Japan's industrial output took the largest drop in history in November over October, tumbling 8.1% -- nearly double the previous high of 4.3% in January 2001, according to a report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The huge disparity highlights how Japan's export-driven economy is faring against the decline of worldwide consumer demand.

Poor third quarter results by Applied Materials has forced it to lay off staff, including at its Israeli subsidiary.

Asia is being hit by a financial tsunami that is not of its doing but which will hurt it all the same. Unlike the Asian crisis of 1997, which was caused by poor macroeconomic policies and weak financial systems in the region, this time most Asian countries are being affected despite strong macroeconomic fundamentals and sound banks and corporations. Regional growth will decline in 2008 and 2009 by as much as 2 to 3 percentage points, hurting many businesses and millions of people whose lost jobs will send them back into poverty.

Here are some of the worst predictions that were made about 2008. Savor them—a crop like this doesn't come along every year.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Microchip disclosed that it owns a 5.4% stake in Supertex, a publicly-held mixed signal semiconductor manufacturer. Over the last 90 days, ''Microchip has purchased 594,300 shares in the open market and the remaining 103,100 shares were acquired through the exercise of put options sold by Microchip.

ASML announced at SEMICON Japan the first system based on its new NXT lithography platform. The TWINSCAN NXT:1950i provides the increased productivity and enables chip manufacturers to shrink feature sizes to 32 nanometers and beyond in order to reduce costs.

Samsung Electronics has been ordered to pay 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) to a Chinese company for infringing its dual-mode cellphone patent, Xinhua news agency reported. Samsung was sued by Holley Communications in April last year for violating a patented technology allowing cellphones to operate on both CDMA and GSM networks, Xinhua said.

Samsung says that CDs that shipped with many models of its digital photo frames may have included a malicious Trojan horse program that gives cyber criminals access to the PC. The malicious software, known as W32.Sality.AE lies in the XP version of Samsung's Frame Manager 1.08 software, which ships with many other models of Samsung frames.

Hynix Semiconductor said on Wednesday it would cut planned spending on a South Korean plant and delay a $260 million investment in its Chinese joint venture as it tries to deal with a cash shortage amid a downturn. Hynix shares slid 12.7% to end at 6,720 won before the announcement, compared with the wider market's 1.4% loss.

Research In Motion (RIM) is suing Motorola, alleging that the mobile phone company improperly blocked the BlackBerry maker from hiring current and laid-off Motorola employees.

TCL, a major Chinese television and mobile phone manufacturer, announced that it has started mass production of the LCD module (LCM) at its Huizhou plant in Guangdong province, aiming at further controlling costs and increasing profitability.

hareholders led by Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement they would extend 500 billion won ($374 million) in new loans to Hynix in early January and roll over all of its maturing debt by the end of 2009.

South Korea has begun full-scale commercial production of micro-electronic mechanical system (MEMS) sensors that can greatly bolster competitiveness in its information technology industry, the government said Tuesday.

Governments should be ready to increase their spending on economic stimulus programs if circumstances require it, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist Olivier Blanchard said.

China may follow its latest interest- rate cut with steps to spur consumer spending as deepening recessions in the U.S. and Europe pummel exports. The People's Bank of China yesterday lowered its one-year lending rate by 0.27 percentage point to 5.31% and the deposit rate by the same amount to 2.25%.

With flash memory scaling coming under increasingly sharp questioning, Toshiba (Tokyo) researchers said they have developed a double tunnel layer technology for SONOS-type memories that could be scaled to the 10 nm generation. At the 2007 IEDM, Toshiba presented a SONOS-type memory with a 1.2 nm silicon nanocrystal layer capable of supporting 100 Gb densities at the 15 nm generation.

Shares of Infineon Technologies AG rose as much as 21% on Monday after spun-off offspring Qimonda received a 325 million-euro ($456 million) loan.

India is hopeful an auction for third-generation (3G) radio waves next month will draw in bids at a "few times" the reserve price of 20.20 billion rupees ($415 million), a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell another 2.3% to below US$39 a barrel on Tuesday as a raft of gloomy economic data reinforced expectations that world energy demand will shrink for the first time in 25 years.