Applied Materials investors cheered the appointment of a seasoned executive Wednesday.

China's top television brands still rely on Taiwanese panel makers for niche-size and high-end products, despite the increasing capacity of China's domestic firms, a research note by Swiss bank Credit Suisse said.

Vizio on Wednesday announced that it had shipped more LCD HDTVs than any other vendor in the first quarter of 2012. The company captured an 18.5% market share of the LCD HDTV industry, increasing 3.5% quarter-over-quarter, and a 27.5% overall share.

Spansion announced that Freescale Semiconductor has selected Spansion serial peripheral interface flash memory to provide its new Vybrid automotive and industrial solutions platforms with a simplified, high-bandwidth memory subsystem.

Qualcomm has just confirmed that it will supply its dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset to power future Windows phones.

Micron Technology has acquired Intel's 18% interest in IM Flash Singapore and the assets of IM Flash Technologies located at Micron's Virginia wafer fab. At the same time the scope of the JV between Intel and Micron has been expanded to include certain emerging memory technologies and Intel has prepaid US$300 million against future purchases of NAND flash memory.

Philips Lumileds announced the Luxeon Z series of LEDs with models across the color space from 670-440 nm, and in phosphor-converted 4000K white.

The Toshiba Corporation has announced that it will commence the construction of PV plants totaling 100MW in Minami Soma on the battered northeastern coastline where a tsunami and an earthquake caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl a year ago.

The potential for Chinese fabless companies to reap greater rewards are already here, according to Allen Wu, president of ARM China. ARM-based SoCs, designed by Chinese fabless companies and shipped globally, jumped from 30 million units in 2007 to 615 million units in 2011.

Spansion has unveiled what it claims is the industry's first human machine interface (HMI) coprocessor that enables voice-controlled system interfaces. Leveraging Nuance Communications' voice technology, the new product is ideal for voice recognition systems in automotive, gaming and consumer electronics, significantly improving response time and accuracy over conventional voice interfaces by supporting larger acoustic databases.

Renesas Electronics said its alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will help boost market share and operating margin.

The dust is yet to settle on tariff determinations against China-based manufacturers, but the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) has released a statement warning of a "conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the US".

A Japanese firm is now firming up talks with a local company for a possible partnership involving the establishment of a US$200-million LED (light-emitting diode) factory in the country.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights will come into use by 2014 in the country, enabling the Government to save RM300 million every year on energy expenses for streetlights.

China has pledged CNY600 billion (US$95 billion) in bank loans to investors from Taiwan as part of its effort to build stronger ties with the island, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, citing a senior Chinese official.

A former AT&T employee admitted on Monday to sharing company secrets such as sales numbers for Apple's iPhone to traders who illegally bought shares on the information.

Qualcomm has acquired Summit Microelectronics, a developer and provider of programmable power ICs. Qualcomm's power management roadmap will be significantly enhanced with the addition of Summit's expertise and products.

Samsung Electronics' new CEO called for the company to redouble its focus on software, which could hint at a move away from Android and toward its own proprietary operating system.

Although smartphone shipments grew 41% year-over-year to 144.6 million as of the quarter ending March 2012, many smartphone OEMs are not enjoying the benefits of a rapidly expanding market. The question remains: can anyone break away to become a strong third in this market?

Micron Technology has introduced a new class of 1GHz, 2-gigabit (Gb) and 4Gb, 30-nanometer (nm) DDR3 devices, strengthening the company's comprehensive DDR3 portfolio.

The insolvency administrator of Qimonda has increased his request for payment in the lawsuit pending in the Munich District Court I over the alleged economic re-establishment of Qimonda, according to Infineon.