On the heels of OCZ Technology's release of its first sub-US$100 solid-state drive (SSD), Intel has revealed it is shipping a US$125 SSD called the X25-V Value SATA SSD.

Abu Dhabi-backed foundry Globalfoundries is planning to spend US$2.5 billion to increase its 300mm wafer manufacturing capacity by 50% in 2010, according to Udo Nothelfer, company VP and general manager of Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.

BYD, a Chinese car and battery maker backed by US billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Sunday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 500% thanks to robust car sales primed by tax incentives from Beijing.

The arrival of the highly-anticipated Plastic Logic Que proReader models have been delayed until the summer. Pre-orders of the thin US$649-799 business-focused readers are already sold out; they had been expected to turn up in mid-April. Instead notifications were sent to customers Thursday informing them of the delay.

LCD panel maker LG Display will spend US$1.3 billion to raise output and help meet robust customer demand and is betting on booming premium LCD TV sales to drive strong growth this year.

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 jolted northern Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo some 240km (150 miles) away. Fujitsu has said operations at its semiconductor plant in Fukushima prefecture, northeast Japan, were not affected by the quake.

A JP Morgan analyst has warned of what he considers to be the first warning signs that supply may be starting to outstrip demand in the chip sector. "After a strong start to 2010 characterized by low inventory, rampant component shortages, and extended lead times, we are starting to see our first negative data points..."

The total number of employees in India is projected to rise to 10,000 from about 6,000 currently, Cisco CEO John Chambers said at a conference in New Delhi today, without specifying a timeframe for the expansion.

Canon expects China's camera market to become the world's largest as early as 2015, overtaking the US, its head of the business said. The world's biggest camera maker is doubling the number of outlets and boosting its marketing workforce in the Asian nation.

NextWindow, a leading provider of optical touch screens to manufacturers of desktop PCs, monitors and large-format displays, has announced the opening of an office in Seoul, South Korea. The new office will be led by country manager Yong-sun Kim, who joins NextWindow after senior sales roles at international companies including Intel.

Hynix Semiconductor has said it would invest 465 billion won (US$410 million) to expand and upgrade its production capacity and research and development.

Former Sun Microsystems chief made announcement on personal blog this week