Sony has reported a loss of 40.8 billion yen (US$437m) for the year to the end of March, less than half the loss it made the previous year.

The patent wars are raging in the mobile device market, and they could result in rising costs for handset makers and higher gadget prices for wireless carriers and consumers.

For Research in Motion, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, staying No. 1 isn't about apps or fancy hardware, it's about cost effectiveness.

The eurozone managed only modest economic growth in the first quarter of 2010, with Germany's performance, held back by the bitter winter, failing to kick-start a broader recovery in the 16-country region.

Professor Peter Denyer, a pioneer of CMOS imaging sensor technology for cameras, died of cancer on April 22.

Hynix Semiconductor has said it sold 5-year bonds worth US$500 million abroad that could be converted into its shares at 34,580 won apiece.

Apple questions research that says smartphones using Google's Android OS have surpassed iPhone sales in the US.

The 23.3 trillion Korean won (US$21 billion) investment is aimed at developing five new businesses that the company expects to create 45,000 new jobs and generate 50 trillion won in annual revenue for affiliate companies by 2020, Samsung said in a statement Tuesday.

The factory will be Toshiba's fifth at its manufacturing base in Yokkaichi in western Japan. It will initially be used to produce conventional NAND flash chips, but Toshiba plans to expand this to new types of 3D memory where chips and components are stacked vertically.

"Advanced technology is not only about cost. At 45nm we have showed that we can go to high volume production very quickly at high yield..."

LG Electronics warned that profits at its struggling handset division would be slow to recover, as it retools its business to introduce Android-based devices in a fast-growing, high-end smartphone segment, including new models for Verizon.

Micron Technology has completed its acquisition of Numonyx in an all stock transaction valued at approximately US$1.2 billion.

The German parliament yesterday approved long-expected cuts to solar energy incentives prompting US shares in solar companies to tumble amid fears that demand from one of the world's largest markets for soalr panels will now fall.