Chipmaker Smart Modular Technologies has posted a narrower quarterly loss helped by a drop in operating expenses, but forecast fourth-quarter earnings below estimates, sending its shares down 5% in post-market trade.

Fresh signs of weakness in the US job market have underlined the strains on a recession-struck US economy that contracted slightly less in the first quarter than previously thought.

...Lithium-ion technology has serious limitations, including the possibility of overheating and bursting into flames. The team settled on a combination of lithium and oxygen as the most promising approach. A lithium-air battery can pack much more punch per square inch because oxygen, one of the key ingredients in the chemical reaction, is added as needed by drawing on ambient air rather than being packaged within the battery from the start.

Micron Technology's fiscal third-quarter loss widened on lower sales and a write-down on the value of its imaging unit, but its gross margin turned positive after three negative quarters as the cost of producing chips fell below their selling price. The loss was the 10th consecutive quarterly loss for the memory-chip maker.

Japan's Panasonic said it aims for double-digit sales growth this business year in the five major emerging markets it focuses on, including China and India, despite an estimated 10% decline in overall revenues.

Sharp said it may appeal a ruling by a US trade panel that said the Japanese electronics maker had violated an LCD patent held by South Korea's Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics' memory chip business is expected to return to the black in the second quarter thanks to production cutbacks and steady rises in chip prices.

Struggling chip maker Elpida Memory has applied for a new government financial aid program in a bid to shore up its capital base and ride out a severe industry downturn, sources said.

In an oddly uncharacteristic move, Apple has quietly changed the way it is spelling the new iPhone 3GS, which now appears without a space all of Apple's press materials.