The next phase of the world's economic downturn is taking shape: a global jobs crisis. How governments react will shape labour markets for years to come.

"We'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said. "We'll see recovery beginning next year."

Government's aggressive actions should reinforce some of the economy's normal mechanisms for recovery. As pent-up demand builds, so will the pressure for more spending.

As LCD television buyers moved toward larger-larger screen models, Corning Inc. had to move to keep up.

Vizio said Friday that the U.S patent office had rejected claims made by Funai on one of the patents that are the subject of an ongoing patent suit between the two companies.

Infineon sites in Asia are working far below capacity. The company denied to break down utilization rates by fab, but provided figures more or less in line with the industry-wide average.

The succession of Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to the post of chairman, replacing Irwin Jacobs, garnered headlines on March 3. Not so widely reported was the younger Jacobs' plan to take a 25% reduction in salary for fiscal 2009.

Samsung expects solid-state drives to reach price parity with hard-disk drives within the next few years amid steep annual price declines in flash memory chips.

China's demand for polysilicon will make up less than 45% of its annual production capacity in 2009 due to fast capacity expansion and lowering demand, according to a report by CLSA Limited.

IC Insights reported that chip average selling prices (ASPs) increased 4% in January over the previous month, with NAND ASPs jumping 17% and MPUs also showing strong pricing. If traditional patterns hold true, the current downturn will be followed by strong growth in 2010 and 2011, IC Insights President Bill McClean told an IMAPS Global Business Council meeting in Arizona.