SiliconBeat

Electroglas, the San Jose supplier of wafer testing tools to the chip making industry, filed for bankruptcy protection saying that “as a result of the global economic recession, demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment has declined dramatically,” according to a press release it issued.

Earlier today the company filed notice with the SEC that its chief executive  served notice Read the rest of this entry »

In case they haven’t gotten the message already, Asyst Technologies advised investors today in an SEC filing that its shares will probably be worthless before the liquidation process is over in its current bankruptcy proceedings.

The company has struggled over the last year in its ultimately unsuccessful attempt to Read the rest of this entry »

Spansion, the bankrupt Sunnyvale flash memory maker that gave its executives a retention-based pay raise in February the same day it fired 3,000 workers, named its fourth chief financial officer in less than five months.

Randy Furr was named to replace Nathan Sarkisian, who served as interim CFO since May 20 when he replaced the previous Read the rest of this entry »

Aviza Technology, the Scotts Valley supplier of condsemiconductor manufacturing equipment, filed for bankruptcy protection this morning on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries Aviza and Trikon Technologies, according to a company release.

Last month the company’s lenders notified Aviza that it was in default on its credit agreements, demanding that Read the rest of this entry »

Aviza Technology, which itself notified the Nasdaqlisi stock market last week that it would not comply with its financial reporting rules because of its failure to timely file its quarterly 10-Q report with the SEC, received word back from Nasdaq last week confirming that, yep, it is subject to being delisted.

The company has 60 days to submit a plant to regain compliance, and if Nasdaq accepts the plan, could be granted an exception of up to Read the rest of this entry »

Starting tomorrow, Spansion’s shares will no longer trade on the Nasdaq exchange, according to a filing the flash memory maker made Wednesday.

In its statement filed with the SEC, Spansion said it “does not expect the delisting to have Read the rest of this entry »

Applied Micro Devices became the latest victim of the bankruptcy of Spansion, a company it helped bring into being in a joint venture with Fujitsu that eventually was spun out into a separate public company.

As part of its reorganization, Spansion filed a motion in which it indicated that it does not intend to Read the rest of this entry »

Vermillion, the biotech company formerly known as Ciphergen Biosystems, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after losing four of the directors on its board the week before, when it also received the the asked-for resignations of its CEO, interim chief financial officer, and vice president in charge of business development.

None of the director resignations were “the result of any disagreement” with the company, and the senior executives quit “for the sole reason of conserving Company resources”, according to the filing announcing the news.

We first wrote about Vermillion in September 2007 when we noted that Phronesis Partners, an Ohio-based hedge fund that takes its name from a Greek term used by the philosopher Aristotle to denote “practical wisdom,” or “prudence,” disclosed that it was Vermillion’s largest shareholder then the largest owner of of a company that has yet to show a profit and has accumulated losses to the tune of $218 million since its founding in 1993.

Two days before defaulting on $266 million worth of debt obligations, chip-maker Spansion agreed to give its newly hired chief executive, John Kispert, a four-month advance on his $900,000 annual salary, an advance he won’t have to pay back should he quit before four months have elapsed.

He was also guaranteed a $1.75 million bonus contingent upon Read the rest of this entry »

Sanmina-SCI, the San Jose-based electronics contract manufacturer, estimated in its quarterly filing with the SEC today that its “maximum exposure” was $20 million related to Nortel Networks, which filed  to reorganize under bankruptcy protection on Jan. 14.

Sanmina “considered collectibility of accounts receivable and determined that certain amounts may not be collectible.  Therefore, the Company deferred recognition of revenue in the amount of $5.0 million for shipments made during the three months ended December 27, 2008.”

The company also “determined that certain inventory balances may not be recoverable and provided a reserve for such inventories in the amount of $5.0 million during the three months ended December 27, 2008.”