Renesas Technology has announced a variety of structural reforms that will be undertaken to reinforce its business structure as part of the company's key strategy in achieving growth from FY2009 onward.

Applied Materials lowered its earnings forecast Monday, saying it expects sales at the low end of its projected range for the first quarter as the chip-tools maker struggles through what it described as "unprecedented business conditions."

The World Economic Forum has ended with a call to rebuild the global economic system. For five days, more than 2,000 business and political leaders discussed what some here called the "crisis of capitalism". However, most discussions described the problems, not solutions.

US consumers cut spending for a sixth straight month in December and their incomes shrank, according to a government report on Monday that underscored the rapid deterioration in the economy.

Shares in Japan's Hitachi slid 17% to their lowest in 29 years after it shocked investors with a record $7.8 billion annual loss warning and offered a cost-cutting plan that failed to instill confidence in a quick recovery.

Micron Technology and Mosaid Technologies said Monday that they have settled all pending litigation between them.

Spansion's president and chief executive, Bertrand Cambou, has resigned as the chip company, struggling with declining revenue, looks for a suitor.

SanDisk said Monday that hefty charges to write down the value of assets and inventory amid industrywide price reductions forced the world's largest supplier of flash memory cards to post a larger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.

Qimonda has four weeks to find an investor to save the core of its insolvent memory chip business before having to close production and dismiss 12,000 workers, say people close to the company. Rival chipmakers have shown the "first signs of interest" in Qimonda, since it filed for insolvency last week.

The collapse of German chip-maker Qimonda into insolvency sparked worries over its parent company Infineon. Qimonda has more than 12,000 workers worldwide, with some 3,500 in Saxony, 1,500 in Munich and several thousand in Portugal. Its New York-listed shares have fallen 95.0% over the past year, while Infineon's Frankfurt shares have fallen 88.2%.

Mosaid Technologies says it hasn't been affected by the pending insolvency filing of German customer Qimonda AG, but the assurance didn't prevent a drop in MSD stock.

Battered Asian memory chip makers will get some respite from oversupply in the long term after German chipmaker Qimonda filed for insolvency but the industry's recovery depends on a pick-up in demand.

The Japanese electronics companies now aim to seal an official contract by June and set up the joint venture, which will make and sell large liquid crystal display panels, by March 2010, they said in a joint statement.