semiconductors

Billions of microscopic cells on a single chip will soon add eight gigabytes of nonvolatile memory to smartphones and other devices, creating new possibilities for mobile applications and potentially lowering prices in the long term. IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between chipmakers Intel and Micron Technology, on Monday unveiled a 64-gigabit NAND flash die based on 25-nanometer process technology.

The new process doubles the density of the partnership's previous milestone creation, a 32-gigabit die based on 34-nanometer technology. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

Qualcomm was the chipmaker of choice for some of the highest-profile tech gadgets unveiled the week of the Consumer Electronics Show -- in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Not only do Qualcomm chips run the Google Nexus One smartphone introduced in Mountain View, Calif., on Jan. 5, but they're also under the hood of computers shown off at CES by Hewlett-Packard. HP and Lenovo are working on smartbooks, scaled-down personal computers, based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor.

A team of researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have set a new record for solar cell efficiency.  A new multi-cell combination can convert 43 percent of sunlight to electricity, beating the previous record of 42.7 percent.  While it's not a huge leap ahead, it does get us closer to that pivotal 50 percent mark.

Sony unveiled a new PlayStation 3 video-game console Wednesday with a slimmer form factor, a 120GB hard drive and a price that's more competitive with the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360. The new model is called the PS3 Slim.

The smaller PS3 is expected to be available Sept. 1 with a retail price of $299, and Sony said new game titles will roll out in time for the holiday shopping season. Analysts said a cheaper PS3 is the right strategy at this stage in the console's life cycle, but some suggested it may be too late for Sony to launch a comeback.

The global technology industry may have passed a turning point, showing a marked recovery in recent weeks after an extraordinarily deep downturn, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Production of semiconductors, computers, mobile phones and other electronic equipment is still considerably below pre-crisis levels but has rebounded strongly from the end of 2008 and early 2009, the organization says in a report set for publication this week.

Work on a $4.2 billion chip plant supplying Advanced Micro Devices Inc. starts Friday in a woodsy patch of upstate New York -- across the Atlantic from AMD's sister factories and in the middle of a recession.

Even as the United States continues to bleed manufacturing jobs, AMD spinoff GlobalFoundries Inc. and its competitors in the chip industry are sinking billions into U.S. factories.

Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba Corp. tumbled to a record annual loss amid sinking global demand that has forced it to cut thousands of jobs.

Toshiba reported Friday a 343.6 billion yen ($3.5 billion) net loss for the fiscal year ended March, compared with a 127.4 billion yen profit a year earlier. It was the company's biggest loss ever and its first annual net loss in seven years.

The Tokyo-based company's annual sales declined 13 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($67.2 billion) largely due to faltering business in semiconductors as well as digital equipment and home electronics.

Taiwan's government said it wants the island's ailing memory chip industry to choose between America's Micron Technology Inc. and Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. to help the chip makers consolidate and end a string of massive losses.

The island's six makers of DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips have suffered from a glut of supply as the global economic slump saps demand for electronics and machinery run with semiconductors.

Sony sent a message of change Friday in centering power in Chief Executive Howard Stringer, who will also become president and gain greater say over its core electronics business as Japan's iconic electronics maker tackles a painful global slump.

Welsh-born American Stringer, the first foreigner to head Sony Corp., replaces Ryoji Chubachi, who steps down as president April 1 but remains on the board as vice chairman to oversee quality and ecological strategy, and support the new management team.