Konica Minolta has decided to enhance its production capacity of glass substrates of hard disk drives (HDDs) by adding production line in response to a rapid growth in demand and the accelerated increase in storage density.

Carmakers will be scrambling to meet demand for electric cars - and the lithium batteries that power them - within the next two years, Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Renault and Nissan, has predicted.

Japan-based Mitsubishi Electric has announced it plans to almost triple production of solar cells in two years to meet demand for renewable energy. The company last month finished construction of a 24,000 square meter (258,000 square feet) plant in northern Japan that may begin operating this fall.

Brian Hicks, who co-manages the Global Resources Fund at US Global Investors, said reports continue to show demand for copper, particularly in China, remains high. China is one of the largest importers of copper.

"We continued to see strong MOCVD demand as LED manufacturers ramp production for laptop and TV backlighting as well as general illumination," said Veeco CEO John Peeler.

Apple's iPad device may significantly increase demand for components such as touch screens and memory chips, especially if it succeeds in creating a new product category and spawning competitors, according to industry analysts.

A recent research by SEMI indicates China is committed to narrow the gap between its IC production and consumption. "In addition to investments in the macro economy, the Chinese government also remains the biggest investor in the semiconductor industry in China..."

China exported US$957 billion of goods in the first 10 months of 2009, compared with US$917 billion for Germany, according to customs data compiled by Global Trade Information Services.

In September 2009, the Android OS was tied for last place in consumers' preference among the major mobile operating systems. Since then, it has surged into second place ahead of all competitors except the iPhone OS.

Falling DDR2 prices in the spot market seems to support why DRAM manufacturers were unable to negotiate any further price increases in the contract segment for the past two contracts. Demand for DDR3 is still strong, and Converge believes it will continue to increase as we head into 2010.

The analyst said that recent checks lead her to believe there will be a "significantly better than expected" demand for PCs in the beginning of the year -- something she expects will help balance out supply and demand for DRAM.

Japanese exports in November 2009 fell at the slowest pace in more than a year on strong Asian demand, easing concern about the strength of the country's economic recovery.

First Solar has forecast 2010 profits of US$6.05-6.85 per share on revenues of US$2.7-2.9 billion. The Company said it plans to invest US$365 million of capital to add two production plants, consisting of four manufacturing lines each, to meet a demand pool.

Elpida Memory may post its first annual operating profit in three years as growth in demand outpaces industry production, according to company CEO Yukio Sakamoto.

Called jugaad (pronounced "joo-gaardh"), India's improvisational style of invention focuses on being fast and cheap - attributes just right for these times.

"Strong sales on Black Friday may simply reflect households bringing forward some of their intended holiday spending rather than a sign that spending over the whole holiday period will be strong..."

Exports hit a one-year high of US$19.8 billion in October 2009, as a recovery in the world's economy boosted demand for Taiwanese-made electronics, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Finance.

US consumer spending fell for the first time in five months in September, coinciding with the end of the government's car scrappage scheme.

Consumer sentiment as measured by the Reuters/University of Michigan index fell to 69.4 in early October, below the 73.5 print in late September, which economists were expecting would remain unchanged.

ASML generated net income of 20 million euro in the third quarter of 2009 compared to a net loss in the prior quarter. "ASML's third quarter sales doubled from the second quarter, stemming from technology transition demand for our immersion lithography systems as new DRAM devices are introduced and as Foundry customers are ramping 40nm products..."

A better global economy and the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system are expected to support demand for memory chips through the first half of 2010, the chief executive of Hynix Semicondcutor has commented.

"People are printing money, gold is going up," according to investor Jim Rogers in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Samsung and Hynix sources said strong demand for advanced DRAM or DDR3 chips, has resulted in a price upturn for both DRAM and NAND flash memory chips used in high-end handheld gadgets such as smart phones.

The SSD market has been one of several factors that have boosted demand for NAND flash memory and, as a result, boosted NAND flash prices, too. While this trend will likely continue to benefit Micron and SanDisk, it is equally likely to work against STEC in the longer term.

"We believe this delay in fab closures is due to stronger than expected demand, and Fairchild wanting to continue manufacturing product at those facilities to meet this stronger than expected demand...

"Semiconductor shipments rose to meet current OEM demand, after an overcorrection earlier this year, driving an increase in our variable royalty payments and consequently higher expected revenue for the quarter," said Harold Hughes, president and chief executive officer at Rambus.

National Semiconductor's fiscal first-quarter profits dropped 63% as revenues fell by a third, but the analog chip maker indicated demand was rebounding.

Japan's Sumco, the world's No.2 maker of silicon wafers used to make chips, said it tumbled to a first-half loss on weaker wafer demand from chipmakers.

South Korea's exports fell for a tenth consecutive month as global demand for the nation's automobiles, mobile phones, textiles and steel faltered.

Cloud computing and flash-based storage, two fast-emerging IT technologies, are driving each other forward as users of Internet-based services like social networks demand near-real-time access to ever-growing amounts of data.

Eli Harari, founder, chairman and chief executive of SanDisk, made the predications during a keynote. He also warned that the NAND industry is at the "crossroads," as there is a "disconnect" between future capacity requirements and demand.