Smartphone vendor High Tech Computer (HTC) will acquire graphics chip maker S3 Graphics for US$300 million, strengthening its patent portfolio in the process.
With the acquisition, HTC will obtain S3 Graphics' portfolio of 235 patents and pending applications, including a number covering graphics visualization technologies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is vying with Intel to become the first company to sell three-dimensional chips that boost the density of transistors in a single semiconductor by up to 1000 times.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, could make its first 3D chips commercially available before the end of 2011, according to a person close to the situation who requested anonymity.
Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), one of the world's largest R&D organizations, has developed e-paper technology which it expects to be used mainly as easily updated signage and posters in shops and other public areas.
ITRI demonstrated prototypes of the e-paper that it aims to commercialize in two years.
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