"The whole chip sector is just on fire," Mr. Harrington said.
Strong smartphone sales drove revenue in the communications chip sector to $80 billion in 2010.
It sets them up to divest if the chip sector boom should turn white hot.
The broader market was mixed, with technology issues slipping on signs of further weakness in the chip sector.
Intel's earnings report came after a drop in shares on Monday after an analyst at Merrill Lynch became the latest to downgrade the chip sector.
Taiwan Memory, a chip maker set up by the Taiwan government to reorganize the island's own struggling chip sector, will also invest 20 billion yen in Elpida, the ministry said.
The Semiconductor Industry Association on Wednesday cut its forecast for growth in global sales of semiconductors in 2008, citing lower prices because of competition in the memory chip sector.
HONG KONG — Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., the largest contract chip maker in China, said Tuesday that its long-serving chief executive had been replaced by another industry veteran, which could pave the way for consolidation in the Chinese chip sector.
UBS cut its rating on the global DRAM chip sector to neutral this month because of worries about an oversupply of chips, and Citigroup says it expects prices to drop 30 percent later this year from the first half.
