Back-end production capacity will be reduced at a plant in Mie Prefecture, Toshiba's main NAND flash memory production site, and shifted to a subsidiary in Thailand. Some procedures will also be outsourced to a foundry in Taiwan.

Typhoon Morakot pounded Taiwan over the weekend with powerful winds and torrential rain. The number of people listed as missing and feared dead went up from eight to 29, the government's National Fire Agency said. The typhoon has caused at least NT$832 million (US$26 million) in agricultural damage.

Elpida Memory and Numonyx have delayed their scheduled foundry ramp by six months or so.

Despite a rebound in business, Applied Materials is set for more layoffs and cost-cutting, according to an analyst.

Infineon Technologies and Golden Gate Capital have announced that Infineon's wireline communications division will become Lantiq after the closing of the recently announced transaction.

China will maintain its current macroeconomic policy stance aimed at bolstering domestic spending as the nation continues to experience fallout from the global recession, Premier Wen Jiabao said.

German exports rose 7% in June, the fastest pace in nearly three years, in the latest sign of recovery in Europe's biggest economy, official figures show.

Toshiba has said it aimed to expand its energy, healthcare and environment-related businesses as it targets a strong recovery in earnings within the next three years.

Toshiba has begun volume shipments of solid-state drives ranging up to 512GB in size. The drives are built on a 43nm manufacturing process using multi-level cell (MLC) technology.