Samsung Electronics has acquired Grandis, a maker of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) technology known as spin transfer torque (STT-RAM). Samsung said Grandis will be merged into its R&D operations "that are focused on developing the next evolution of memory, where new semiconductor materials and structures are reviewed for their long-term commercial value."

Best Buy will begin selling Insignia Internet-enabled TVs with TiVo-powered interfaces and Chumby online widgets.

LED Roadway Lighting will supply 2580 SSL street lights to Edmonton, Canada, Kingsun Optoelectronic completes LED highway lighting project in Shenzhen, China, and Las Vegas and UK SSL updates.

Having cited weaker-than-expected financial results for the first quarter of 2011, due in part to the halt in PV installations in the key Italian market , Trina Solar has revised its second-quarter guidance, which points to the demand issues in Italy for the company's lower sales expectations.

Photovoltaic cells are best known for turning sunlight into electrical power - and they're big business. But did you know that there's a type of PV cell that eats heat instead of light to make power? It could replace the Li-ion battery in your cell phone, and it may also be used to scavenge waste heat from almost anything that normally dumps it into the environment, from your TV's electronics to your car's engine (even an electrical one).

HiSilicon Technologies has licensed a range of ARM technology for use across the breadth of its communications chip design activities including: 3G/4G basestations, networking infrastructure and mobile computing applications.

Weeks of political infighting in Washington have produced a budget deal that aims to cut the US government budget deficit by US$2.4 trillion over 10 years.

A single SuperScale controller equipped Z-Drive R4 is capable of transferring up to 2800 megabytes per second (MB/s) and completing over 500,000 input-output operations per second (IOPS), while a dual SuperScale controller card reaches an astounding 5600 MB/s and 1.2 million IOPS.

Kingston Technology has announced it is shipping the HyperX SSD, its first SATA Rev. 3.0 6Gb/s solid-state drive. The Kingston HyperX SSD features the latest SandForce controller and is designed for enthusiasts, gamers and performance users.

LED chip, lamp and lighting fixture maker Cree Inc of Durham, NC, USA has launched what it claims is the first system-level LED downlight for the international 80-100mm MR16 market. A direct replacement for the 50W MR16-based fixture, the CR100 downlight surpasses its counterpart in brightness and efficacy.

ARM sounded a note of caution about electronic goods sales this Christmas, even as it announced a better-than-expected second quarter in which its technology, already dominant in smartphones and tablets, was licensed for more and more uses.

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/24c99176-b81a-11e0-8d23-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1TmqNu1c7 CSR has warned of "increasing economic uncertainty and weakness in some areas of the handset market" as it reported a slide in revenues for the first half of 2011.

Solar investors should brace themselves for some downright dreadful second-quarter earnings reports in the coming weeks, though the rest of the year may provide some relief to battered solar stocks as panel prices stabilize and profit margins recover.

Despite the first-half slump in PV installations and significant inventory build across the PV supply chain, leading polysilicon producer Hemlock Semiconductor would seem to be riding its 50th year in business in style, as Dow Corning management noted that the polysilicon JV arm had remained ?嚙編old-out' in the first half of the year and the situation would remain the same for sometime.

Japanese thin-film manufacturer Solar Frontier has announced today that it's new 900 megawatt (MW) CIS thin-film factory has reached full commercial operation, with all production lines open. At full capacity and in combination with the two existing plants, the new facility brings Solar Frontier's annual capacity to around one gigawatt (GW).

China's strategic development of new energy resources over the next five years will focus on four sectors -- nuclear, wind, solar and biomass power, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Monday, citing unidentified officials.

Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of US$73.7 billion. Apple's most recent financial results put its reserves at US$76.4 billion.

Texas Instruments (TI) has shipped more than 30 million units of its PowerStack packaging technology, which significantly boosts performance, lowers power and improves chip densities in power management devices.

Expected problems in the automotive supply chain failed to materialize for Infineon Technologies in the second quarter and helped the German chip maker turn in higher than expected sales and profits in its third fiscal quarter ended June 30.

Orders have stalled over the past couple of weeks as semiconductor companies pull back on expansion plans, according to KLA-Tencor. Orders in the fiscal first quarter, which ends in September, will fall as much as 45% from the prior quarter.

Fuji Electric has announced that it will spend JPY18.5 billion (US$240 million) to build an assembly line for power semiconductors at its Yamanashi Prefecture plant. The line will process 8-inch silicon wafers to make the semiconductors.