China's manufacturing expanded for a fourth month as a 4 trillion yuan (US$585 billion) stimulus plan and record bank lending revive the world's third-largest economy.

Finland and China have recently signed high-tech contracts worth US$1 billion (euro720,000) and planned new top-level trade talks aimed at further deals worth more than US$2 billion, according to Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

Japanese PC chip maker Elpida Memory will receive financial support of about 200 billion yen ($2.1 billion) from the government and public and private sector banks, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

China, which has criticized protectionist moves elsewhere, is pushing ahead with efforts to ensure that its gargantuan economic stimulus package benefits domestic firms.

Canadian Solar plans to boost its annual production capacity from 620 megawatts to 800 MW by end-August, to meet an expected surge in demand, according to company president and CEO Shawn Qu.

Beijing is expected to unveil subsidized prices for solar power production as soon as the second half of the year, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday, citing an industry official.

A senior Chinese official has said China wants to produce one-fifth of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, a significant increase on the current target.

Solar power leaders remain hopeful in what could be a huge upturn in US solar demand, but continue to be careful about the rest of 2009 after being hit hard from the global credit predicament.

Optimists argue that the government's loose credit and fiscal policies have succeeded in staving off the worst of the economic downturn. However, there are growing concerns about the impact of these policies on the public finances.

In my opinion, it's time for Taiwan's DRAM makers to merge, consolidate--or give up. The time is now. Not next quarter or next year. Now! There is a plan to consolidate Taiwan's DRAM makers, but so far, no one has budged.

Asia's governments must spend more on social safety nets and reduce their reliance on export-driven growth as they grapple with an economic meltdown that will keep tens of millions trapped in poverty, finance officials said Sunday.

Industrial output in Japan rose in March for the first time in six months, according to government figures. Production rose by 1.6% in March compared with February, after months of dramatic decline.

Things are looking up for Xugong Group, China's largest heavy machinery maker. Driven by Beijing's five-month-old US$586 billion fiscal stimulus, sales of its bulldozers, wheel loaders, and construction cranes reached an all-time high in March, a spokesman says.

Signs that a giant fiscal stimulus is starting to work in China. However, China still needs to find a new engine for future growth. Reforms to improve health care and the social safety net will take many years to encourage people to save less.

UK government funding is needed as the credit crunch threatens a generation of small high-tech companies, a business investment group has warned. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts said the UK could lose its global standing in areas such as healthcare and biotechnology.

German chipmaker Infineon is in negotiations with the government over state guarantees worth several hundred million euros (dollars), the Welt am Sonntag paper reported Sunday.

Japan's government is considering providing funds to Elpida Memory to bolster its capital, NHK said, without providing an amount or saying where it got the information.

China's exports increased last month, but still were down 17% year-on-year, according to figures released by the Chinese government. Imports to China dropped 25% on year to US$72 billion.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso announced a historic US$150 billion stimulus package Friday aimed to turn around the recession in the world's second-largest economy.

...In the long run, they say, there will be only three viable entities, at least at the leading edge of chipmaking: Samsung in memory chips, Intel in microprocessors and TSMC in foundries. The rest will be "nationalistic" ventures in need of regular government bail-outs.

Some are suggesting it's time to buy beaten-down solar stocks, while others are arguing there's value because bad news is priced in and good news is starting to emerge. Wall Street analysts, often criticized for being blindly bullish on stocks, are this time among the sector's staunchest bears.

The Chinese government alerted all silicon, ingot, wafer, cell, and panel manufactures that it intends to announced a very aggressive Solar subsidy that is equivalent to US$3 per installed watt, in cash, as an incentive to aid the Chinese population to install solar. The Japanese may soon follow suit with an announcement of a substantial subsidy for solar installation.

The European Commission and Japan are going to deepen their collaboration in energy research. The primal areas for cooperation are photovoltaics, power storage and carbon capture and storage.

"We want to make sure the government will not simply inject capital into any industry, but hope we could use our leverage to help build up the industry again," Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said in a speech.

The politicians are primarily concerned with restoring demand enough to reverse the rising trend in unemployment; for many of the corporate leaders, ensuring the survival of their firms takes precedence over saving jobs. The difficult decision they face is not whether to cut, but how to do so in a way that strengthens their competitive position in the medium term rather than seriously damaging it.

Helping capitalists out of a predicament of their own making is a delicate business, but any rescue mechanism should have built-in sanctions to raise risk awareness and reduce the probability of future crises. Banking regulators, central banks and governments should answer bankers' cries of help with a consistent and robustly capitalist approach.

Taiwan's ex-President, Chen Shui-bian, has been returned to prison pending his trial on corruption charges, after a court reversed a bail order. The Taipei District Court judges are reported to have said there was a risk he could collude with other suspects, destroy evidence and flee the island.

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 US Government must create strategies to eventually dilute its involvement with private enterprise, Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission Christopher Cox said in the Wall Street Journal.

European semiconductor industry executives are launching a concerted push to convince European government leaders to increase support for chip manufacturing and the equipment and materials infrastructure.

Kim Jong-kap, CEO of the world's No. 2 memory chip maker, told the evening newspaper, Munhwa Ilbo, that the global semiconductor industry would face a big change such as a closure of a rival chipmaker by the first quarter of 2009.

Key issues agreed by world leaders at this summit included: reform of international financial institutions, a global free-trade deal, improvements to financial market transparency, banks and financial institutions' incentives "prevent excessive risk taking," to draw up a list of financial institutions whose collapse would endanger the global economic system, strengthening countries' financial regulatory regimes and taking a "fresh look" at rules that govern market manipulation and fraud.

Huang Ping-chung, budgeting officer at the Legislative Yuan...commented that "We've long budgeted the purchase," He added that the new TV sets are more economical for they consume less power. "Moreover," he added, "they are safer, because the old ones may explode."