President Obama has a date with China's Vice President Xi Jinping on Valentine's Day, and despite tensions between the world's two largest economies, they're both likely to put on a happy face. Like it or not, the economic fates of both countries remain closely intertwined.

Micron Technology president Mark Adams said prices of computer memory have probably hit their lowest after a slump that caused losses at three of the four largest companies in the industry.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to announce 3D IC assembly service as a general offering at the beginning of 2013, according to Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe.

Micron Technology has announced the death of Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton in a small plane accident in Boise. Mr. President and COO Mark Durcan will assume the responsibilities of CEO until a successor is appointed.

"We delivered a solid fourth quarter amid challenging market conditions," said company president and CEO John Kispert. "2011 was a year of transition and intense product development. Spansion is now well-positioned for growth in the future in areas such as automotive, industrial, communications and gaming..."

Prior to joining Globalfoundries, Michael Noonen served as executive vice president, sales and marketing as a member of NXP Semiconductors' executive management team from 2008 to 2011.

But it is also clear that a large number of Taiwanese remain sceptical about the downside of President Ma's policy towards China.

OMAP 5 will come to the consumer market "maybe in the fourth quarter [of 2012]," said Greg Delagi, senior vice president and general manager of TI's Wireless Business Unit. OMAP 5 differs from OMAP 4 in that it uses a dual-core A15 CPU, the next generation from chip designer ARM.

China has forgone blustery warnings and war games in the run-up to Taiwan's presidential election this weekend, and will likely take a measured response even if the independence-leaning opposition unseats friendlier incumbent Ma Ying-jeou.

But he said that the biggest goal was stability, and that aid-for-disarmament talks could resume if Pyongyang halted its nuclear activities.

Maria Marced, European president of TSMC, has pushed back against claims by market researchers at Gartner that foundries are having problems with yield on 28nm process technologies. For TSMC the roll out of the 28nm chip manufacturing node is "on plan," Marced told EE Times.

ARM has said that co-founder and President Tudor Brown will retire in May 2012 after helping turn the firm into a dominant mobile processor company.

"[Making] bulk silicon HKMG at 28nm is hard. All foundries are having yield issues and defect density issues right now," said Bob Johnson, research vice president at Gartner.

Samsung Electronics' president expects Thailand floods to further hit the computer memory chip market by hurting PC production until the first quarter of 2012.

During a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that 'broad agreement' was reached to ramp up the firepower of the eurozone rescue fund.

Taiwan may consider a peace treaty with political rival China in 10 years, but only if the Taiwanese people agree and there is sufficient trust between the two sides, said President Ma Ying-jeou.

Calling for unity and an end to a "political circus" US President Barack Obama told Republicans to immediately pass a US$447 billion jobs plan to jolt the stalled economy and cheer a disillusioned nation.

Facing a frustrated public and a skeptical Congress, President Barack Obama will pitch at least $300 billion in jobs proposals aimed at getting Americans back to work quickly and forcing Republicans to take a share of the responsibility for solving the country's economic woes.

"Skyworks exceeded all key metrics last quarter and we see a steep growth trajectory heading into the second half of calendar 2011," said David J. Aldrich, president and CEO of Skyworks.

Prior to HTC, Mackenzie held a progression of sales and marketing positions with DENSO Wireless and Siemens Communications, concluding as Vice President for Siemens Communications.

Toshiba President Norio Sasaki also said the company is gaining on South Korea's Samsung Electronics in terms of flash memory global market share, though warned that the rivalry could undercut prices.

China's state-run media denied recent reports that the former President and Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin had died. Citing what it called "authoritative sources," Xinhua news agency labeled the reports as "pure rumor".

Hackers apparently broke into the FoxNews.com's Twitter feed for political news early Monday and used it to announce - falsely - that President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted former president Lee Teng-hui, the state's first democratically elected leader, on corruption charges.

Plans to build 8th-generation and 10th-generation LCD production lines have ground to a halt, according to Sharp president Mikio Katayama.

Nokia's Windows Phones will start coming out at a relatively rapid clip after the first one appears later in 2011, said Jo Harlow, Nokia's executive vice president of smart devices.

"Nintendo 3DS has not been selling as expected since the second week [of availability], and this is not just in the Japanese market but also in the US and Europe, where no direct impact from the great earthquake has occurred," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

President Barack Obama has vowed to cut US$4 trillion in cumulative deficits within 12 years through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.

Bruce Sohn, First Solar's president of operations, may pursue work as chief executive of another solar company when he steps down at the end of this month, an analyst said. A First Solar spokesman said he couldn't comment on Sohn's departure.

The move leaves some to wonder if the silicon foundry giant is gradually moving into the IC-packaging world, thereby competing against Amkor, ASE and other subcontractors. Rick Cassidy, president of TSMC North America, said TSMC remains focused on the foundry market. But "lines are blurring" between some parts of the wafer manufacturing and packaging processes, Cassidy said.

David NK Wang, president and CEO of SMIC, has been elected to a two-year term on the board of directors of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).

President Ma Ying-jeou and more than 300 entertainers raised NT$800 million (US$26.7 million) in a four-hour fundraiser broadcast live on local channels late Friday, said co-organiser Taiwan Red Cross. Another fundraiser co-sponsored by World Vision Taiwan also saw hundreds of local celebrities join hands to raise NT$114 million for Japan quake relief.

I fear our business is dividing in a way that that threatens the continued employment of those of us who make games," said Satoru Iwata during a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. "Is maintaining high value games a top priority, or not?"

"I don't envision us using Microsoft. I would never say never but it's not something we're entertaining now," said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services product management for Motorola.

TriQuint Semiconductor's (TQNT) fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled as revenue jumped by nearly one-third, but results still fell short of analysts' forecasts. "With the world transitioning to a mobile Internet, I expect a strong market and see another solid growth year for TriQuint in 2011," said company president and CEO Ralph Quinsey.

Speculation ARM could become a takeover target is misguided and ignores the importance of the chip designer staying independent, ARM's president said.