At the Semicon West trade show, ESI announced an ascribing system that maximizes LED light output, a packaging system that utilizes a laser to drill vias in the die, and a tester than can handle 48,000 LEDs per hour.

Samsung Electronics and LG Display, the world's two largest makers of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are close to securing big orders from Apple, industry sources said.

China-based solar equipment maker LDK Solar Co Ltd said on Monday the chairman of its audit committee had resigned, and its shares fell to their lowest level in a year.

Silicon Valley is one of the world's cleantech big-idea centers but so far it's been Chinese manufacturers -- not valley entrepreneurs -- who are dominating the global solar industry. The Chinese are winning by driving down production costs through incremental innovation, said Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of China-based Suntech Power, the world's largest producer of solar panels.

The Italian utility network authority has published a list of the photovoltaic installations that qualify for governmental solar subsidies this year. However, the prerequisite is that they are connected to the grid in time.

A recent survey of 344 senior financial executives by Gartner and two financial management associations found that CFOs "authorized" 26% of IT investments.

Support for the latest UEFI specifications also means that American Megatrends' (AMI) Aptio core 4.6.5.1 is fully ready to support Microsoft Windows 8 and the key security and pre-boot optimizations anticipated in the next-generation version of the OS.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said that added security measures may include "interaction with passengers," pat-downs and "the use of enhanced tools and technologies."

Lenovo outpaced Acer to become the number 3 vendor worldwide, according to IDC. Acer's shipments continued to decline from a year ago, but at a slower pace than in the first quarter as the company was affected by a review of inventory handling, as well uncertainties from its recent management shake-up.

Acer dropped from No. 2 to the No. 4 position in the worldwide PC market in the second quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. It had a great deal of inventory in the distribution channel in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Acer's problems stemmed from its low-price, high-volume business model, which is no longer effective.

Samsung showed off its 2011 monitor lineup and I definitely came away impressed. From movies, to gaming, to professional needs and business, Samsung is swinging a large swath in a very wide arc, but based on my time with its offerings, I can say it is not slipping on quality.

Samsung LED Co Ltd said it had filed a complaint with the US fair trade commission to ban imports of LED products from Siemens' light bulb unit Osram and affiliates Osram Opto Semiconductors and Osram Sylvania Inc.

While estimates of how many jobs are being created in "green industries" are never easy, a report by nonprofit research institution Brookings has found that 2.7 million workers are now employed in industries that also benefit the environment, such as photovoltaics.

Chinese manufactures of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells and modules, China Sunergy, has opened its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Apple originally asserted 10 of its patents against HTC in March 2010, and the judge ruled today that HTC infringed on two patents, according to an HTC statement.

David Wang has resigned as CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), according to the China-based foundry, which named Wenyi Zhang chairman of the board of directors and acting CEO.

Sony Ericsson has blamed the the Japanese earthquake for a EUR50 million (US$71 million) loss during the three months to June.

Google's Facebook competitor Google+ grew to 10 million users in just two weeks, the company announced Thursday.

In an effort to increase its competitiveness in the North American consumer market, Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502) is selling its Chihuahua, Mexico-based LCD production facilities to PC manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc. The announcement, made in a press release today, comes on the heels of market reports that LCD TV demand in North America is "alarmingly" weak, despite increasing prices for LCD panels worldwide.

On July 13, 2011, Solar Frontier K.K. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that it has begun shipping 150 watt copper indium selenium (CIS) solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from its Kunitomi Plant in Japan.

Nokia Siemens Networks will remain under the full ownership of Nokia and Siemens after buyout firms failed to come up with a compelling offer.

"This means our content is getting stronger, while our supervision is getting more strict and more regulated," a state-run think tank said.

Prior to HTC, Mackenzie held a progression of sales and marketing positions with DENSO Wireless and Siemens Communications, concluding as Vice President for Siemens Communications.

Rama Skukla, VP of Intel's architecture group, said during his keynote address to the SEMICON West conference in San Francisco that tablets are disappearing, and that the kind of devices we will be using a decade from now "could not be described." Intel is gearing up for this change, and the next five years will see major advances in processor technology, he added.

3M has announced the completion of a major expansion of 3M's development laboratory and cleanroom located at its headquarters in Saint Paul, Minn. The expansion includes a 300mm CMP tool and defect metrology for product and application development.

It has the same silhouette as a standard light bulb: a white hot-air balloon with a silver, spiral basket. However, on closer inspection, the bulb itself is just a small part of the shape of the LED light. Along the sides are eight curved metal fins, cradling the bulb, designed to cool the device.

Shares of solar LDK Solar Co. jumped 4 percent Wednesday after it signed contracts to supply solar modules to two electric power companies in China.

Everybody has been copying Groupon, so why not the solar power folks? San Francisco officials are rolling out a first-in-the-nation program today where commercial building owners can participate in group purchasing for discounted solar power.

Analysts covering the solar energy technology industry have been reviewing the wares this week at the Intersolar North America industry conference in San Francisco, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow.

Dutch chip lithography manufacturer ASML reported strong sales in the second quarter, but said new orders in the third quarter would be significantly lower, lending weight to reports of slowdowns in the semiconductor industry.

"What foundries are seeing more and more, and what we're seeing overall, is a very tight linkage to consumer demand. All of us are disappointed with demand for PCs this year, and tablets probably will be 20 million units short of what people thought was possible for the year..."