"Since Mike joined SMIC last year, he and his team have brought in record-breaking sales from the Americas region," said SMIC CEO Tzu-Yin Chiu. "We are excited to have him leading our sales force as we partner with new and existing customers and expand our service offerings."

Semiconductor revenues worldwide will grow 4.6% in 2012 to US$315 billion, according to IDC. Revenues will grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2011-2016, reaching $380 billion in 2016.

Worldwide IT spending is on pace to reach US$3.6 trillion in 2012, a 3% increase from 2011 spending of US$3.5 trillion, according to Gartner, Inc. The outlook has been revised up slightly from the 2.5% projection last quarter.

The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), unveiled today in conjunction with the CTIA wireless trade show in New Orleans, is looking to join forces with other manufacturers to form a "worldwide wireless power technology ecosystem." The group wants to develop new power transfer technologies that will allow for simultaneous charging of multiple devices in cars, on tabletops, and elsewhere.

Although only 2% growth was registered in the worldwide semiconductor market in 2011, several companies posted results that were far different, according to IC Insights.

Leading electronic equipment manufacturers remained the center of the semiconductor world in 2011, accounting for US$105.6 billion of semiconductors on a design total available market basis - 35% of semiconductor vendors' worldwide chip revenue, according to Gartner.

After several years of rapid capacity expansion driven by high-brightness LED used in TV backlighting applications, a 40% decline in world metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) purchases in 2012 will reduce overall LED equipment spending for the first time in over five years.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to reach US$309 billion in 2012, a 2.2% increase from 2011, according to Gartner. This outlook is down from Gartner's previous projection in the third quarter for 4.6% growth in 2012.

Sony Corp will recall 1.6 million of its Bravia brand LCD televisions worldwide after several incidents of TV sets emitting smoke or parts melting due to faulty components, a company official said on Wednesday.

Jay Legenhausen previously managed worldwide sales for Actel/Microsemi. Prior to Actel, he spent 17 years working at Cypress Semiconductor in various sales and marketing positions.

Lenovo outpaced Acer to become the number 3 vendor worldwide, according to IDC. Acer's shipments continued to decline from a year ago, but at a slower pace than in the first quarter as the company was affected by a review of inventory handling, as well uncertainties from its recent management shake-up.

Acer dropped from No. 2 to the No. 4 position in the worldwide PC market in the second quarter of 2011, according to Gartner. It had a great deal of inventory in the distribution channel in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Acer's problems stemmed from its low-price, high-volume business model, which is no longer effective.

"It is a bit surprising that we have not seen a more significant impact on our global IT spending forecast as a results of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but despite widespread concerns about disruptions to the supply of critical components in the initial aftermath of the natural disaster, there has not been a dramatic impact on overall IT spending," said Richard Gordon, research VP at Gartner.

IDC expects Android, which passed Symbian as the leading operating system worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2010, to grow to more than 40% of the market in the second half of 2011.

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% on year in the first quarter of 2011 fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers, according to IDC.

The worldwide semiconductor equipment market grew 143% in 2010 to nearly US$41 billion as the market recovered from the industry slowdown of the previous two years, according to Gartner.

The crisis in Japan has revived anti-nuclear passions worldwide, putting governments on the defensive and undermining the nuclear power industry's recent renaissance as the clean energy of the future.

In Japan, Toyota will recall 1.28 million units of models including the Voxy, Noah and Isis minivans and RAV4 sport- utility vehicles, according to statements from the company. Separately, Toyota said it would conduct a voluntary safety recall of 245,000 Lexus luxury cars in the US to inspect installation of fuel pressure sensors and call back 135,000 Avensis sedans in Europe for potential defects in fuel systems.

Skype suffered a serious server outage Dec. 22 that left swaths of its 560 million or so worldwide users without PC calling capabilities for most of the day.

China's crackdown on ethnic reporters and Iran's sustained suppression of critics has helped push the number of journalists jailed worldwide to 145 - the highest level in 14 years, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

IBM, Samsung and Globalfoundries are working with STMicroelectronics to develop and standardize advanced, 28nm process technology to ensure consistent production worldwide for electronics and device manufacturers.

Price pressure, caused by overcapacities in the worldwide solar panel business are exerting pressure on the solar panel value chain.

Apple, Nokia, Samsung, and others have agreed to adopt a charging standard for "data-enabled" mobile devices based on USB. The current agreement only applies to the European Union, though it is hoped that the standard may be adopted worldwide.