China streaked ahead of its western and Asian rivals at the weekend by unveiling the world's fastest long-distance passenger train service. The improvement illustrates how China's huge investment in infrastructure is dramatically shrinking the country.

Singapore regulators have approved a takeover offer by Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), which made a bid for Chartered in September.

Taiwan Stock Exchange Chairman Schive Chi said Chinese companies may list on the island as early as 2010. "When the ECFA is signed with China next year, it's a good opportunity for Chinese firms to list in Taiwan and we aim for that to happen in the next year..."

Hynix Semiconductor plans to invest about 2.3 trillion won (about US$2 billion) in its semiconductor business – 1.5 trillion won in DRAM and 800 billion won in NAND flash memory and logic – in 2010, a 130% jump from one trillion won this year.

Japan's economy in third-quarter 2009 grew sharply less than initial estimates as cautious companies decided to save, not spend.

Taiwan's economic minister Shih Yen-hsiang met his Chinese counterpart behind closed doors in Singapore Sunday to work out an agenda for bilateral talks on a proposed bilateral economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).

Solid state drive (SSD) controller start-up SandForce has closed US$21 million in series C funding. Led by new investor TransLink Capital, the round also included new investors UMC Capital, LSI, Red Maple Ventures, Darwin Ventures and A-Data Technology.

China is launching its long-awaited Nasdaq-style stock market in the southern city of Shenzhen. Twenty eight small- and medium-sized enterprises are expected to debut on the new exchange.

"Demand for our XLR immersion lithography light sources and Installed Base Products rose sharply during the quarter, driven by increased investment from the foundry and memory sectors in support of transitions to the 5x nanometer node and below," said Cymer's CEO Bob Akins. Cymer's net income totaled US$10.79 million in the third quarter, compared to net income of US$5.33 million a year ago.

The major supplier of NAND flash silicon invested "millions" in Fusion-io, said Fusion-io President and CEO David Flynn, though he declined to give a more specific figure. The two will jointly evaluate technology for new applications of solid-state storage.

Russia's government is in talks with Germany on buying a stake in Infineon Technologies, said AFK Sistema, tycoon Vladimir Yevtushenkov's holding company.

Foreign investment has been one of the factors helping drive the rapid growth of China's economy. The investment increased in August, after 10 consecutive months of declines.

Taiwan plans to sign an agreement with China in October that will allow some of the mainland's huge pool of liquidity to start flowing into the island's stockmarket, according to local media.

Indonesia has proved to be less exposed to the global recession than many of its neighbours, and its economy expanded by 4.2% on year in the first half of 2009.

Goldman Sachs, which earns more money trading equities than any other US bank, sent a letter to clients explaining its high-frequency trading as regulators and politicians step up scrutiny of the practice.

Samsung plans to spend 70% of its total chip investment projected in the second half to sharpen the next DRAM chips, while Hynix will also use a great portion of its investment budget for the chips.

Silicon Valley executives are taking a close look at Taiwan's stock markets as a place for raising capital to fuel their growth given the tight US venture capital and public markets

The investment in semiconductor in the second half will concentrate on introduction of 40nm DRAM and 30nm NAND, and shifting main process to 50nm and 40nm NAND.

The primary cause of China's ballooning foreign currency reserves is not the surplus of the country's exports over its imports, but the result of overseas investors pouring money into property and shares...

Hynix Semiconductor has said it would cut its investment in a new production facility by 45% and extend the investment period.

China could be an unexpected laggard to any global recovery, with its economy set to remain sluggish after a long run of bubble-like investment in factories and other fixed assets wears off, some analysts say.

The majority of people in Taiwan view China as nothing more than a business partner, while most people in China see Taiwan as "kin, " according to the results of a survey released Tuesday.

Japan has passed the worst of its current slump and is on course for growth in its next fiscal year, but the recovery of the world's second-largest economy could yet prove vulnerable, Kaoru Yosano, finance minister, has warned. The comment came just before a survey showed that business confidence had risen for the first time in two and a half years.

Sony agreed to invest in a Sharp LCD unit, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

Call them philanthropic or just call them smart investors, the bottom line is that Google wants to provide an alternate solution to the greenhouse gases of laden coal power generation in the US.

Compound Semiconductor Technologies (CST) Global, the Scottish foundry company, is to upgrade its manufacturing equipment thanks to new financing.

This expansion includes a 50% increase in floor space, and a multi-million dollar investment in facilities and equipment.

Facebook has received US$200 million from a Russian investment group in exchange for a small stake in the nation's largest social networking company.

Singapore chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has said it hasn't received a bid from Advanced Technology Investment.

Samsung Electronics said it will press ahead with its research and development effort. The world's biggest producer of DRAM chips is to spend some US$2 billion on chips R&D for 2009.

As more banks raise money to repay bailout loans, that means big fees for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

After a massive capex splurge on its semiconductor division over the last three years, Toshiba is radically cutting back its chip investments over the coming year.