or most of the last two decades personal computers have accounted for a third or more of annual IC sales, but standard PCs are now on the brink of being replaced as the largest end-use product category for ICs.

Qualcomm has announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, introduced a new ultra-low power near field communication (NFC) solution that will enable mobile devices with contactless communications and data exchange, including next-generation mobile payments.

There's nothing surprising about Japan going out of its way to bail out Renesas Electronics. The obvious objective is to maintain a steady flow of Renesas chips into domestic products, especially Toyota and Nissan automobiles.

"Today we are announcing the new ST, aligned with the new market environment," said Carlo Bozotti, president and CEO of ST. "Based on that, we have made the decision to exit ST-Ericsson after a transition period."

"Since Mike joined SMIC last year, he and his team have brought in record-breaking sales from the Americas region," said SMIC CEO Tzu-Yin Chiu. "We are excited to have him leading our sales force as we partner with new and existing customers and expand our service offerings."

Memory chipmaker Micron Technology is preparing to lay off about one third of its workforce at its wafer fab in Israel, according to local news reports.

A recent Reuters article is predicting flexible screen tech for either the Samsung Galaxy S4 or its successor, with one analyst tipping the tech to be commercially available by 2014 at the latest.

The Zeus Touch is an all-in-one desktop PC that combines a minimalist tablet-like design with the latest power-efficient performance processors from Intel users into a powerful space-saving system with full 10-finger capacitive touch support.

Qualcomm has said that a shortage of its advanced smartphone processors is almost resolved as manufacturing partners including Samsung Electronics boosted production.

The city of Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, home to a major state-of-the-art Sharp factory, rode the boom when the electronics maker was leading the world in liquid-crystal display TV sets.

AMD has reduced chip orders from supplier Globalfoundries as it tries to cut costs to preserve cash amid a PC-market slump.

Apple shares tumbled more than 6% on December 5, chalking up their biggest single-day loss in four years as fears grow about intensifying competition in the mobile device market.

Taiwan's TSMC will produce the LG-designed chips with using a finer 28-nanometer processing technology.

A benchmark result has popped up online for a device known as the Samsung GT-N5100, and the general consensus seems to suggest it's a 7-inch Galaxy Note tablet.

A new tablet could be in the works from the folks who brought us the Google Nexus 7.

Although Microsoft is just getting started with its 2012 Surface tablets, the company plans to launch three new devices in the next year, according to a well-known source of leaks.

Despite long term plans for expansion in Singapore, foundry chipmaker Globalfoundries said that it is cutting 300 jobs there due to a "softening of the current macro-economic climate."