Japan is set to overtake Germany as the world's largest solar market by annual installations this year as government incentives to encourage clean energy in light of the Fukushima nuclear crisis attract investment.

China took aim on June 5 at exports of the Europe-made wines favored by its growing middle class, responding to an EU move to impose anti-dumping duties of China-based solar panels as tensions rise between two of the world's biggest trade partners.

Less than a day after the EU said it was imposing preliminary import tariffs on China-based solar panels, China's Ministry of Commerce announced on June 5 that it had begun a trade investigation of wines imported from the European Union.

Contract chipmaker Globalfoundries will spend US$4.5 billion to boost production capacity in 2013, anticipating a burst in orders for chips used in low-cost smartphones.

The move comes a day after the EU imposed anti-dumping levies on China-made solar panel imports.

The Germany industries on June 4 expressed concerns over the EU's decision to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on China-made solar products.

The EU will delay for two months the full impact of import tariffs it planned to put on China-based solar panel equipment, to allow China-based manufacturers to negotiate a settlement that could defuse one of the biggest trade disputes in recent decades, EU officials said on June 4.

The EU's trade chief on June 4 carried out his threat to impose tariffs on solar panels from China.

Tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese solar panels are lower than expected and may drive up imports for the next two months while officials pursue a trade agreement, renewable-energy developers said.

At least 14 times this year, thieves raided solar parks in Germany's Brandenburg state, carrying off tons of solar panels in a crime that's forcing investors in the world's biggest solar market to tighten security.

China and the EU are quarreling over China-based exports of solar panels, which Europe says are being dumped in its markets.

Qualcomm has expanded its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors portfolio to include support for Microsoft Windows RT 8.1.

IC Insights has lowered its 2013 IC market growth forecast 1pp to 5%.

Asus has just announced a refresh to last year's Transformer Pad Infinity, with a much-improved display and processor. The new Android tablet has a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS display, a Tegra 4 processor, and 2GB of RAM.

At its Computex 2013 showcase event, ASUS introduced the new FonePad Note, an Android tablet with stylus support that rocks a slightly smaller form factor than the FonePad announced at MWC.

Samsung Electronics has chosen an Intel processor to power a new version of one of its top-tier Android tablets, a source with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.

The device has a 4.3-inch (10.9cm) screen, which is slightly bigger than its predecessor, the S3 Mini.

Samsung sold 12.5 million smartphones in China between January and March, accounting for a 18.5% market share, up 2.2pp from the previous quarter, the report quoted data compiled by Strategy Analytics as saying.

Trade negotiations between the EU and China ended on May 27 with mutual recriminations.

The solar panels covering a vast warehouse roof in the sun-soaked Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles were only two years into their expected 25-year life span when they began to fail.

Adroitly alternating the threat of a trade war with the lure of its huge import market, China appears to have driven a deep wedge between Germany and the rest of the EU. And it may even have caused a rift within the Germany business world.

A majority of EU governments oppose a plan to impose hefty duties on solar panel imports from China, a survey of member states showed on May 27, undermining efforts by Brussels to pressure Beijing over its trade practices.

Samsung Electronics announced that global channel sales of its Galaxy S4 has surpassed 10 million units sold in less than one month after its commercial debut.

As the PC market continues to tip further into free fall - with IDC forecasting a 7.8% sales decline this year - one Wall Street analyst suggested Tuesday that PC buyers will continue to wait for Windows Blue and the second half of 2013 to upgrade their PCs.

ST-Ericsson, which focuses on mobile and wireless chips, announced the sale on Tuesday without naming the buyer. An Intel spokesman later said the US chipmaker bought the assets.

Mozilla and Foxconn have sent around an press event invitation that declares that the two companies will be debuting a new device that runs on a Firefox operating system, according to Focus Taiwan. The event is to take place on June 3.

One day, we may be able to check e-mail or call a friend without ever touching a screen or even speaking to a disembodied helper.