KLA-Tencor will reduce its global workforce by a further-10% as part of an effort to reduce its quarterly operating expenses to US$140 million to US$145 million by the end of calendar year 2009, down from the previously announced target of US$165-170 million per quarter.

Western Digital has announced that it has completed a US$65 million cash acquisition of SiliconSystems, Aliso Viejo, California, a supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market.

Specialty glass and plastic manufacturer Romag has developed the PowerPark, a carport with a photovoltaic roof that harnesses solar energy as a power source for plug-in cars.

"We need to find a European solution, and to back it up with the EU is a challenge — it takes time and if we wait too long, some of these companies might not exist anymore," said Heinz Kundert, president of SEMI Europe. Kundert said that the full-scale rescue of Qimonda would be quite difficult. "These projects are too big to be solved by one company or a single nation."

China is working on a plan to establish a union in silicon materials industry so as to cope with the ongoing financial crisis, said Zhu Lihui, secretary general of the semi-conductor materials branch under China Electronics Materials Industry Association.

So, is Nvidia absolutely wanting to take a look at GlobalFoundries then? Carvill wouldn't say, but noted, "As long as it didn't compromise our relationship with AMD and customer service to them, we would happily have those discussions with Nvidia and anybody else."

Japan's Toshiba and Sharp has said they are considering working together in the solar power business amid growing demand for cleaner energy, sending their shares higher.

Fairchild Semiconductor International recently announced it will close a wafer fabrication plant and eliminate some manufacturing at a second site to save up to US$25 million annually, as part of the power-chip maker's ongoing cost-reduction in response to slumping demand.

Agilent Technologies has announced a 2700 employee layoff and a major restructuring of its electronic measurement business in response to what the company described as the "most severe global downturn" in its history.

The global solar PV (photovoltaic) market grew to at least 5.5 GW of electrical power converted using PV methods in 2008 compared to 2.4 GW in 2007, the EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) said in a recent report.

Shares of MEMC Electronic Materials, which makes silicon wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries, rose as much as 14% on speculation that the company received a takeover offer from German chemicals group BASF.

"I expect that the number of DRAM makers will be reduced by three or four from the current 10 this year," said Hynix Semiconductor CEO Kim Jong-kap.

Qimonda's insolvency administrator Michael Jaffe was hoping for signs that there would be further talks in both countries, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday, citing company sources.

IBM will cut about 5,000 jobs in the US, adding to similarly large cuts in the past few months, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The global semiconductor industry is likely to have hit its bottom in the fourth quarter of last year, the chief executive of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor said Thursday.

Environmental campaigners say they are astonished at the government's decision to suspend a scheme which gave grants to schools, hospitals and other public buildings to switch to renewable energy. Renewable energy experts say it has all been disastrous and could leave the UK at a competitive disadvantage in the future.

When Toshiba's fuel cell-powered phone was announced last October of 2008, the purported release date was March of this year. Unfortunately, the month is coming to a close, but we are yet to see any telltale signs of the phone's release whatsoever. But even if the phone in question is nowhere in sight, Toshiba is commencing the mass production of its fuel cell products.

Seeking to boost the US clean-energy industry, President Obama on Monday announced US$1.2 billion for science research at national labs and a proposal to extend a business tax credit for investments in research and development. Obama told researchers and green-technology business people that their work was vital to revitalizing the US economy and cutting the country's dependence on foreign oil.

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.

Lam Research is cutting 375 jobs or 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring effort the company estimates will save it up to US$95 million a year.

A startup called Zeebo is betting that people in emerging markets want to play good video games just as much as people in the US, Western Europe and Japan do. Zeebo plans to launch its "video game console for the next billion" in Brazil next month for US$199 and other countries later in the year for US$179. It was developed using the cell phone technology of Qualcomm.

Germany's Siemens AG (SI) Tuesday said that Siemens Energy is to acquire a 28% stake in Italian solar company Archimede Solar Energy S.p.A. and thus expand its competencies for solar thermal power plants.

Spansion said Friday that it received an additional delist warning from Nasdaq.

German solar technology company Q-Cells SE, the world's largest producer of solar cells, announced a rise of 28% in its 2008 net profit, as the growing demand for renewable energy leveraged sales for its solar panels.

Installed solar power capacity in the US rose by 17% to 8,775 megawatts in 2008, the strongest growth in a single year, solar advocate Solar Energy Industries Association said in an annual review issued on Friday.

Infineon Technologies AG HAS announced that it has signed a letter of intent for framework purchase agreement amounting US$68 million with Huawei Technologies of China. Infineon will provide semiconductor solutions for Huawei in the area of central office solutions (CO), customer premise equipment (CPE) and mobile phone platforms.

The world economy is set to shrink by between 0.5% and 1.0% in 2009, the first global contraction in 60 years. In its gloomiest forecast yet, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that developed countries will suffer a "deep recession".