Governments across Asia have launched massive stimulus packages focused on renewable energy in recent months, and some analysts think the new infusion of cash could reshape a solar industry reeling from the economic downturn.

With more automation processing, the solar industry can cut the amount of human labor needed dramatically.

NEC Electronics will likely outsource more production of semiconductors used in consumer electronics to outside foundries to insure against a sudden plunge in demand following losses last year tied to a rapid drop in orders.

South Korea has announced that it had concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU that it hoped would encourage US lawmakers to ratify a free trade deal with the country.

A day after the Korea Communications Commissions (KCC) announced that Ericsson will build a Korea-based R&D center and create more than 1,000 jobs over the next five years, a company spokesman has said the announcement was merely a government "guesstimate."

At the Semicon West trade show here, fab tool vendors rolled out a plethora of products. Here's some of the hot product introductions at the show.

Back-to-school spending is set to slip 7.7% in 2009, according to a survey. Families say they'll spend less than they did last year to get kids ready for the fall, relying heavily on sales and coupons.

Singapore appears to be emerging from its worst recession on record after the economy expanded at an annualised rate of 20.4% between April and June.

Intel has eased its restrictions on netbook specifications, and will now allow screen sizes of 10-inch with a resolution of 1366x768, up from 10-inch and 1280x600.

Fresh rumors from sources claiming to be inside Apple's supply chain suggest that an US$800 tablet-like "netbook" will launch this October.

Semiconductor makers are often among the first to see sales and earnings fall when a recession like this one comes along. But as the recession comes to an end, chip companies are usually among the first to come out of it.

Charlie Gay, the president of Applied Solar (APSO.OB), the solar arm of semiconductor-equipment-maker Applied Materials (AMAT), says solar panel makers are experiencing steady cost reductions by making solar panels steadily thinner. Manufacturers can't reduce the X and Y dimensions of the solar cell easily – that would reduce the surface area exposed to the sun, which in turn would reduce the power that a given panel could produce. But by producing thinner wafers, the amount of raw material gets reduced without reducing performance.

South Korea said Friday it had identified and blocked five IP addresses used to distribute computer viruses that caused a wave of Web site outages in the US and South Korea. South Korean and American officials have said they believe North Korea was behind the attacks, but none of the blocked Internet Protocol addresses - the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number - were for computers in North Korea.