ASML has reported a business pick-up above previous guidance resulting mainly from the short- and mid-term needs in the DRAM memory and Logic segments.

CEO Mike Splinter said that his company must respond to the fundamental changes in the markets it serves.

The 50-page report from research firm Objective Analysis said that Braidwood's flash memory is less expensive to install because it resides directly on the motherboard and will offer all the same benefits of an SSD at a lower cost.

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies said it planned to repay early an issue of 2010 exchangeable bonds after the prinicipal amount outstanding fell below 43 million euros (US$61.9 million).

Investors have speculated about a Temasek exit from the chip industry since its failed attempt to buy out and delist Stats Chippac two years ago. Stats Chippac and Chartered Semiconductor have slashed costs to weather the global slowdown that came amid slumping semiconductor prices and more competition from Taiwan.

US consumers slashed their borrowing by a record amount in July as rising job losses and uncertainty about an economic recovery hit home.

"In the US, energy policy is made on the state level," CEO Mike Ahearn said. "Every state has a different approach." In contrast, Ahearn said China has designated a region within the country for renewable energy production and transmission.

T-Mobile and Orange are to merge their UK businesses, creating a mobile phone giant with 28.4 million customers. The deal between Orange-owner France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK will see a business with sales of 9.4bn euros (US$13.5 billion).

Creditors of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor have started the sale process for their controlling stake in the second-largest memory chipmaker.

The picture painted by the report is varied, but the general pattern is one of fewer people moving to foreign countries for work. For example, there was a sharp decline in the number of Mexicans moving to the United States.

Toshiba is in talks with Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor and Globalfoundries about outsourcing production of some of its next-generation system chips to help cut costs, two company sources said.

A new super central processing unit (CPU), jointly developed by Japan's big chipmakers and funded by the Tokyo government, is coming up to challenge Intel.

"Taiwan is politically similar to South Korea where real power sits with the president, and there is unlikely to be much political instability as a result of the premier's resignation," said an economist.