Toyota Motors, the word's biggest carmaker, will slow production at some of its factories in North America due to a shortage of parts. Toyota has already halted production at all of its 12 assembly plants in Japan until 26 March.

General Motors has announced plans to temporarily idle its pick-up truck plant in Louisiana due to a parts shortage stemming from the crisis in Japan.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee has signaled that the company's component businesses have reached a peak, suggesting that profit may fall in 2011 from this year's record level.

The group aims to end a long and heated debate about the next big leap in disk technology and is expected eventually to include all drive makers and their component vendors.

An Apple supply manager has been accused of giving confidential information to Asian suppliers in exchange for kickbacks during a three-year scheme detailed in court filings made available over the weekend.

Ericsson, the world's largest maker of telecom network equipment, said Friday that an industry-wide shortage of key components had contributed to an 8 percent decline in sales in the second quarter, echoing concerns raised earlier this week by Nokia.

A JP Morgan analyst has warned of what he considers to be the first warning signs that supply may be starting to outstrip demand in the chip sector. "After a strong start to 2010 characterized by low inventory, rampant component shortages, and extended lead times, we are starting to see our first negative data points..."

Thin-film integrated passive devices (IPDs) have the potential to extend wafer-level packaging and through-silicon via (TSV) technology to many IC package solutions and the discrete passive component industry. This market could expand from US$600 million this year to reach beyond US$1 billion by 2013.

Melloy, which produces 550 tonnes of castings mainly for the automotive industry, took steps to reduce its carbon emissions and save money by investing in greener technology. It says its customers are receiving the same quality product produced with a massive 45% less carbon.

German technology company Infineon Technologies AG has said it would expand a Hungarian production facility which makes components for solar and wind power systems, as a result of strong demand for the products.