Some are suggesting it's time to buy beaten-down solar stocks, while others are arguing there's value because bad news is priced in and good news is starting to emerge. Wall Street analysts, often criticized for being blindly bullish on stocks, are this time among the sector's staunchest bears.

The Chinese government alerted all silicon, ingot, wafer, cell, and panel manufactures that it intends to announced a very aggressive Solar subsidy that is equivalent to US$3 per installed watt, in cash, as an incentive to aid the Chinese population to install solar. The Japanese may soon follow suit with an announcement of a substantial subsidy for solar installation.

KLA-Tencor will reduce its global workforce by a further-10% as part of an effort to reduce its quarterly operating expenses to US$140 million to US$145 million by the end of calendar year 2009, down from the previously announced target of US$165-170 million per quarter.

China on Tuesday denied suggestions it could be involved in a cyber-espionage ring that attacked computers worldwide from servers mostly based in the country. GhostNet, a network that affected 1,295 computers in more than 100 countries through malware and social engineering, was described in a study last weekend.

Japan's unemployment rate has risen to a three-year high as companies continue to slash jobs.

Western Digital has announced that it has completed a US$65 million cash acquisition of SiliconSystems, Aliso Viejo, California, a supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market.

Specialty glass and plastic manufacturer Romag has developed the PowerPark, a carport with a photovoltaic roof that harnesses solar energy as a power source for plug-in cars.

"We need to find a European solution, and to back it up with the EU is a challenge — it takes time and if we wait too long, some of these companies might not exist anymore," said Heinz Kundert, president of SEMI Europe. Kundert said that the full-scale rescue of Qimonda would be quite difficult. "These projects are too big to be solved by one company or a single nation."

China is working on a plan to establish a union in silicon materials industry so as to cope with the ongoing financial crisis, said Zhu Lihui, secretary general of the semi-conductor materials branch under China Electronics Materials Industry Association.

So, is Nvidia absolutely wanting to take a look at GlobalFoundries then? Carvill wouldn't say, but noted, "As long as it didn't compromise our relationship with AMD and customer service to them, we would happily have those discussions with Nvidia and anybody else."

Canon New Zealand has introduced two world first projectors, the XEED WUX10 and the XEED SX80. Both projectors advance the XEED multimedia projector line providing high performance and features along with cutting-edge technology.

Sharp has introduced a line of 1800 lumen LED-based lighting fixtures appropriate for permanent outdoor use (roughly the same illumination as a traditional 250 Watt flood light per head).

Innovative packaging of standard blue chips delivers almost 90 lm/W; professor claims 197 lm/W could be possible with state-of-the-art die.

Japanese electronics maker Hitachi will close a Czech plasma television manufacturing plant due to falling prices and demand in the economic slowdown, the local unit said on Friday.

Sony says it has signed a $315 million deal to install its digital projectors in all AMC Entertainment theaters.

Japan's Toshiba plans to take a 100% stake in its struggling LCD joint venture with Panasonic, a source with knowledge of the matter said. Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, currently owned 60 percent by Toshiba and 40 percent by Panasonic, is the world's second-largest maker of small and midsized LCD panels used in cell phones, car navigation systems and other devices.

Japan's Toshiba and Sharp has said they are considering working together in the solar power business amid growing demand for cleaner energy, sending their shares higher.