STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest chipmaker, fell the most in six weeks in Milan trading after saying second-quarter sales will be held back by a decline at its joint venture with Ericsson. Dubbed ST- Ericsson, the venture is completing a shift to a new lineup targeting smartphone and tablet markets.

Chairman Ben Bernanke said he expected growth for 2011 to be between 3.1% and 3.3%, compared with the previous forecast of 3.4-3.9%. He also hinted the Fed would not pump more money into the economy after June.

TriQuint Semiconductor's first-quarter earnings met analysts' expectations, helped by strong demand in the smartphone market, but the wireless communications products supplier forecast lower-than-expected second-quarter earnings.

The proposed transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011. SiBEAM provides high-speed wireless communication products for uncompressed HD video in consumer electronics and PC applications.

Verizon Wireless will start selling the HTC's Droid Incredible 2 on April 28 while Sprint will put the Nexus S 4G from Google on sale May 8. Both smartphones will sell for US$199.99 with two year service agreements.

Shares of LDK Solar (LDK) were tumbling after hours following the company's first-quarter guidance.The stock, which gained 3.3% today, was down 2.4% in recent after hours trading.

Mobile phone maker Nokia has announced it will shed 4,000 jobs as part of a plan to refocus the company on smartphones. Nokia said the majority of the job losses would be in Denmark, Finland and the UK.

ARM, the UK designer of chips that help power Apple's iPhone, said first-quarter sales rose 26% on booming demand for smartphones and tablet computers.

S-LCD, a flat screen joint venture between Sony Corp and Samsung Electronics , said it would reduce capital by US$555 million, as Sony struggles with perennial losses from its TV business and Samsung seeks to shift to a new type of display.

Shares of NAND flash drive maker SanDisk are off by US$1.68, or 3.4%, at US$47.31 after the company reported revenue and earnings per share for 1Q slightly ahead of expectations and said Japan's disaster would not derail its earnings outlook for the year.

Video games giant Nintendo has seen its annual profits slump by 66%, hurt by a strong yen and a drop in sales.

Despite past political tensions, enterprising Taiwanese had long been doing business in China. However, it was only until after a financial memorandum of understanding was signed in 2009 that Taiwanese banks were able to follow suit.

Robert Tsao, honorary chairman of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), said recently in a TV interview that he has given up his Taiwan citizenship. Disappointment in the domestic judicial system is the major reason why Tsao decided to become a Singaporean.

Renesas Electronics expects to restart production at a quake-hit factory in east Japan in mid June, about two weeks earlier than initially planned.

Qualcomm reported record quarterly revenues and raised its guidance for 2011 as global demand for smartphones and tablets grew. Supply-chain concerns stemming from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan had not affected Qualcomm's ability to make chips, and it had seen very little impact on demand for its products, the company said.

Lawmakers in China are revising the income tax law to narrow the wealth gap and to encourage more domestic consumption. The amendment will raise the threshold for personal income tax from CNY2,000 to CNY3,000 a month (from US$304 to US$456).

Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest flat panel maker by revenue, said that it will invest KRW541.1 billion (US$501 million) in a joint venture in China that will develop the company's 7.5G LCD panel plant.

GDP will expand 0.8% in 2011, down sharply from the 1.7% growth previously forecast. But as reconstruction spending gains pace, the economy will expand 2.3% in 2012, faster than previous estimates for 1.3% growth, the OECD said.