Net income for the second quarter of 2010 was US$37.3 million, compared to US$2.2 million a year ago. Revenues grew by 35.7% to US$435.3 million.

APT has developed ways to improve the quality of audio delivered over bluetooth wireless connections. Its technologies are also widely used in professional audio and broadcasting.

Two Gulf states have announced bans on some functions of the Blackberry mobile phone, claiming security concerns. The United Arab Emirates is to block sending emails, accessing the internet, and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry handsets. Saudi Arabia is to prevent the use of the Blackberry to Blackberry instant messaging service.

The US$72 billion increase in 2010 would equate to a growth rate of 30% over 2009. This 30% jump would be the sixth largest in the past 32 years and the highest since the 37% increase 10 years ago in 2000.

Samsung Electronics has commented that DRAM prices are expected to fall in the third quarter of 2010, and drop further in the fourth.

Renesas Electronics has announced it will cut about 5,000 jobs mostly in the current fiscal year and completed by March 2013. It also revealed plans to use outside foundries on all of its 28nm and smaller geometry semiconductor products.

Sharp said it made a group net profit of 10.69 billion yen (US$122.2 million) in the April-June quarter, reversing from a 25.2 billion yen net loss in the same period a year earlier.

MEMC, which makes wafers for computer chips and silicon for solar cells, said it earned US$13.8 million, or 6 cents per share, up from US$1.4 million, or a penny per share, during the same period last year.

Panasonic has placed a 820 billion yen (US$9.5 billion) bet on the future of green energy by offering to buy out minority shareholders in two subsidiaries specialising in rechargeable batteries, solar cells and other environmental technology.

Japan's Sharp is investing almost 4 billion yen (US$46 million) at a plant in Britain to double production of solar cell modules to meet growing demand across Europe.

The greenback fell as much as 0.83% against the Japanese yen to 84.73 yen on August 11, before paring back some of those losses to trade around 85.37 yen.

Motorola reported a six-fold increase in second-quarter profit, largely driven by its lower-profile non-cellphone units, as the company took several key steps toward its planned split early next year.

"Apple and other OEMs have procured large volumes of flash, which has forced others to double book in order to get some of the allocation. This action cascaded into other markets especially NOR and serial NOR, where they became supply constrained and prices rose..."

Toshiba has posted its second straight quarterly profit on rising chip demand, beating analyst estimates for a loss.

Amazon.com introduced two new versions of the device today, including a US$139 model that works with Wi-Fi. A second version, with 3G mobile technology as well as Wi-Fi to download books, costs US$189.

The new e-book reader has a 15.24 cm display panel and a 10 cm square solar panel; impressively, the solar cell measures just 0.7mm in thickness, thus obtaining the relatively light weight of 20 grams.

One particular type of fly eye has just the right shape that could be perfect for manufacturing efficient solar cells.

A new study to be released in September shows that Verizon Wireless smartphone users have overtaken AT&T iPhone customers in terms of data use.

SK Telecom posted a net profit of 364 billion won (US$306.5 million) in the three months ended June 30, largely thanks to increased sales of its wireless data services. Its net profit was 311.6 billion won in the same period a year earlier.

Renesas Electronics is cutting nearly 10% of its 50,000 employees by the end of 2010 as it outsources production, according to a Nikkei report.

Automobile demand in Japan and elsewhere has outpaced chip supplies from STMicroelectronics, a Hitachi spokesman said, adding that Nissan had not asked Hitachi for compensation for the disruption.

The chat service is tapping Cisco and ShoreTel to help it sell telecom to big business.

In the three months ended June 30, Infineon swung to a net profit of 126 million euros (US$164 million) from a loss of 24 million euros in the same period a year ago. The firm has raised its full-year outlook, expecting revenues to grow at least 40% in fiscal 2010 compared to the previous year.

LG Electronics, the world's third-biggest mobilephone maker, reported a 33% drop in second-quarter profit after it lagged behind Apple and Samsung Electronics in offering smartphones.

Chip equipment maker Veeco Instruments has posted a second-quarter profit that surpassed Wall Street expectations, helped by strong LED and solar orders, and forecast a strong third quarter.

ARM, the UK's largest technology company by market value, declined to raise its full-year 2010 outlook in spite of beating market expectations with its first-half results.

Chipmaking equipment company is adding local jobs for first time in three years as sales rebound.