Elpida Memory has asked about 10 of its client companies for US$500 million in financial assistance to boost its cash on hand as it struggles with the yen's strength and a fall in memory chip prices, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported in its Thursday morning edition.

Samsung Electronics has won government approval for its plans to set up a memory-chip factory in China.

Charging a mobile phone by simply using a solar charging panel on the back cover is possible but challenging, Nokia has concluded after ending a research project on the subject.

The world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones is set to report a robust quarterly profit rise on Friday, starting 2012 on an upbeat note aided by record-smashing sales of smartphones.

Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest companies, told employees to brace for intense competition in a weak global economy as the government called for contingency planning.

LDK Solar Co. (LDK)'s plan to buy Germany's Sunways AG (SWW) provides China's second-largest solar-panel maker with access to new technology and a distribution network in the world's biggest photovoltaic market.

But he said that the biggest goal was stability, and that aid-for-disarmament talks could resume if Pyongyang halted its nuclear activities.

Adding to a recent US Department of the Interior (DoI) announcement of two new renewable energy projects being approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the construction of a further two projects - a utility-scale solar power plant in California and a transmission line for a wind farm in Oregon.

The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) has announced that German solar power producers have increased electricity output this year by 60 percent over 2010 to 18 billion kWh. This is more than three percent of total power output volumes.

Two Eastman Kodak directors resigned from the board last week, the struggling photography company said in a filing with regulators on Tuesday.

SK Telecom won the antitrust regulator's approval to acquire a 21% stake in Hynix Semiconductor, bringing South Korea's biggest mobile-phone carrier one step closer to completing the transaction.

Elpida Memory fell in Tokyo trading after the Asahi newspaper said it may seek a delay in repaying public funds.

China's Alibaba Group has hired a US lobbying firm, fuelling further speculation that it is preparing a bid for Yahoo.

The troubled single currency also hit a one-year low against the US dollar, hitting $1.2887.

Rohm is scheduled to resume full-scale production of all products affected by the flooding in Thailand on January 1, 2012.

US Congressman Bill Owens will arrive in Taipei Wednesday to visit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to discuss a possible investment plan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).