First Solar Inc., the maker of thin-film solar panels that cut jobs and lowered its profit forecast this month, has won government aid while cultivating political relationships from California to the White House.

Indian utility Tata Power Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy out BP Alternative Energy Holding's 51 percent stake in joint venture Tata BP Solar for an undisclosed amount.

Following the massive material shortage in 2010, sapphire material and finished wafer prices remained high through early 2011, says market research firm Yole D矇veloppement.

"Our industry moves fast and changes faster. And so the way we communicate with our customers must change in equally speedy ways..."

Smartphones are relatively new, but will likely follow the path of more mature electronics industries, in which "you typically see large cross-licensing agreements between the big players because they've all got lots of patents the others are infringing."

REC modules were selected for a 60MW module supplier agreement with the German project developer GP JOULE for solar power plant installations in France and Germany.

Micron Technology has posted a net loss of US$187 million, or US$0.19 per diluted share, on net sales of US$2.1 billion for the company's first quarter of fiscal 2012 (ended December 1, 2011).

"Nokia does not have an exact plan, but we are studying the markets carefully. Perhaps we will come [to market] one day," Chief Executive Stephen Elop said in a televised interview on Finnish public broadcaster YLE.

German solar-power developer Solar Millennium AG said Wednesday it has filed for insolvency after it was unable to sell four US solar-power projects, in the second such filing by a German solar firm in a week.

BP has taken the axe to its solar power business, saying it "can't make any money" from selling panels at a time when it continues to spend US$20bn annually on oil and gas developments.

LED chip and lighting array maker Bridgelux Inc of Livermore, CA, USA (which claims to be the only vertically integrated maker of LED solid-state light sources specifically for the lighting industry) reckons that market conditions and its recent achievements have positioned it for additional growth in 2012.

Elpida and Nanya would discuss proposals including the creation of a holding company under which the two DRAM makers would operate, the paper said.