Vacuum technology firm Edwards is to cut 220 jobs in Sussex as it locates all its manufacturing operations overseas. The move marks a shift in strategy for the Crawley-headquartered company that had previously trumpeted its strong UK manufacturing base, which dates back to 1919.

Toyota Motor aims to double its global output of gas-electric hybrid cars to one million units in 2011, as it fights to stay in the lead in the growing market for low-emission cars.

"Our goal is to pay back a significant amount of debt while at the same time being able to invest in what we require," said company CEO Kim Jong Kap. "2010 will be a good year for the memory chip industry and the possibility of oversupply seems low."

In addition to Intel acquiring an FPGA vendor, other acquisitions could be possible including Analog Devices buying a power management IC company and Microchip Technology buying a company to expand its presence in the microcontroller market.

The recruiting of what will be hundreds of new workers over the next few years marks a striking turnaround from last January, when Chartered announced that it would cut 500 jobs.

Micron Technology has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Australia-based integrated energy company Origin Energy focused on the development of PV (photovoltaic) technology.

Xilinx has completed multiple iterations of 28nm test wafers with TSMC, and could disclose the move to TSMC at its analyst day in March.

Spansion has reported net sales of US$307.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, which marked its second consecutive profitable quarter with net income on a US GAAP basis of US$4.3 million.

Google's struggles here - wrestling both with political compromises and with threats to its intellectual property - raise the question: How much hassle are China's consumers worth?

"Samsung Group will invest 26.5 trillion won (US$23.61 billion) and Samsung Electronics will spend 18.4 trillion won," said the official who declined to be identified.

Eastman Kodak hopes to illuminate a clearer picture about its photo-viewing technology. It has alleged that Apple's iPhones and RIM's camera-enabled BlackBerry devices violate its patent for digital image previewing.

Intel may look to acquire an FPGA supplier such as Xilinx or Altera in 2010 in an effort to expand its presence in the embedded market as well as SoCs, according to a Wall Street analyst.

China was fast with its stimulus program...even though the country has been climbing nicely out of recession, the government still plans to spend the full US$600 billion of stimulus money.

The combined company employs approximately 10,000 people around the world, anchored by headquarters in Silicon Valley and manufacturing operations in Singapore and Germany, and a new fab under construction in New York.