The chips will run applications faster and turn tablets into multimedia powerhouses. However, quad-core chips could be power hogs, and tablet applications may need to be rewritten to take full advantage of the hardware features, which could be a challenge, according to analysts.

Intel is considering buying Texas Instruments' OMAP division, according to a highly placed executive at another fabless semiconductor firm.

Canadian Solar Inc said it would build a 600 megawatt photovoltaic cell production factory in Suzhou in Eastern China, a day after the solar panel maker announced plans to set up a wafer plant in the same area.

Germany's solar industry is to be subjected to four subsidy cuts over the next 12 months, according to the revised draft of the country's Renewable Energy Act [EEG]. The final two of these reductions had not been included in the original amendment to the bill and their addition is a major blow to the country's solar industry.

The fact that Nokia's new chief had to deal with a long-shot of a rumor regarding a supposed buyout deal from Microsoft - at a big discount to its current valuation - shows how far the world's largest mobile phone company has fallen.

South Korea's Samsung SDI aims to increase total annual revenue to 13 trillion won ($12.1 billion) in 2015, more than double last year's 5.1 trillion won, the company said on Wednesday.

Samsung Mobile Display Inc. said Tuesday it started production two months early at a new factory that will sharply expand its output of ultrathin screens known by the acronym OLED for cellphones and other small electronics devices.

Professor Lee Jong-ho at the School of Electrical Engineering of Seoul National University has claimed that he is in possession of the patent on bulk FinFET and it is identical to Intel's tri-gate MOSFET.

GT Solar International Inc of Merrimack, NH, USA (a provider of polysilicon production technology as well as sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems and materials for the solar, LED and other specialty markets) has reported revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter (ended 2 April) of $271.6m, up 3.3% on $262.9m last quarter and 40% on $194.7m a year ago. Revenue by business segment was $79.2m in polysilicon, $186m in photovoltaic (PV), and $6.4m in sapphire (all of which was sapphire materials revenue).

Factory output rose by 1% in April from the previous month as companies worked towards dealing with problems in supply chain disruption.

Fujitsu Semiconductor has announced the release of 113 microcontrollers, including chips from the MB96600 Series of 16-bit microcontrollers and chips from the MB91520 Series of 32-bit microcontrollers.

Rampant piracy means Microsoft's revenues in China this year will only be about 5% of what it gets in the US, even though personal-computer sales in the two countries are almost equal, CEO Steve Ballmer told employees in a meeting.

Sony has said it resumed output of Blu-ray video disks on May 30 at a factory in Tagajo that was badly damaged by waves unleashed by the magnitude-9 offshore 'quake.