Increased die-size and a freewheeling Schottky diode are refining the SiC chip maker's transistors to meet the needs of hybrid electric engine electronics.

In what looks like a major boost for power amplifier suppliers Anadigics and RF Micro Devices, WiMAX gets a $3.2bn shot in the arm as Clearwire targets half of the US population with broadband wireless.

After Skyworks bought Freescale's business producing power amplifiers for cellphones, the former Motorola fab's remaining work is moved to foundries.

IBM Corp. officially announces today a next-generation version of its Cell processor geared for computer servers, the PowerXCell which aims to deliver supercomputing to a broad group of IBM BladeCenter server users.

PicoChip Designs Ltd., a fabless chip company focused on wireless basestation applications, is getting ready to tape-out its fourth generation of multicore DSP chips while also planning an architectural refresh to allow it to take chips to higher performance.

The MathWorks has built new parallel processing techniques into its flagship MatLab environment, and startup Exludus Technologies, Inc. is preparing an enhanced release of its scheduling middleware for X86 servers, the latest examples of companies tackling the challenge in automating

NXP's Theo Claasen said at the International Electronics Forum in Dubai that there should be at most 50 IC companies, down from the current 450, and that differentiation between them will come not through advanced processes, which should be left

Nanda Technologies GmbH (Unterschleissheim, Germany), a company offering wafer inspection technology, has raised $8 million (about 5 million euro) in a Series B round led by Deutsche Effecten-und Wechsel-Beteiligungsgesellschaft AG (DEWB) and BrainsToVentures AG (b-to-v), a business angel network.

Japan's Fujitsu Ltd reported a 40percent fall in quarterly profit on Monday, hurt by restructuring in its microchip operations, but it forecast that its annual profit would more than double this year on its IT outsourcing operations.

Japan's Nikon Corp. said its quarterly operating profit rose 48 percent thanks to sales of advanced cameras and chip-making equipment, but it predicted afall in operating profit this year.

A semiconductor industry forecast predicts 12-precent growth this year despite a shaky U.S. economy.

Lightspeed Venture Partners (Menlo Park, Calif.) has said it has closed Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII LP capitalized with $800 million of limited partner commitments, above the firm's target of $675 million.

Multigig Inc., a provider of chip clock and timing solutions, has closed its Series B round of funding for $12.5 million.

Zilog, Inc. last week made a long overdue decision to solidify its 32-bit MCU strategy by licensing ARM's Cortex M3 processor. The company's broader 32-bit move seems inevitable, but it may have come too late.

Intel was one of the main winners in the second European 2.6GHz spectrum auction, in Sweden, which raised SEK 2.1 billion (about $350 million) after a grueling 112 rounds of bidding over 16 days.

Hewlett-Packard Co. is in talks to buy technology outsourcing company Electronic Data Systems Corp for $12 billion to $13 billion, seeking to better compete with the top computer services company, IBM.

Two solar-cell suppliers--HelioVolt and SunPower--have separately claimed world records in the arena.