Nakaya Microdevices, Amkor Technology and Toshiba Tuesday announced that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding expressing their intent to form a joint venture in Japan that will provide system LSI assembly and testing services.

VLSI Research reported a 28.6% decline in probe card revenues in 2008, with the economic downturn and sharp cutbacks within the memory sector having "a seriously detrimental impact" on the market.

Bowing to what has long appeared inevitable, Japan lowered its growth forecast on Monday, projecting a 3.3% contraction for the fiscal year that began April 1.

Nokia Oyj will cut up to 360 jobs at Internet services unit as it combines offerings into its new Ovi Store, the world's top cell phone maker said on Tuesday. Nokia's new online software and multimedia store will challenge Apple's hugely successful App Store from May.

KLA-Tencor has announced operating results for its third quarter of fiscal 2009 (ended on March 31, 2009). KLA-Tencor reported a GAAP net loss of US$83 million and a GAAP loss per share of US$0.49 on revenues of US$310 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology have agreed to enter into negotiations to integrate business operations. The two chipmakers plan to sign an agreement at the end of July, 2009 to form Japan's largest semiconductor maker.

The government of India has signed an agreement with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and will purchase 250,000 of the organization's XO laptops. The machines will be distributed to students throughout the country. India's decision to embrace OLPC is a bit unexpected in light of the country's past antagonism towards the project.

Heat sinks, heat pipes and synthetic jets are among the technologies being used by LED fixture makers to remove heat from their products and enable them to operate correctly, reports Francoise Von Trapp.

Eizo Nanao has announced the inclusion of an "EcoView Sense" feature into its just announced FlexScan monitors, the 20-inch EV2023W and the 23-inch EV2303W. The EcoView feature allows the monitors--using motion detectors--to detect if a person is sitting in front of it.

A South Korean electronics executive has agreed to plead guilty and serve one year in prison in the United States for his role in a price-fixing conspiracy, the US Justice Department said Monday.

LG Chem, Korea's largest chemical firm by sales, reported Monday a 11.6 percent rise in its first quarter net profit largely due to a slight price rebound in its petrochemical products and a weaker local currency against the greenback.

Chinese companies are just as eager to defend patents as Western firms, and that China's intellectual-property regime has been tightened in recent years.

General Electric says it has achieved a breakthrough in digital storage technology that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs.