Today's announcement will impact approximately 220 employees in Japan. Nokia last week announced it plans to reduce some of its R&D activities in Finland and Denmark.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is likely to make CDMA2000 baseband chips which Qualcomm designs for the worldwide-version 3G iPhones, according to industry executives.

DuPont Apollo has announced the opening of its silicon based thin-film photovoltaic module manufacturing facility. The 538,000-square-feet facility will have an annual capacity of up to 50 megawatts with a thin-film-on-glass PV module production line. Full-scale commercial production is slated for the first quarter of 2010.

Sematech wants to expand its wings. The chip-making consortium is now looking at ways to bring fabless companies into the fold and is also hoping to expand its collaborative efforts with fab tool makers.

Ericsson has withdrawn its complaint to the European Commission regarding Qualcomm's WCDMA (3G) licensing activities. The company will, however, continue its ongoing dialogue with competition authorities around the world in relation to Qualcomm's licensing practices.

"Strong sales on Black Friday may simply reflect households bringing forward some of their intended holiday spending rather than a sign that spending over the whole holiday period will be strong..."

Researchers have demonstrated a tiny chip based on silicon that could be used to diagnose dozens of diseases. The design is simpler and requires less blood be taken.

Wikipedia.org is the fifth-most-popular Web site in the world, with roughly 325 million monthly visitors. But unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police it are quitting.

Thailand's economy grew for a second straight quarter as government stimulus spending and an improvement in manufacturing propelled its recovery from recession.

Loss-making foundry Tower Semiconductor, which trades as TowerJazz, has announced it plans to transfer "manufacturing know-how and certain equipment" to support an un-named Asian company ramp up production.

Nokia plans to align its R&D operations in Finland and Denmark. Up to 230 employees at the Oulu site in Finland and around 100 employees at the Copenhagen site in Denmark will be affected, Nokia said. The number would represent about 2 % of its R&D personnel globally.

Angry workers at Atmel's fab in Rousset, France, have gone on an unlimited strike. The strike aims to protest against Atmel's decision to sell its site in Rousset without guaranteeing its employees.

A recovery is coming in 2010 but many things about it remain uncertain, according to a survey. One consistent finding is that the Chinese market opportunity is the key to growth.