Toshiba may invest 200 billion yen (US$2.2 billion) to expand production of NAND flash memory by about 40% in April 2010, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported without citing anyone.

A strong earthquake has struck parts of Taiwan, rattling buildings in the capital, Taipei, although there are no initial reports of serious casualties.

Korea Exchange Bank said on December 20 that the creditors of Hynix Semiconductor will send out invitations to Korean companies Monday (Dec. 21) to seek bids for their combined 28% stake in the chip maker.

Japanese exports in November 2009 fell at the slowest pace in more than a year on strong Asian demand, easing concern about the strength of the country's economic recovery.

An administrative law judge at the US International Trade Commission ruled that Samsung has infringed two camera patents developed by Kodak.

Mixed-signal foundry LFoundry (Landshut, Germany) plans to acquire Atmel's fab in Rousset, France, the site of recent worker unrest. CEO Michael Lehnert said the proposed acquisition will make LFoundry the largest analog foundry in Europe.

Nokia and ST-Ericsson have announced a long-term partnership in the area of TD-SCDMA technology and ICs. As part of the partnership, Nokia will use ST-Ericsson as a supplier of chipsets for its Symbian-based TD-SCDMA portfolio.

Thin-film integrated passive devices (IPDs) have the potential to extend wafer-level packaging and through-silicon via (TSV) technology to many IC package solutions and the discrete passive component industry. This market could expand from US$600 million this year to reach beyond US$1 billion by 2013.

Palm trimmed its net loss and said it had shipped a total of 783,000 smartphones to retailers in its fiscal second quarter, which ended Nov. 27. That was up 41% compared with the second quarter last year, but down 5% compared with the first quarter.

Micron Technology has announced that it will voluntarily transfer its stock exchange listing from The New York Stock Exchange to the NASDAQ Global Select Market effective Dec. 30, 2009.

To be fair, 2009 was a year that defied prediction. Who would have thought the stock market would drop like a stone until early March and then abruptly rise like a rocket?

Shares of LDK Solar plunged further on December 18 as the Chinese solar panel maker priced at a deep discount an equity offering that it said is part of the capital raise it needs to continue operating.

Singapore regulators have approved a takeover offer by Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), which made a bid for Chartered in September.

NextWindow, a provider of optical touch screens for desktop PCs and monitors, has announced that another all-in-one PC using NextWindow touch screens has begun shipping.

The Blu-ray Disc Association has released its finalized 3D specifications, outlining what to expect out of 3D Blu-ray in 2010. The specification includes full 1080p resolution, backward compatibility for both 3D Blu-ray players and the 3D Blu-ray Discs (meaning that both will play or be able to be played in 2D), and the use of a new MVC codec, an extension of the existing AVC.

Melloy, which produces 550 tonnes of castings mainly for the automotive industry, took steps to reduce its carbon emissions and save money by investing in greener technology. It says its customers are receiving the same quality product produced with a massive 45% less carbon.