powertech Technology, a Taiwanese chip assembler that specializes in flash memory and DRAM (dynamic RAM). Intel Capital said the funds, along with capital from other investors Powertech expects to bring on board, will be used as working capital to support the continued growth of its operations. Intel is an active customer of Powertech, it said in a statement, and led the round of financing for Powertech. The announcement came as no surprise in Taiwan, where Chinese-language media had been reporting such a deal between Intel and Powertech was in the works. The investment is one indication of how competitive the NAND flash memory chip business has become, and the importance of Powertech's services. Intel entered the NAND flash memory fray byÂ partnering with Micron Technology, a deal the two companies announced in late 2005, and started early last year under the name IM Flash Technologies. They entered an already competitive industry that included South Korean heavyweights Samsung ElectronicsÂ and Hynix Semiconductor, as well as NAND flash developer SanDisk. NAND flash chips have become popular thanks to widespread use for song storage in digital music players, including Apple's iPod Shuffle and iPod nano. One bottleneck in NAND flash production is in chip assembly, where companies seal the chips inside protective coverings, the final step in the making of a chip. Powertech specializes in memory chip assembly, including NAND flash memory as well as DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) DRAM chips. The NAND business has hit a few speed bumps recently. The popularity of the chips caused companies to build too many new NAND production lines, causing a glut of chips on the market and sending prices tumbling. SanDisk announced a few weeks ago that it planned to lay off 10 percent of its work force in a bid to remain profitable despite steep price cuts on its chips. The Milpitas, California company said NAND flash memory chip prices have dropped 50 percent in the last two months.