Ideally, the four companies should come together as one,” Yukio Sakamoto, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Elpida, said in an interview after confirming the discussions with Powerchip, Rexchip Electronics and ProMOS Technologies. He declined to elaborate on details of the negotiations.

Elpida is talking with Powerchip, Rexchip Electronics and ProMOS Technologies, Yukio Sakamoto, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Elpida, said in a Bloomberg interview on Dec. 26, without elaborating on details of the negotiations. The four companies combined would challenge Samsung Electronics as the world’s biggest producer.

Turkish television maker Grundig Elektronik has signed a letter of intent to produce Sony brand LCD TVs.

The ministry said Japan aims to have solar power systems installed on more than 70 percent of new homes. The new efforts will also include solar power education in schools, the development of refined deep cycle battery technologies and the installation of grid connections.

The figures, from the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, show the 2008 holiday shopping season was the weakest in decades, as U.S. consumers cut spending as they confront a yearlong recession, mounting job losses and tighter credit.

Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida on Friday called on the government to prepare a safety net for unemployed workers as companies are forced to carry out aggressive layoffs to combat the economic storm. "Assuming a certain degree (of downturn) in business cycles, the government needs to prepare a safety net in terms of employment."

Toshiba will likely delay the construction of a new memory chip plant in western Japan by half a year due to slow progress in land acquisition, the Nikkei business daily said, citing President Atsutoshi Nishida.

Japan's industrial output took the largest drop in history in November over October, tumbling 8.1% -- nearly double the previous high of 4.3% in January 2001, according to a report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The huge disparity highlights how Japan's export-driven economy is faring against the decline of worldwide consumer demand.

Poor third quarter results by Applied Materials has forced it to lay off staff, including at its Israeli subsidiary.

Asia is being hit by a financial tsunami that is not of its doing but which will hurt it all the same. Unlike the Asian crisis of 1997, which was caused by poor macroeconomic policies and weak financial systems in the region, this time most Asian countries are being affected despite strong macroeconomic fundamentals and sound banks and corporations. Regional growth will decline in 2008 and 2009 by as much as 2 to 3 percentage points, hurting many businesses and millions of people whose lost jobs will send them back into poverty.

Here are some of the worst predictions that were made about 2008. Savor them—a crop like this doesn't come along every year.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Microchip disclosed that it owns a 5.4% stake in Supertex, a publicly-held mixed signal semiconductor manufacturer. Over the last 90 days, ''Microchip has purchased 594,300 shares in the open market and the remaining 103,100 shares were acquired through the exercise of put options sold by Microchip.

ASML announced at SEMICON Japan the first system based on its new NXT lithography platform. The TWINSCAN NXT:1950i provides the increased productivity and enables chip manufacturers to shrink feature sizes to 32 nanometers and beyond in order to reduce costs.

Samsung Electronics has been ordered to pay 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) to a Chinese company for infringing its dual-mode cellphone patent, Xinhua news agency reported. Samsung was sued by Holley Communications in April last year for violating a patented technology allowing cellphones to operate on both CDMA and GSM networks, Xinhua said.

Samsung says that CDs that shipped with many models of its digital photo frames may have included a malicious Trojan horse program that gives cyber criminals access to the PC. The malicious software, known as W32.Sality.AE lies in the XP version of Samsung's Frame Manager 1.08 software, which ships with many other models of Samsung frames.