...Taiwan, Sweden, and Denmark, which moved into the top five this year and are quickly closing in on the United States, according to the study, which compares the IT industry environments of 66 economies to determine the extent to which they enable IT sector competitiveness.

Taiwan said it will not drop its trade litigation against the EU over the its alleged violation of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) by imposing duties on some high-tech exports from the island that should be duty-free. The decision, announced by a senior official of Taiwan's Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), came despite the EU's proposal Monday to expand the list of IT products exempt from customs duties. "The EU's new initiative will not influence our position to solve the case through the WTO, said the official.

A New York-based law firm has named MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. the target of a class action suit, alleging that the company and its CEO failed to disclose production problems that adversely impacted its financial results for the quarter ended June 30.

The US$227-million deal with Tianwei New Energy Wafer, a manufacturer of silicon wafers and photovoltaic cells, calls for the sale and delivery of polysilicon to Tianwei over a 10-year period beginning in mid-2010. The contract adds to an existing US$284-million supply contract signed in August, bringing Tianwei's total orders to US$511 million over the next decade.

Market share figures from iSuppli Corp, show that Spansion has seen NOR flash growth of 7.5% in the second quarter of 2008, reaching nearly 40% overall market share. Spansion is now the third largest supplier in the overall flash memory market rankings. Spansion said that it had now surpassed its nearest rival Numonyx.

Since the program launched in January, NTIA has received 27 million requests from 14 million US households, Meredith Baker, acting NTIA chief, told the subcommittee. Approximately 10 million, or 49%, of those coupons have been redeemed at local retailers. At this point, the agency is averaging 111,000 coupon requests per day.

LDK Solar, a manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers, has signed an 11-year processing service agreement to process upgraded metallurgical grade solar-grade silicon provided by Germany-based Q-Cells into wafers. Under the terms of the agreement, LDK Solar will process a minimum of 20,000 metric tons of upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) solar-grade silicon in the years 2008-2018, with an option to process an additional 21,000 metric tons during the same period.

Currently, a vast majority of all liquid crystal displays in the market are cut from large sheets of glass and are processed separately. This revolutionary roll-to-roll production line enables Kent Displays to efficiently and rapidly produce large quantities of flexible LCDs.

...Cisco, Intel, let's say they bought 15 companies last year. This year, they may only buy eight. That's impacted by the stock market because they have less money to invest," Heeson said. "When a VC invests in a tech the ultimate goal is for that company to go public or get acquired. What happened today in a very unsettled market is it will now be even harder to go public than it has been. That will affect small tech companies for at least the next six months...

T-Mobile USA plans to begin selling the first smart phone powered by Google new mobile software late next month, according to people familiar with the matter, facing off against Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry with a device that blends aspects of both. The phone's manufacturer, HTC, forecasts sales that are rosier than analysts' estimates. HTC says it expects to ship 600,000 to 700,000 units of the smart phone, dubbed the Dream, this year, a person close to the situation said Monday.

Under pressure from the United States and Asia, the European Union proposed Monday to eliminate taxes on imports of newly developed high-tech goods in the hope of avoiding a lengthy and costly World Trade Organization dispute. The US, Japan and Taiwan all filed suit earlier this year over European tariffs on flat-panel computer monitors, cable and satellite boxes that can access the Internet, and printers that can also scan, fax and copy.

Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's largest computer company, says it plans to cut 24,600 jobs, almost 8% of its workforce, to streamline its business. The cuts will take place over the next three years as it combines operations with Electronic Data Systems, the technology company it recently bought.