Intel, Toshiba and Samsung Electronics will reportedly join hands to develop technologies that could more than halve semiconductor line widths to nearly 10 nanometers by 2016. The Nikkei daily today reported that Samsung, Toshiba and Intel will form a consortium and invite about 10 firms operating in semiconductor materials and related fields. The consortium will be also funded by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Samsung Electronics and Toshiba are the world's No. 1 and No. 2 maker of NAND-type memory, respectively. Toshiba and Samsung plan to use the technologies to make 10 nanometer-class NAND flash memory and other chips, while Intel will likely use it to develop faster and more energy-efficient microprocessors.