Benchmark indexes in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea all dropped by about 5% in early trading after the Dow Jones share index in New York fell to its lowest level in five years, amid fears of a protracted global recession.

At SC08 yesterday, Michael Dell, Dell’s CEO gave a presentation which included a slide showing an 80 core chip which should tip up sometime around 2010.

Legal disputes are rising as employers refuse to pay employees for the 20 or so minutes it takes for their computers to boot-up or shut down each work day.

German chemicals company BASF Wednesday said it will temporarily shutter 80 plants worldwide due to a "massive" demand decline in key industries, particularly the auto industry, as it warned of sliding profits. The move will affect 20,000 workers, including 5,000 in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Siimpel announced today that it has completed an investment round in support of its groundbreaking MEMS technology and product development for mobile camera applications. DoCoMo Capital, the corporate venture arm of NTT DoCoMo, has joined Siimpel's existing strategic investors from the mobile market.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup has handed Apple its latest victory against cloners that create and sell machines based on Apple's software.

The idea of this tax isn't to inflict pain or get people out of cars - it's to make gasoline prices predictable so that automakers and consumers could make rational, long-term decisions rather than being subject to the rollercoaster ride we've taken in the past year. A high tax would hold down gas consumption, making it more difficult for oil-producing countries to gouge us again when the world economy recovers. Even though we'd be paying more than we're paying now, we'd be paying much less than the $4-plus we paid this summer.

HP expects earnings of 84 cents per share and adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share for the three months ended in October. This is slightly better than the $1.00 per share, excluding items, expected from analysts polled....

Market research group Gartner has lowered its forecast for semiconductor equipment manufacturing gear sales in 2009, just weeks after a previous downgrade.

In October, Qimonda sold its 35.6% interest in Korean chipmaker Inotera for US$400 million to Micron and is using those proceeds to restructure its core business. German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche said that after Micron has completed the restructuring process it could acquire Qimonda with the purchasing price of the Korean chipmaker being credited against the purchase of Qimonda.

Japan's largest mobile-phone operator and KT Freetel of South Korea will work together to develop a low-cost smart phone using free software from Google.

ARC International has introduced Virtual Bass audio enrichment technology that enables electronic companies to be more competitive and lower manufacturing costs while providing a more compelling multimedia experience to consumers.

...In the most precarious situation is ProMOS, which ended the third quarter with about US$76 million in cash, a third of what it started the year with. Investors in a US$350 million convertible bond issued by ProMOS in 2007 will be able to start selling the bond back to the company in February, although it isn't due until 2012. The company has another US$225 million bond due in June 2010, according to Dealogic.

...Microchip, which said it pulled out after On ended its pursuit of Atmel, may seek to team up with another company and make a new bid for Atmel, Suji De Silva, an analyst with Kaufman Bros., said in an interview. Microchip is still an interested buyer, De Silva said. There could be another partner or they may go it alone.

Gartner today lowered its capital and equipment spending forecast for the second time in as many months, warning that the next year could see a capital spending decline of about 17% and capital equipment revenue decline of 18%. The revised forecast comes after Gartner in October suggested 2009 equipment demand would be slower than anticipated.

Yahoo is unlikely to pull out of its $1 billion-plus China investment in Alibaba Group, even after the pending departure of CEO and strong China supporter Jerry Yang, analysts said on Tuesday. "No matter who becomes the new CEO of Yahoo, I don't think they would want to sell their investment in China," said Elinor Leung, an analyst at CLSA. "They're having a tough time in the U.S., and China is the growth potential for them."

ZTE, China's No. 2 telecoms equipment vendor, expects the country's high-speed third-generation technology to be adopted outside of China as soon as 2009, despite "flaws" that will need to be ironed out.

Research In Motion (RIMM) President Mike Lazaridis Monday said he's still confident about growth in the smartphone market. Lazaridis said despite the economic crisis everybody needs communication devices. He added the smart phone market outpaces the overall mobile phone sector.

A new facility in Germany aims to develop a domestic manufacturing base for the production of organic LEDs and solar cells