1.   Altera is one of a handful of chip companies that rose amid optimism that the industrywide slump may be easing.

2.   AMD joins a string of U.S., Japanese and Korean chip companies expanding production in Europe.

3.   Analysts said they believe that Korean chip companies are selling inventory at almost any price to get the U.S. dollars they need.

4.   And when chip companies make less money, they order less equipment, which puts the equipment industry into a tailspin.

5.   Around the world, chip companies are cutting jobs, postponing or canceling projects and cutting costs wherever they can to cope with lower revenue.

6.   Arizona-based companies here include CDI Technical Services, an engineering, drafting and design firm, and ON Semiconductor Corp., a chip company.

7.   As sales of computers, mobile phones and networking equipment have dropped, most chip companies have seen flagging demand for their products.

8.   ASAT, Inc., a chip packaging company based in Palo Alto, California, ordered the semiconductor wafer to produce one of its chip packages.

9.   Asian economies, where chip companies did big business until the currency crisis that struck last fall, are starting to show signs of life, Edelstone said.

10.   A spate of chip companies rose this week amid optimism that the industry slowdown may be reaching an end.