Apple has agreed to add Foxconn Technology Group affiliate Chimei Innolux as its third supplier of sensors for the iPad 2's touch screen, two people familiar with the matter said. Chimei Innolux will begin supplying the components next month.

Nokia, the struggling market leader in mobile phones, has said that it intended to cut costs by nearly 20% over three years, a move that will likely eliminate thousands of jobs as it enters an alliance with Microsoft.

The driving force of Japan's economy has gone into reverse. In March exports fell 2.2% which is the first drop in almost a year and a half.

The Indian government has established a committee to identify technology and potential investors that could set up India's first two commercial semiconductor wafer fabs, the country's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said. The ministry put the rough cost of the two fabs at US$5 billion.

The event was postponed due to the ongoing recovery efforts in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and at the request of Japanese government agencies to help conserve energy resources during the summer months. SEMICON Japan 2011 is now scheduled for December 7-9 in the same venue as PVJapan.

Smartphones and tablets will be the first devices to use ARM's upcoming Cortex-A15 processor, and will be available starting late 2012 or early 2013, said James Bruce, the US mobile segment manager at ARM.

"2011 started strong, with customer demand in January and February tracking our expectations for a first quarter of above-seasonal growth," said Rich Templeton, TI CEO. "But the Japan earthquake that's taken such a heartbreaking human toll in the country also disrupted local demand starting in mid-March and impaired operations at two of our factories there."

The company said its customers are asking for a higher number of shipments in the second half of calendar year 2011, compared with the first half. Analysts view Lam's top customer, Samsung Electronics', recent decision to cut capital spending as hurting its fourth-quarter results.

According to Samsung South Korea, the smartphone maker "will be releasing a smartphone that boasts performance levels matching desktop PCs." That's because this upcoming device will come equipped with a dual-core processor running at 2GHz.

LED maker Cree reported a profit on Tuesday that missed Wall Street estimates and forecast lower-than-expected earnings in the current quarter due to high inventories and falling prices, sending its shares lower in after-hours trade.

A trial over Rambus' antitrust lawsuit against Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor claiming US$4.3 billion in alleged damages was scheduled for June 7.

South Korea's LG Electronics has diversified chip suppliers for home appliance products to Hynix Semiconductor and Panasonic away from Toshiba after Japan's devastating earthquake last month.

Infineon will go into specifics concerning the past quarter, the outlook for the current quarter and the expectations for the fiscal year 2011 when presenting the figures for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2011 on May 3, 2011.

Liquid-crystal-display maker LG Display said Monday it swung to a first-quarter net loss due to weak television demand and panel prices, but in a sign of improving market conditions, a company executive predicted a return to profit on an operating basis in the current second quarter.

Toyota has now resumed car production at all of its plants in Japan for the first time since last month's earthquake and tsunami. However, the car manufacturer said that production would be half of its normal level because of parts shortages.

Japanese voters are critical of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the crisis at a crippled nuclear plant and support raising taxes to finance rebuilding plans after last month's earthquake and tsunami, surveys show.

Samsung is looking to sell the unit for US$1.5 billion, but it may consider a deal under US$1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. A potential buyer is Seagate Technology.

Sequans Communications has announced the pricing of its initial public offering of American Depositary Shares (ADSs), representing 7,700,000 ordinary shares, at a price to the public of US$10.00 per ADS. The ADSs began trading on April 15 on the New York Stock Exchange.

It may seem strange this has not happened before - Chinese students make up some of the largest groups of foreign students in many countries, including the US and UK.

NHN and Daum Communications, operators of South Korea's two largest Internet search sites, said in statements they filed complaints against Google with the country's Fair Trade Commission for blocking local phone carriers and manufacturers from embedding their search applications in devices using the Android operating system.

Apple will start selling a white version of its iPhone 4 in the next few weeks, following a 10-month delay, three people with knowledge of the plans said. The release was stalled as Apple resolved manufacturing challenges including paint that peeled under heat.

Shin-Etsu Chemical has said that it will partially resume production at an earthquake-stricken silicon wafer factory in Fukushima Prefecture within a week or two.

President Barack Obama has vowed to cut US$4 trillion in cumulative deficits within 12 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

The reserves increase as Beijing buys dollars and other foreign currency to restrain the rise of its yuan as export revenues and investment pour into its economy. In freer trading, that flood of cash would push up the yuan's value against the dollar, making Chinese exports more expensive abroad.

Intel and Micron Technology will make an announcement about NAND flash on April 14. The companies have not disclosed the details. "I believe that they will announce the finalization of their Singapore agreement-IMFS-that will bring up 25nm first and then 20nm later," said Alan Niebel, CEO of Web-Feet Research.