Lithography light source vendor Cymer swung to net profits of US$16 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared to losses of US$11.5 million a year earlier.

STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor company, swung to profits of US$57 million in the first quarter of 2010 from losses of US$541 million a year ago. First-quarter revenues rose 40% to US$2.32 billion, led particularly by demand for chips used in cars and computers.

Monthly Japanese shipments held steady in March 2010 in a sign that global demand, particularly from Asia, is still expanding, lending support to the country's export-dependent economy.

Rambus has net profits of US$150.9 million for the first quarter, compared with losses of US$17.4 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues for the quarter soared 492% to US$161.9 million, thanks to a licensing agreement with Samsung.

Infineon Technologies and Fairchild Semiconductor have announced an agreement to create compatibility between their power MOSFET packages. Specifically the agreement covers the Infineon PowerStage 3x3 and Fairchild MLP 3x3 packages.

SanDisk swung to net profits of US$235 million for the quarter ended April 4 from losses of US$208 million a year ago. "We delivered SanDisk's first ever billion dollar Q1 in total revenue. This performance was driven by several factors including our OEM business which grew to 63% of product revenues balancing out Q1 retail seasonality..."

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is poised to secure net profits for the fiscal year ended December 21, 2010, according to company president and CEO Steve Milligan. Brisk demand for PC hard drives and fixed-cost reductions will contribute to its profit outlook.

Toshiba, one of Japan's largest electronics companies, has said it expects net losses of 20 billion yen (US$215 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2010. That's down from its previous estimtae of 50 billion yen.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved plans on Wednesday to grant 100 million euros in support for the solar power industry to overcome resistance in parliament to its plans to cut state-mandated incentives.

The sources said parliamentary experts in Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right administration agreed that so-called feed-in tariffs for new rooftop solar installations will be cut by 16 percent from July as planned. Most open-field installations will be cut by 15 percent, with support for farmland solar systems to be scrapped completely, the sources said.

OCZ Technology has been approved to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Markets and will commence trading its common stock under ticker symbol "OCZ" on April 23.

Target will become the first retailer to carry the US$259 Kindle on Sunday. At first, the Kindle will only be sold at Target's flagship store in downtown Minneapolis, plus 102 stores in South Florida. Target plans to offer Kindle at more of its stores later in the year.

Qualcomm has reported profits of US$774 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2010, compared with losses of US$289 million a year ago. The company suggested it might fall short of Wall Street's expectations for the current quarter.