German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out against the prospect of EU action against China over alleged dumping of solar products, calling for the dispute to be solved by talks rather than trade tariffs.

India may auction a third of the solar projects planned by 2017 in the current financial year to double the nation's sun-powered capacity as it seeks additional clean-energy investments to combat power shortages.

Beijing's attempt to make the renminbi a global currency took a step forward on Friday with an agreement that will let banks in Taiwan clear transactions in the Chinese currency.

SEMI has announced the introduction of 450 Central (www.semi.org/450), a web-based information service to help the semiconductor industry efficiently transition to 450mm-ready solutions and keep the industry informed of important news and perspectives on 450mm wafer processing.

US private equity firm KKR & Co has approached struggling Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics and its shareholders with an offer of investment, people with knowledge of the proposal said Wednesday.

About 20 bondholders of Elpida Memory are negotiating with alternative sponsors to replace a takeover offer by Micron Technology they consider too low, a representative said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks talks involving the European Commission and Chinese authorities to prevent the opening of anti-dumping proceedings against Chinese solar-panel makers in Europe.

An Italian court has filed criminal charges against an investment fund controlled by China's Suntech Power Holdings, the world's largest maker of solar panels, accusing it of illegally building solar farms to milk state subsidies.

According to media reports, criminal charges have been filed in Italy against the Global Solar Fund, S.C.A., Sicar (GSF). It is claimed the company "illegally" built solar farms in the country in order to take advantage of available subsidies. The trial is scheduled to begin on December 6.

According to German news agency, dpa, in a bid to ease political tensions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) is hoping to find a solution to avoid a solar trade dispute between Europe and China.

Among the veritable smorgasbord of new Windows 8 systems unveiled today at IFA is the latest iteration of Samsung's Series 5 ultrabook.

Touch Taiwan 2012 kicked off amid much fanfare Aug 29 at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall, showcasing the island's latest offerings of display and touch technologies.

China's solar industry hopes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Beijing on Thursday will help resolve disputes which may severely harm bilateral trade ties.

Q-Cells has announced that the South Korea-based Hanwha Group has won its bid to take the insolvent Germany company over.

Apple and Qualcomm were rebuffed in separate attempts to invest cash with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in a bid to secure exclusive access to smartphone chips, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Prior to joining Globalfoundries, Bruce Kleinman served as corporate VP of platform marketing at Xilinx, where he led product marketing, product planning and technical marketing.

AUO announced that it will participate in Touch Taiwan 2012 from August 29 to 31 and bring a full lineup of advanced display technologies and product total solutions.

Worth Reading? Screens for Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, the much-rumored high resolution upgrade to the company's entry-level mainstream notebook, are already in production according to analyst whispers.