Renesas Electronics and two other big Japanese chip makers have begun talks to combine their system chip operations and outsource production in a government-backed deal, sources said.

Panasonic Corp. forecast a record net loss of JPY780 billion for the current year, making it the latest consumer electronics giant to predict declining earnings because of the stronger yen, a slower global economy and the floods in Thailand.

Texas Instruments said it would close two older factories in Japan and Texas with 500 workers to cut costs. The company added it saw a broad resumption of demand in December that continued into January.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc said on Tuesday it has not firmed up plans to build solar power plants in Japan because the government there has yet to determine a key solar subsidy.

The troubled single currency also hit a one-year low against the US dollar, hitting $1.2887.

The strength of the Japanese yen as well as the ongoing European debt crisis have weighed on external demand.

Toshiba plans to sign JPY150 billion in syndicated loans, according to three people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

Panasonic will expand its smartphone business beyond its home country of Japan, starting with Europe in March 2012, the electronics giant said today.

Wacker Chemie said Thursday streamlining at its Siltronic unit will result in a plant closure in Japan and expenses about of EUR70 million. Siltronic is Wacker Chemie's semiconductor division.

Sharp Corp. said Thursday it expects to sell more than 1 million large LCD TVs in North America in the business year to March, about five times more than last year as demand surges in the US market.

Japanese companies, Thailand's biggest foreign investors, may spend more to build factories in neighbors including Indonesia and Vietnam after the worst flooding in 70 years disrupted global production.

Apple Inc. is adding Sharp Corp. as a maker of screens used in the next-generation iPad, people familiar with the situation said Thursday, as the U.S. consumer electronics company moves to diversify component suppliers for its products.

Japan's exports fell for the first time in three months, indicating that the yen's appreciation and financial turmoil in Europe are slowing the nation's recovery from the March disaster.

Toyota Motor said it had restored vehicle output in Japan to "near-normal levels" on Monday, after severe flooding in Thailand disrupted supply chains.

The largest trade show and conference for embedded system designers and managers will be held in Yokohama, Japan, from November 16-18.

While energy-efficient products are an expensive form of lighting for many customers in the Asia Pacific region, the higher costs are increasingly justified by the higher efficacy and performance compared to traditional lighting products.

Olympus' admission that three of its top executives colluded to hide losses from investors fails to address the roles played by other officials, according to the company's biggest overseas shareholder.

Toyota has extended production cuts at its factories in Thailand and Japan due to shortage of parts in the wake of floods in Thailand.

Sony Corp warned of a fourth straight year of losses, with its television unit alone set to lose $2.2 billion on tumbling demand and a surging yen, sinking its US shares and raising concerns about the viability of its high-profile TV business.

The strong yen has had an impact on several Japanese companies including Toshiba, Honda Motor and Panasonic, which have reported lower second-quarter profits.

Sony Corp.,reeling from seven consecutive annual losses in television manufacturing, plunged the most in more than seven months in Tokyo after announcing a reorganization of the business into three groups.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is collaborating with Thailand's central bank to implement a loan programme to help Japanese firms affected by flooding in the country.

UniPixel, Inc. will showcase its UniBoss Performance Engineered Film(TM) technology and products at the Flat Panel Display (FPD) Conference to be held at Yokohama Pacifico Convention Plaza in Japan from Oct. 26-28, 2011.

Innovation Network Corp. of Japan is making final arrangements to buy a liquid crystal display panel plant from Panasonic Corp. to boost the production capacity of a joint LCD venture it is forming with three manufacturers, sources said Friday.

Panasonic Corp will drop a plan to convert a television panel plant in Japan into a solar panel factory, hit by an industry price war and a strong yen that is making exports less competitive, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Japanese cabinet ministers will call on the government to ease rules on building geothermal, wind and hydraulic power plants to boost renewable energy use after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

"Michael Woodford has largely diverted from the rest of the management team in regard to the management direction and method and it is now causing problems for decision-making by the management team," the company said in a statement.

The Japanese semiconductor industry, which has been in decline for more than 20 years, needs to select key technology areas and refocus to rise again, Junshi Yamaguchi, former chairman of Renesas Electronics, told the International Electronics Forum being organized here.