IBM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES this week announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES will acquire IBM’s global commercial semiconductor technology business, including IBM’s intellectual property, technologists and technologies. IBM will pay GLOBALFOUNDRIES $1.5 billion in cash over the next three years to take the chip operations off its hands. The cash consideration will be adjusted by the amount of working capital which is estimated to be $200 million.

Capped by last week’s announcement that Qualcomm Inc. would buy CSR PLC, the automotive semiconductor industry recently has been undergoing a wave of merger and acquisition activity that has shaken up the competitive order of the market, according to IHS Technology.

Adlyte Inc., a developer of high-brightness extreme light sources for advanced semiconductor inspection and metrology applications, announced it has reached a key performance benchmark for its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source for high-volume manufacturing (HVM)-readiness.

Gigaphoton Inc., a lithography light source manufacturer, announced that it has succeeded in achieving 3-hour continuous operation of its prototype LPP EUV light source at 50 percent duty cycle and 42-W output, equivalent to usage in a high-volume-manufacturing (HVM) environment.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.17 billion in orders worldwide in September 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.94, according to the September EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 0.94 means that $94 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Extreme-ultraviolet lithography systems will be available to pattern critical layers of semiconductors at the 10-nanometer process node, and EUV will completely take over from 193nm immersion lithography equipment at 7nm, according to Martin van den Brink, president and chief technology officer of ASML Holding.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.35 billion in orders worldwide in August 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.04, according to the August EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 1.04 means that $104 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Rudolph Technologies has introduced its new SONUS Technology for measuring thick films and film stacks used in copper pillar bumps and for detecting defects, such as voids, in through silicon vias (TSVs).

Samsung Electronics announced this week that it has begun mass producing its six gigabit (Gb) low-power double data rate 3 (LPDDR3) mobile DRAM, based on advanced 20 nanometer (nm) process technology. The new mobile memory chip will enable longer battery run-time and faster application loading on large screen mobile devices with higher resolution.

ProPlus Design Solutions, Inc. announced this week it expanded its sales operations to Europe.

Mentor Graphics this week announced the appointment of Glenn Perry to the role of vice president of the company’s Embedded Systems Division. The Mentor Graphics Embedded Systems Division enables embedded development for a variety of applications including automotive, industrial, smart energy, medical devices, and consumer electronics.

Himax Technologies, Inc., a supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, and Lumus, a producer of Augmented Reality glasses, announced another joint initiative to continue developing the next-generation of smart glasses that will set new technological standards in image quality and performance.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.41 billion in orders worldwide in July 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.07, according to the July EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published this week by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 1.07 means that $107 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Intel Corporation and Unity Technologies this week announced a strategic collaboration to advance the development of Android-based applications on Intel architecture. The agreement accelerates Intel’s mobility push as millions of developers using the Unity development platform can now bring native Android games and other apps to Intel-based mobile devices. Unity adds support for Android across all of Intel’s current and future processors including both the Intel Core and Intel Atom processor families.

MediaTek this week announced the establishment of a new research and development facility in Bengaluru, India. The new R&D facility will focus on developing innovative and inclusive solutions for wireless communications and establish MediaTek’s presence in other core segments such as connectivity and home entertainment devices.

Amkor Technology, Inc. announced that David Watson has been appointed as a new member of the Company’s Board of Directors. With this appointment, Amkor’s Board has been expanded to nine members. Mr. Watson is currently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Comcast Cable. In this role Mr. Watson oversees the teams responsible for day-to-day operations of the cable division, including sales and marketing of cable video, high-speed Internet and voice services, as well as oversight of the three operating divisions and Comcast Spotlight, the advertising sales unit.

STATS ChipPAC Ltd., a provider of advanced semiconductor packaging and test services, announced this week that it has shipped over 100 million semiconductor packages with the company’s fcCuBE technology, advanced flip chip packaging with fine pitch copper (Cu) column bumps, Bond-on-Lead (BOL) interconnection and enhanced assembly processes.

Intersil Corporation, a provider of power management and precision analog solutions, announced the ISL98611 display power and LED driver for smartphones. The ISL98611 is the first power management IC that integrates the display power and backlight LED driver functions in a single chip. It significantly improves efficiency of both functions to increase smartphone battery life by an hour or more.

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments increased during the first quarter 2014 when compared to fourth quarter 2013 area shipments according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry. Total silicon wafer area shipments were 2,364 million square inches during the most recent quarter, a 7.1 percent increase from the 2,208 million square inches shipped during the previous quarter. New quarterly total area shipments are 11.1 percent higher than first quarter 2013 shipments.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.44 billion in orders worldwide in April 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.03, according to the April EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 1.03 means that $103 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

KLA-Tencor Corporation announced the Teron SL650, a new reticle quality control solution for IC fabs that supports 20nm design nodes and beyond. With 193nm illumination and multiple STARlight optical technologies, the Teron SL650 provides the sensitivity and flexibility required to assess incoming reticle quality, monitor reticle degradation and detect yield- critical reticle defects, such as haze growth or contamination in patterned and open areas. In addition, the Teron SL650’s industry-leading production throughput supports the fast cycle times required to qualify the increased number of reticles associated with advanced multi- patterning techniques.