Taiwan stocks reversed course to inch up 0.13% on Wednesday, the last trading day before the Lunar New Year holidays, with DRAM makers rallying amid growing investor expectations for a long-awaited industry restructuring.

In an effort to revive sagging momentum in key markets, Samsung Electronics decided to replace all eight heads of its overseas units, Wednesday. The sweeping reshuffle is part of the company's efforts to slim down its business structure for bigger profits and greater efficiency, a Samsung Group spokesman said in a briefing at its headquarters in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul.

More than 90 jobs are being shed in Boise because of production slowdowns at Micron Technology.

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) cut its fiscal first-quarter guidance because of weak demand from consumers and customers' cuts in their inventories.

Apple executives hinted Wednesday that the company might legally contest the multitouch technology found within the Palm Pre.

Intel said on Wednesday it would close manufacturing plants in Malaysia and the Philippines and scale back US operations as part of a restructuring that affects as many as 6,000 employees.

Apple's fiscal first-quarter net income rose 1.9% on strong iPod sales, but the company predicted fiscal second-quarter results will be below Wall Street's expectations.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, venture capitalists raised only US$3.37 billion, down a staggering 71% from the year-ago quarter, according to a January 20 release by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. This is the smallest amount of money raised since the second quarter of 2004. The size of the average fund and the number of funds able to scare up capital is also rapidly shrinking.

European Union finance ministers warned that they are running out of room to spend money to boost their economies, as Germany predicted its economy would shrink at least 2% this year and Hungary's currency fell to a record low despite recent efforts to prop it up.

Ericsson, the world's largest telecom equipment manufacturer, has reported a 31% drop in fourth-quarter net profit, hit by a lower gross margin and restructuring costs, and said it would cut 5,000 jobs.

Singapore's economy may shrink a record 5% this year as exports slump, increasing pressure on the government to take steps to help businesses and consumers. The export-dependent nation has been battered by declining orders for electronics goods and pharmaceuticals from its biggest customers in the US and Europe, as well as emerging markets.

Flextronics, a contract manufacturer that supplies about 75% of Nortel's finished product around the world, warned last week it is working to reduce its exposure to the Toronto-based company after Nortel filed for court protection from creditors.

Gadgets made by a host of big-name manufacturers, including Nokia and HTC, could be banned from import into the US, if a patent violation investigation being conducted the US International Trade Commission (ITC) rules in the claimant's favor.