Micron Technology's fourth-quarter profit fell sharply as lower selling prices again drove down revenue, underscoring the effects of weakened demand for personal computers.

Toshiba Corp (6502.T) may lay off staff in its underperforming home appliances, TV and PC businesses and seek a partner for its nuclear operations to overhaul the company after a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Japan's stock exchange ordered Toshiba to pay a record fine of Y91.2m ($750,000) in the wake of a $2bn accounting scandal, marking another reputational blow to the lossmaking nuclear-to-semiconductor conglomerate.

Lenovo is laying off 3,200 employees and trimming down its smartphone portfolio in response to a slowdown in its PC and handset sales.

Not so long ago, the release of a new Windows operating system was a sure bet to drive a massive PC refresh cycle, boosting sales by double digit percentages. But that is a thing of the past.

Shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are up 7 cents, or 3%, at $2.41, after PC and gaming gear enthusiast site KitGuru this afternoon said the company is attracting buyout interest from Microsoft.

Intel's Cannonlake, originally slated for 2016 and later 2017, is now on hold indefinitely. Instead, Intel's current processors - of the Skylake platform - will be succeeded by the less drastic Kaby Lake platform.

Samsung has been accused of disabling Microsoft's software in preference for its own, leaving computers insecure.

Micron Technology said it expects a further decline in prices of chips used in personal computers, and forecast revenue for the current quarter well below market estimates.

American chip manufacturers argue that, without the trade deal, they will be squeezed out of the growing Asian market for computer chips by competitors in countries like China.

Pricing of DRAM, based on his "checks" with entities in Taiwan, is weak in PC, servers, and in graphics applications, writes Moore.

Demand for semiconductors continued to weaken in the second quarter with some PC assemblers in Asia suggesting a decline in purchases of some parts of as much as 15-20% from the second quarter of 2014, according to a report from Wall Street analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Intel plans to combine operations that handle chips for personal computers with those targeting smartphones and tablets, according to an email sent to employees by Chief Executive Brian Krzanich.

Lenovo Group On Thursday said its net profit for the quarter through September rose 19% on growing sales of both personal computers and smartphones.

Samsung successfully expands the use of the 20 nanometer process from PC and mobile memory to the enterprise server market.

At an IBM factory in southern China, more than 1,000 workers have staged a strike to protest the company's plan to transfer employees to the Chinese PC arm, the Lenovo Group.

Lenovo reported Thursday it had made progress in its plan to expand beyond PCs, even before a planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

AMD was profitable for the second consecutive quarter, thanks in large part to the success of the gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony that are powered by the vendor's chips.

Lenovo's talks to buy part of IBM's server business show the Chinese PC giant's next ambition: challenging US rivals in the lucrative market for products and services aimed at corporate clients.

Intel said it will delay opening a new factory in Arizona amid a slump in demand for PC microprocessors, its main source of revenue.