Factory output rose by 1% in April from the previous month as companies worked towards dealing with problems in supply chain disruption.

Fujitsu Semiconductor has announced the release of 113 microcontrollers, including chips from the MB96600 Series of 16-bit microcontrollers and chips from the MB91520 Series of 32-bit microcontrollers.

Rampant piracy means Microsoft's revenues in China this year will only be about 5% of what it gets in the US, even though personal-computer sales in the two countries are almost equal, CEO Steve Ballmer told employees in a meeting.

Sony has said it resumed output of Blu-ray video disks on May 30 at a factory in Tagajo that was badly damaged by waves unleashed by the magnitude-9 offshore 'quake.

Kim Jong-kap, the former head of Hynix Semiconductor, has been named as new CEO and chairman of Siemens' Korean affiliate.

Samsung's total capacity is expected to be eight million 4-inch OLED panels per month by the end of 2011. But the display maker is also said to have delayed investments for larger screen sizes of 6 inches to 9 inches until 2012.

Senior Apple executives are in discussion with Samsung to secure supplies of Retina Display-like screens for the iPad 3, even while the two firms turn to the courts to settle some of their differences over mobile device design.

STMicroelectronics plans to significantly increase its MEMS production capacity to more than 3 million sensors a day by the end of 2011 to sustain exploding demand.

Sky Solar has named Amy Zhang, Suntech's former CFO, as its new CEO and executive director, succeeding founder and chairman Weili Su, who will focus on company's strategic development and promoting its advanced technologies.

The company announced plans to double production of USB 3.0 host controllers to six million units a month starting June to satisfy the rising demand.

A warning from a government trade council in Taiwan highlights concerns that the island has become increasingly isolated by the burgeoning network of free trade agreements connecting Asia and the rest of the world.

China has called on Taiwanese companies to ensure work safety after a deadly explosion last week at a plant operated by Foxconn where Apple's iPad2 was being assembled. An initial investigation showed that the accident may have been caused by an explosion of combustible dust in the polishing workshop.

Nokia's Windows Phones will start coming out at a relatively rapid clip after the first one appears later in 2011, said Jo Harlow, Nokia's executive vice president of smart devices.

The blog Patently-O claims that Apple received an "assignment of assignors interest" to the patents, which would protect the company against others who might later claim rights to the patent under color of title. The blog did not confirm whether or not Apple would actually hold title rights to the patents themselves, however.