SandForce has announced a new family of solid-state disk (SSD) processors that the company claims will allow lower-cost, commodity NAND flash memory to be used in data center operations. The disks will also be faster and more reliable for use in mobile applications, the company said.

The Japanese government will lift punitive tariffs on computer chips South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor makes, leading to a settlement of a three-year-old trade dispute between the two countries, Kyodo News reported Monday, citing Finance Ministry officials.

Motorola's ex-CFO, Paul Liska, filed suit against the company late February in Cook Country Circuit Court, Illinois in which he claims Motorola's Mobile Devices executives were giving forecasts "based on inaccurate or unsupportable financial assumptions." But Motorola has responded saying Liska was a "treacherous officer" who concocted a "extortion-like scheme designed to portray himself as a whistle blower and demand millions in return for his silence."

According to a variety of sources, the talks are preliminary and wide-ranging, focused on what kind of commercial relationship Yahoo and Microsoft could have in the future.

"There's still a general freeze on hiring, but we're seeing a shortage in our research and development department, and will need hundreds of employees there," said PH Chang, VP for human resources at TSMC.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has announced the results of its 27-for-10 rights offering, the subscription period of which ended on April 6, 2009. The rights offering was oversubscribed with applications totaling approximately 144% of the offering size. The rights offering will strengthen its capital position.

Japan's subsidies for home solar panels have attracted far fewer applicants than planned, industry data showed on Wednesday, underscoring the likelihood of bold government steps to promote solar power.

Pioneer and Sharp have announced that they signed a partnership agreement on the establishment of a joint venture in the optical disk business area.

Barnes & Noble, the US's No. 1 bookstore chain, is working with a device maker and Sprint on an Amazon Kindle-like e-book device, according to one wireless industry insider. The news comes a week after the CTIA wireless show, where sources say there was heavy speculation surrounding Barnes & Noble's plan to give e-books another try.

Apple is acknowledging the appearance of hairline cracks along the bottom enclosure of white MacBooks and will repair the defects regardless of warranty.

Japan's Sharp said it would start output at its new 380 billion yen ($3.8 billion) LCD panel plant in western Japan in October.

The Japanese LED maker has developed high-performance 660 nm chips that accelerate plant photosynthesis.