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Samsung Electronics has been knocked hard on mobile phone design innovation in the last few days, but in what might be a spectacular display of diversionary tactics, it is also doubling down on another significant part of its business — chipmaking. Today, the Dutch semiconductor machine maker ASML announced that Samsung would be investing close to $1 billion — yes, more or less the same amount for which the jury in California held it liable over Apple patent violations on Friday — towards R&D and an equity stake in the business. In doing so, Samsung will be joining Intel, which took a 10% stake in ASML in July for $2.1 billion.

Samsung’s interest in ASML —  along with another investor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s – was registered at the time of the Intel investment, and today’s announcement makes a point of saying that Samsung will “commit” the funds. That implies although the deal isn’t signed, sealed and delivered, Samsung was keen to get some news out quickly that pointed to it coming out fighting in the wake of the bad news delivered on Friday.

ASML describes itself as “one of the world’s leading providers of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry.”

The machines it makes, which employs a technique called extreme ultraviolet lithography, can help speed up the production of more powerful and smaller semiconductors — an essential component of smartphones, tablets and other devices. As Samsung pointed out in its internal memo to employees in response to the jury verdict, Apple is one of its most important customers for this part of the business.

Under the terms of the “commitment” announced today, ASML says that Samsung Electronics will put €276 million ($345 million) into ASML’s research and development program over the next five years. The company had targeted total backing of €1.38 billion for that R&D program, and it says that has now been met.

Separately to this, Samsung will also investing €503 million ($629 million) for a 3% equity stake in ASML. In total, Samsung, Intel and TSMC have 23% of ASML, equivalent to €3.85 billion, which will get returned to shareholders in a share buyback scheme.

Provided that Samsung has to pay the full penalties recommended by the jury, and that it follows through on its ASML investment, that $2 billion potentially will weigh heavy on profits in a typical quarter, especially if there are any injunctions attached to the first of those. In Q2, Samsung Electronics made $6 billion in operating profits — essentially, the news of the last couple of days would have wiped out one-third of that.

Worth pointing out that at the moment, the shining star for Samsung is its mobile phone business — which includes its Galaxy line of Android-based smartphones, the same ones that were the subject of the lost U.S. lawsuit. At the same time, its chip business actually declined by 6% in terms of revenue — a sign that Samsung needs to continue investing in the division to keep it in fighting form.

While we will still have to wait and see if Samsung will have to pay up the full amount of damages, and whether it will have longer injunctive effects, the ramifications have already come out in short-term investor activity. Just look at the drop in how Samsung’s stock performed in trading this morning, dropping nearly 8%:

(via Yahoo Finance)

Harnessing the power of the sun is a tricky business, but even the past few weeks have seen some interesting developments in the field. In this latest installment, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California have figured out a way of making solar cells from any semiconductor, potentially reducing the cost of their production. You see, efficient solar cells require semiconductors to be chemically modified for the current they produce to flow in one direction. The process uses expensive materials and only works with a few types of semiconductors, but the team’s looking at using ones which aren’t normally suitable — the magic is to apply an electrical field to them. This field requires energy, but what’s consumed is said to be a tiny fraction of what the cell’s capable of producing when active, and it means chemical modification isn’t needed.

The concept of using a field to standardize the flow of juice isn’t a new one, but the team’s work on the geometrical structure of the cells has made it a reality, with a couple of working prototypes to satisfy the skeptics. More of these are on the way, as their focus has shifted to which semiconductors can offer the best efficiency at the lowest cost. And when the researchers have answered that question, there’s nothing left to do but get cracking on commercial production. For the full scientific explanation, hit up the links below.

Filed under: Science

Researchers make unsuitable parts work as solar cells, could lead to cheaper panels originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset is certainly hot (well, not too hot), but it looks like demand is expected to grow even further, causing the San Diego-based SoC maker to turn to allies in the east to help beef up supply. According to China Economic News Service, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Korea-based Samsung will join Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to manufacturer the 28nm chips beginning later this year, in an attempt to increase S4 availability ahead of the Windows RT launch. The article cites Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs as saying that a shortage is expected to continue, due to the complicated techniques necessary to manufacturer 28nm chips, and that the company may consider adding its own manufacturing plant in the future. All in all, it doesn’t seem like a terrible position for QCOM to be in. Full details are at the Taiwanese source link below.

Qualcomm enlists Samsung, UMC to help meet 28nm Snapdragon S4 demand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s no question that Micron has shifted its focus away from PCs in favor of producing components, shipping everything from SSDs to CMOS sensors in recent years, but the semiconductor manufacturer just took a $2.5 billion step even closer to bridging its gap between other companies in the same market, including Samsung, the chip producer’s top competitor. Under the deal, Elpida Memory, which is headquartered in Tokyo, will fall within the Idaho-based conglomerate’s growing umbrella, netting Micron a 50-percent boost in production capability. That increase did come at great expense, however — the transaction included $750 million in cash and $1.75 billion in future installments (1,750 easy payments of one million dollars?), which are set to continue through 2019. The acquisition was also paired with a 24-percent stake in Rexchip Electronics for an additional $334 million, which will complement Elpida’s investment, yielding a total 89-percent stake for Micron. While the amount does seem quite significant, investors appear to be on board, with Micron’s stock ($MU) currently up more than 4 percent since this morning. Both deals will reportedly close within the next year.

Micron scoops up Elpida Memory, 50-percent production boost for $2.5 billion originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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