ProMOS Technologies has been allowed to extend repayment on a NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) loan for six months, becoming the first among Taiwan's DRAM makers to be given repayment extension from bank creditors, the Chinese-language reported today.

Acer and Asustek Computer have both found new confidence after seeing booming sales of their netbooks in the US during the year-end holiday season, and have set high sales targets for netbooks in 2009, according to market sources.

Lin Chuan, chairman of Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS), has been accused of a cover up in efforts to shelter Great Chinese Bills Finance from alleged involvement in the Rebar scandal. Lin responded by denying any misconductduring his posti...

The compact and lightweight Acer Aspire One integrates basic computing features and connectivity, winning itself a WinHEC 2008 Award. The Aspire One is an Intel Atom-based netbook series, which measures 240x170mm and weighs less than 1kg.

Consumer IC demand in the first quarter of 2009 is expected to decline 20-30% compared to previous years because distributors in China have held back from placing orders, according to industry sources.

Taiwan's leading LED chipmaker Epistar estimates a 38% drop in December 2008 revenues to about NT$400 million (US$12 million), marking the lowest monthly level of 2008, according to market sources. The company expects to see revenues decline further...

Performances of Taiwan IC design houses were generally not satisfactory in December 2008, with some expected to report an over 30% sequential sales decline. The IC designers do not expect their sales to recover at least until March, according to indu...

China's State Council has given the nod for its administrative branch to issue the long-awaited 3G licenses to the country's telecom service operators, paving the way for a take-off of commercialized 3G services in 2009, according to media reports in...

Although LCD panel makers expect prices for monitor and notebook applications to rebound to cash cost levels in February 2009, prices may remain flat or start to drop in March and April 2009, according to market sources.

IC distributors believe that players in the upstream supply chain will have a stable January, defying market observers' previous predictions that their sales for the month would decline sharply, and that they will outperform downstream system makers...

Some notebook vendors have voiced hopes that Intel will consider postponing the launch of its next-generation Calpella platform to after October 2009 instead of July/August as originally scheduled so as to allow vendors more time to clear Centrino 2...

Memory packaging and testing house Powertech Technology (PTI) may experience a sequential sales drop of 20-25% in the first quarter of 2009, as a result of DRAM production cutbacks, according to company chairman DK Tsai. In addition to the revenue de...

Transcend Information announced today the release of its DDR3-1333 triple channel memory kits for use with Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express chipset motherboards.

The US government has mandated all full-power television stations switch from analog to digital signals on February 17, brining lots of opportunities for digital broadcasting chips, according to a Chinese-language report.

Following AMD's recent update to it 45nm consumer desktop CPU schedule, sources at motherboard makers have revealed the company also plans to launch six 45nm processors for its business class lineup in the third quarter of 2009.

According to the Taiwan-based Industrial Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS), total handset shipments in China in the third quarter of 2008 had an increase of 6% compared to the same period of 2007, the Chinese-language reported. Shipments of fi...

Nanya Technology will submit its application to Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for government bailout funds by the end of this week, in a partnership with Micron Technology, today's Chinese-language Apple Daily reported.

Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom (APBT) and Vibo Telecom, two comparatively small operators of 3G mobile communication services in Taiwan, expect their 2009 revenues to increase 18.9% and 90.7%, respectively, from 2008, according to the Chinese-languag...

Firich Enterprises, a Taiwan-based maker of POS (point of sale/service) equipment/devices, plans to start volume production of ViVi POS, electronic cash registers with basic POS functions and specifically designed for small chain stores and independe...

Worldwide sales of semiconductors declined to US$20.8 billion in November, down 9.8% from US$23.1 billion in November 2007, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported on January 2. Sales were 7.2% lower than the US$22.4 billion in October...

The TV IC market grew 14.8% on quarter with 34.5 million units shipped for flat panel TVs in the third quarter, but that was only up 11.1% on year as developed markets have completed their transition to flat panel TV, according to DisplaySearch.

Qimonda AG announced on January 2 that it has submitted a business plan outlining definitive actions that the company is already taking to comply again with the market capitalization standard and to increase the price of its American depositary share...

Quanta Computer's own brand Syspine VoIP phone system has won a WinHEC 2008 award in the industrial design category. Quanta and Microsoft spent three years developing this IP telephony system which aims at small-scaled companies with up to 50 people.