The European Commission launched an investigation on Thursday into suspected dumping of solar panels by China-based producers, drawing a warning from China that restrictions on its exports would hurt the global clean energy sector.

The European Commission said Thursday it will investigate whether Chinese makers of solar equipment are illegally pushing their products into Europe, a move that could escalate growing trade tensions between the European Union and China.

Chinese government officials have used economic cooperation talks, between Germany and China, to raise the topic that a bilateral solution could be reached between the two countries to avoid a potential photovoltaic trade war.

Miao Liansheng, chairman of the board of Yingli Green Energy, said if the anti-dumping case is verified, China-based solar companies will be forced to transfer their industry to other countries, which will cause a loss to the real economy in China, and this newly leading industry will also lose its development opportunities.

We hope a proposed deal by Hon Hai Group, the world's largest contract electronics maker, to acquire a stake of Japan-based Sharp, can be clinched so that it will become a trailblazer in the cooperation of the Taiwan and Japanese industries.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out against the prospect of EU action against China over alleged dumping of solar products, calling for the dispute to be solved by talks rather than trade tariffs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks talks involving the European Commission and Chinese authorities to prevent the opening of anti-dumping proceedings against Chinese solar-panel makers in Europe.

According to media reports, criminal charges have been filed in Italy against the Global Solar Fund, S.C.A., Sicar (GSF). It is claimed the company "illegally" built solar farms in the country in order to take advantage of available subsidies. The trial is scheduled to begin on December 6.

According to German news agency, dpa, in a bid to ease political tensions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) is hoping to find a solution to avoid a solar trade dispute between Europe and China.

China's solar industry hopes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Beijing on Thursday will help resolve disputes which may severely harm bilateral trade ties.

Q-Cells has announced that the South Korea-based Hanwha Group has won its bid to take the insolvent Germany company over.

's share of China's smartphone market almost halved to 10% in the second quarter as buyers waited for the next iPhone model - expected later this year - or switched brands, data from industry research firm IDC showed on Friday.

In a move that escalates a trade row with the United States, China said it would ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to adjudicate a dispute over US punitive import duties on 22 China-based exports, including solar panels and steel products.

Japan has reported a wider-than-expected trade deficit in July, as slowing demand from China and Europe weighed on exports.

Following recently revised second quarter financial results, Trina Solar produced a long-list of issues that contributed to growing losses and a meaningful reduction in its full-year shipment guidance.

Shares in China Mobile, the world's biggest phone carrier by subscribers, have fallen more than 5% after second-quarter profits disappointed investors.

While smartphones have been the craze in China's tech market, feature phones are still helping to drive Internet usage in the country, especially with search. A case in point is Easou, a mobile Internet search company with more than 200 million users in the country, many of whom are using less advanced handsets from Nokia and local Chinese brands.

In China's booming smartphone market, which is set this year to overtake the United States as the world's largest, a host of little-known local firms are primed with cheap phones to squeeze market share from US giant Apple Inc's iPhone.

As solar panel prices continue to tumble, China-based solar companies are struggling with heavy debt loads, fueling expectations that many will be forced to seek new infusions of funds through takeovers or mergers.

China and Taiwan have signed their first investor-protection agreement in the latest sign of the momentum behind President Ma Ying-jeou's drive to strengthen his country's relationship with China, its biggest trade partner and frequent political adversary.

In the presence of high-ranking representatives of the Jiangsu province, OSRAM AG laid the foundation of its new plant in the Chinese city of Wuxi.

A key battlefield is emerging for suppliers of mobile chips - the low-end smartphone market in developing countries.

A scheduled workers' protest at China's four largest solar panel companies against the filing of an anti-dumping complaint in the European Union was called off Thursday morning.

One more analyst house, Canalys, has released its numbers on global smartphone sales in Q2, and unlike Strategy Analytics and IDC, it has focused on sales by platforms rather than OEMs. In that light, Google's Android (GOOG) was the clear, all-out winner: in a market that saw 158 million smartphone shipments worldwide, Android accounted for 68% of them, with its 108 million units an increase of 110% over the same period a year ago.

Chinese smartphone manufacturers, not international vendors, are driving growth in the domestic market, resulting in China becoming the top single country market with 27 percent of the 158 million global smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2012.

Beijing-based Xiaomi sells an Android smartphone called the MI-One. When the phone went on sale last fall, Xiaomi received 300,000 preorders in the first 34 hours. Less than a year after launch the company has sold more than 3 million MI-Ones and counting. The phone is hot. Red-hot. Apple hot.

First Solar Inc. chairman Mike Ahearn has found the best way to make money from photovoltaics is to sell whole power plants to Warren Buffett and NextEra Energy Inc. instead of competing with China on panel sales.

China-based solar panel manufacturers have urged Beijing to respond to a threat of European anti-dumping restrictions.

China is investigating whether exporters from the US and South Korea sold solar-grade polysilicon below cost, a practice known as dumping, as part of a probe following complaints from four domestic companies.

Germany's environment ministry said on Friday it would back solar firms' efforts to bring anti-dumping proceedings against China amid a bitter price war in the industry that has left many German panel producers fighting for survival.

Chinese telecoms outfit ZTE has hit back at rumours suggesting it will respond to sliding market share and a scary balance sheet by shedding 12,000 staff. Instead, the company says, we can expect a graduate hiring spree.