Following last weekend's deadly riots in its western region of Xinjiang, China's central government has taken all the usual steps to block citizens from accessing foreign web services.

GlobalFoundries will hold its official groundbreaking for Fab 2 at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta on July 24.

Online retailer Amazon.com has cut the price of its standard Kindle electronic reader by 17% to US$299, the company said on Wednesday. The price cut comes amid a budding digital book battle where rivals like Amazon, Sony and a host of smaller companies are anxious to get in on the ground floor of what some say is the future of reading.

Struggling German chip group Infineon Technologies is selling its wireline communications operation to an affiliate of US private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for 250 million euro (about US$350 million).

The company generated more than a million pounds of hazardous waste last year, according to a report filed with the Massachusettes Department of Environmental Protection, even though its new US$450 million factory in Devens wasn't operating at full capacity.

China could be an unexpected laggard to any global recovery, with its economy set to remain sluggish after a long run of bubble-like investment in factories and other fixed assets wears off, some analysts say.

After not finding an investor eager to acquire the whole company, Qimonda has appointed several companies to sell 300mm production equipment from the firm's manufacturing facilities in Germany and the US.

Huang Hongsheng, founder and former chairman of Shenzhen-based TV maker Skyworth Group, was released on bail on July 4, the company confirmed in a statement posted on its website.

There is considerable debate about second-half 2009. Some are bulls. Some are bears. Some are in both camps.

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar power--which marries traditional solar photovoltaic technology to large-scale concentrated solar power plants--could ramp up utility-scale solar production especially in niche markets.

Semiconductor market statistician Mike Cowan now predicts 2009 global semiconductor sales will be US$196.2 billion, up by 1.9% from the previous month's forecast estimate of US$192.5 billion.

Telecom operator China Unicom is investing 20 billion yuan (US$2.93 billion) in Shanghai over the next three years to expand and upgrade its network in the city.