China's quarterly production of semiconductors shrunk for the first time since early 2019 as consumer electronics demand softened and Covid-triggered lockdowns in regions including Shanghai disrupted output.

Shanghai reported a record number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases on Saturday and other areas across China tightened controls as the country kept up its "dynamic clearance" approach that aims to stamp out the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Shipments of some Apple products, as well as Dell and Lenovo laptops are likely to face delays if China's COVID-19 lockdowns persist, analysts say, as curbs force assemblers to shut down and closed-loop arrangements get harder to maintain.

Chinese automakers may have to halt production in May if shutdowns persist in the Shanghai area, said the chief executive officer of electric-vehicle firm Xpeng, a bleak assessment of supply-chain disruptions in the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns.

Synopsys, the biggest supplier of software used to design semiconductors, is under investigation by the US Department of Commerce for possibly passing key technology to banned Chinese companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company pledged to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its global operations by 2040, to increase the energy efficiency and lower the carbon footprint of Intel products and platforms with specific goals, and to work with customers and industry partners to create solutions that lower the greenhouse gas footprint of the entire technology ecosystem.

The manufacturing hub of Guangzhou closed itself to most arrivals Monday as China battles a major COVID-19 surge in its big eastern cities.

Ericsson said it had suspended business with customers in Russia "indefinitely," extending a halt from February that was originally billed as temporary, following sanctions imposed as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine.

In late 2021, a team of Meta Platforms employees building a key chip for the second version of Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses was notified that the company had decided to go with an alternative chip from Qualcomm, according to two people familiar with the matter. The custom chip would power a variety of functions, such as taking high-quality photos and videos, on the glasses. But Meta's augmented reality chief, Alex Himel, decided using it could delay the glasses' launch, expected next year.

"Intel continues to join the global community in condemning Russia's war against Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace. Effective immediately, we have suspended all business operations in Russia. This follows our earlier decision to suspend all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus," Intel said in a statement.

Musk could use his ownership stake to influence Twitter's business plan or its policies.

Russia is turning to microchip manufactures in China to circumvent western sanctions which have boosted demand for bank cards linked to the Mir payment system, an executive with the domestic payment system said.

AMD has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pensando for approximately US$1.9 billion before working capital and other adjustments.

US automaker Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for four days after the financial hub said on Sunday it would lock down in two stages to carry out mass testing for COVID 19, two people familiar with the matter said.

"They're interested in us using their foundries," said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding Intel, during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. "We're very interested in exploring it."

Apple plans to make about 20% fewer iPhone SEs next quarter than originally planned, in one of the first signs that the Ukraine war and looming inflation have started to dent consumer electronics demand, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia.

Oil prices fell more than 5% early Monday as the Chinese city of Shanghai announced lockdown restrictions, triggering fears over weakened demand.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), giants such as Google and Apple will be forced to open up their services and platforms to other businesses.

The CEO of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix said on Monday that its largest shareholder, SK Square, is considering merger and acquisition deals involving chip companies.

The city of Shanghai will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing.

The Russian Federation government is considering adding chip designers Baikal Electronics and MCST to the list of 'backbone enterprises.' The status will provide Baikal and MSCT with numerous benefits, including subsidies. State aid might help these companies to transition the production of their chips from Taiwan to China. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether fabs like SMIC and Hua Hong are interested in making chips for Russian companies and risk additional sanctions.

Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor and 'flying car' firm SkyDrive said on Tuesday they have signed a deal to team up in research, development and marketing of electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Chipmakers' multibillion-dollar expansion plans will be constrained by a shortage of critical equipment over the next two years as the supply chain struggles to step up production. The warning comes from Peter Wennink, chief executive of ASML, which dominates the global market for the lithography machines used to make advanced semiconductors.

A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima in northern Japan on Wednesday night, smashing furniture, knocking out power and killing four people. A small tsunami reached shore, but the low-risk advisory was lifted by Thursday morning.

We've seen a lot of heat dissipation efforts in here: oodles of graphite tape, some serious thermal paste, and now this beefier vapor chamber? At a guess we'd say that catching up to Apple silicon is starting to make Samsung sweat, pun intended.

Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for two days as China tightens restrictions to contain the latest Covid outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter.

Arm, the SoftBank Group unit preparing for an initial public offering, will cut as much as 15% of its workforce, part of an effort to rein in spending and focus on fewer projects.

Japan will stop exporting semiconductors to Russia next week, joining the US and its European allies in efforts to cripple Russia's military capability.

Two of China's largest cities, Shenzhen and Shanghai, imposed stringent restrictions on Sunday on the movements of their residents, as a coronavirus outbreak continued to spread across much of mainland China.

Apple may release a new 30W power adapter with a new form factor design in 2022, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a tweet today. The power adapter will utilize gallium nitride or "GaN" technology.

if the United States were to find that a company like the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, in Shanghai, was selling its chips to Russia, "we could essentially shut SMIC down because we prevent them from using our equipment and our software."

Toshiba said supply challenges for electronic components are unlikely to abate for another year as chronic shortages remain, while Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a key supplier of chipmaking materials, may also have an impact.

In the wake of President Putin's military aggression in Ukraine, some firms, including Apple, Jaguar Land Rover, H&M and Burberry, have announced they are pausing activities in Russia.

The criminal group wants Nvidia to commit to making its GPU drivers completely open source. If Nvidia does not comply, the criminals say, the company can expect to see a new leak that would include the complete silicon, graphics, and computer chipset files for all its recent GPUs.

Companies will prioritize vendors that can provide consistent and dependable supplies, likely paying a premium. In the end, those costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. While prices will become an important consideration for consumers, brands that offer a consistently and predictably available set of choices will enjoy pricing power.

Apple will host its annual spring product launch event on March 8.

Google-owned Fitbit announced a voluntary recall of 1.7 million smartwatches that may overheat due to the lithium-ion battery inside and burn the user. The recall is for the discontinued Fitbit Ionic Smartwatch (introduced in 2017 and stopped producing in 2020) that according to US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), "the lithium-ion battery in the Ionic smartwatch can overheat, posing a burn hazard."

All contacts, groups, files, and messages going through Telegram are available to anyone with access to Telegram's servers. It's all in there because there's no end-to-end encryption by default. Using insecure messengers is like inviting foreign governments, hackers, and company employees to every single chat with your friends. If you didn't mind this before because you "had nothing to hide", I'm afraid circumstances have changed.

Apple has become the latest major firm to halt all product sales in Russia, in he wake of its invasion of Ukraine. The vendor said it was "deeply concerned" about the Russian invasion and stands with those "suffering as a result of the violence."

Toyota will shut down all 14 of its factories in Japan on Tuesday after a possible cyber-attack. Its supplier Kojima Industries Corporation suspected it had been hit by a cyber-attack, causing a halt in production.