President Obama has a date with China's Vice President Xi Jinping on Valentine's Day, and despite tensions between the world's two largest economies, they're both likely to put on a happy face. Like it or not, the economic fates of both countries remain closely intertwined.

The US economy created 243,000 jobs in January 2012, the highest total for nine months, official figures show.

Facebook has filed for an initial public offering that could value the social network between US$75 billion and US$100 billion, putting the company on track for one of the biggest US stock-market debuts of all time.

The last of three patents that Rambus used to win infringement lawsuits against Nvidia, Hewlett-Packard and others has been declared invalid, according to legal documents.

A war is brewing between two coalitions of solar power providers-those who get materials from China and those who don't-and the outcome could have an impact on the future of American solar energy.

The US Department of Commerce said Monday that a late-2011 surge in Chinese solar-panel imports could affect the agency's pending decision on a dumping complaint filed by SolarWorld AG .

Traders said they had heard that ZTE had lost a patent lawsuit with Ericsson and had to pay a penalty of EUR500 million (US$640.83 million), although a ZTE executive told Reuters that the outcome of the lawsuit was not out yet.

The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust number that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news.

Adding to a recent US Department of the Interior (DoI) announcement of two new renewable energy projects being approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the construction of a further two projects - a utility-scale solar power plant in California and a transmission line for a wind farm in Oregon.

China's Alibaba Group has hired a US lobbying firm, fuelling further speculation that it is preparing a bid for Yahoo.

The troubled single currency also hit a one-year low against the US dollar, hitting $1.2887.

US Congressman Bill Owens will arrive in Taipei Wednesday to visit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to discuss a possible investment plan, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The acquisition is one of the most expensive for Apple since it acquired NeXT in 1996 - 15 years ago to the day, in fact-and should cement the company's strategic shift to solid-state flash storage for its products.

Cree, Inc. announced it has granted five LED lighting manufacturers licenses to select Cree patents through its recently launched remote phosphor licensing program.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to reach US$309 billion in 2012, a 2.2% increase from 2011, according to Gartner. This outlook is down from Gartner's previous projection in the third quarter for 4.6% growth in 2012.

Apple's 4S topped the list at all major carriers offering the device in the US, while the Samsung Galaxy S2 took the crown at T-Mobile. The S2 also came in second at Sprint and AT&T, sandwiched in between Apple's 4S and iPhone 4, while the Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Rezound rounded out the top three at Verizon, where the S2 is not sold.

Solar power company SunPower Corp. will cut about 125 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce, as the company faces a global solar power market where prices and demand are stagnating.

Struggling solar manufacturers will likely be driven into mergers with rivals to survive a sector squeeze, a trend that could draw major Asian conglomerates deeper into the renewable energy sector.

Freescale Semiconductor has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) accusing MediaTek, Zoran and others of patent infringement, the ITC has said by way of an online posting of pending complaints.

The US unemployment rate dropped sharply to 8.6% in November, its lowest level in two-and-a-half years, from 9% the month before, official figures show.

Growing indignation on the part of leading Chinese PV manufacturers in relation to the ongoing trade dispute has spurred senior executives of 14 leading producers to gather and set out a coordinated plan of defence.

The Black Friday glad tidings from consumer electronics makers continued on Tuesday, with Sony announcing a big rise in US sales and Microsoft reporting a record week for its Xbox 360 console and Kinect controller. The news followed Nintendo's announcement on Monday of receord sales of its Wii and 3DS gaming machines.

The US Supreme Court left intact a ruling that lets Tessera Technologies seek damages from Qualcomm and four other companies for infringing patents covering computer-chip packaging.

China has launched a trade probe into US subsidies for renewable energy and is contemplating filing a case with the World Trade Organisation. The probe is the latest episode in the rapidly escalating trade dispute between the two countries that was sparked off by an anti-dumping petition from a group of US manufacturers last month.

The United States economy grew at a slightly slower rate than previously estimated in the third quarter, but weak inventory accumulation amid sturdy consumer spending strengthened analysts' views that output would pick up in the current quarter.

South Korea's parliament has ratified a free-trade deal with the US, after years of wrangling over the issue.

Seagate alleged that Western Digital and a former Seagate employee misappropriated confidential information and trade secrets.

Chinese solar panel makers plan to shift some of their production to South Korea, Taiwan and the United States in hopes of defusing a trade case pending against them in Washington, according to industry executives.

Under fire from angry Republicans, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu denied Thursday that now bankrupt solar panel firm Solyndra leveraged political ties to President Barack Obama for a government loan.