Elpida

An Apple-related report from Taipei-based DigiTimes lopped $10 billion off Samsung's market value, according to Reuters.

The Taipei-based publisher said on Tuesday that Apple has placed "huge orders for mobile DRAM" chips with Elpida, a Samsung rival.

That news alone drove Samsung's shares down 6 percent, wiping the $10 billion off the market value on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

It also drove memory maker Hynix's shares almost 9 percent lower, the biggest one-day drop in nine months.

Taipei-based DigiTimes is known generally as an Asian manufacturer mouthpiece, with a flair for airing supplier grievances and … Read more

Micron on Thursday confirmed that it is in discussions to acquire Japan-based Elpida, one of the largest memory chip manufacturers in the world.

"Micron Technology...today confirmed it is engaged in discussions with Elpida Memory's trustees to acquire Elpida's business," the Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker said in a statement.

Elpida was formed in 1999 when NEC and Hitachi merged their memory chip businesses. But the price volatility of the memory market eventually took its toll, and the company filed for bankruptcy in February with $5.6 billion of debt, despite having become the world's third-largest maker … Read more

Steve Appleton mirrored the survivalist streak in the company he led.

Micron Technology CEO Appleton died Friday at 51 years old when a high-performance Lancair plane he was piloting crashed at Boise Airport in Idaho.

Lancairs aren't easy to fly. In fact, they're difficult enough that the Federal Aviation Administration gave notice to Lancair operators in 2009 that the planes had a "disproportionate" number of fatal accidents.

Though Lancairs accounted for only 3 percent of the nation's amateur-built airplanes, they accounted for 16 percent of the fatal accidents in the 11 months prior to the … Read more

Intellectual Ventures, founded by former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold, filed three patent infringement lawsuits today against nine companies in the security, memory, and chip markets.

One lawsuit names as defendants Check Point Software Technologies, McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro and accuses them of infringing on four of its patents related to antivirus and Internet security, according to the lawsuit available for download here.

The second suit accuses Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor, makers of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and Flash memory, of infringing between five and seven of its patents. And the final suit alleges that three … Read more

Taiwan's economic affairs minister has retreated from previous statements that suggested a merger of the country's ailing memory chipmakers was likely, saying it's "too complicated," according to reports.

Instead, Taiwan Memory Co., the new government-backed entity, will focus on acquiring technologies and tapping existing manufacturing plants in Taiwan, according to a Bloomberg report.

Economic affairs minister Yiin Chii-ming and John Hsuan, a former United Microelectronics Corp. executive who was appointed by the state to oversee the formation of Taiwan Memory, are also saying that the scale of the aid plans will be pared back, Bloomberg … Read more

Taiwan named a chip industry veteran to head a state-backed company that will merge six memory chipmakers, following pleas from domestic companies desperate for financial aid.

Previous reports had cited an approval for loans, but on Thursday the economic affairs ministry took this a step further and named former United Microelectronics Corp. executive John Hsuan to head a state-backed company, according to Bloomberg. Taiwan's government will hold less than a 50 percent stake.

Taiwan Memory Co. will be established within six months. It has not been decided yet what role Japan's Elpida Memory or U.S.-based Micron … Read more