Fears Germany will cap or cut green energy subsidies is boosting demand for solar panels, and uncertainty about the shape of the measures could give the country's battered solar sector an advantage against Chinese rivals.

JA Solar is the first Chinese PV producer to set up a TV SD certified TMP (Testing at Manufacturers' Premises) laboratory to enable faster and more cost-effective product certifications.

DuPont and Suntech Power Holdings announced that they had entered into a strategic agreement with an overall goal of augmenting the supply of PV materials and technologies in the global solar energy market.

The last of three patents that Rambus used to win infringement lawsuits against Nvidia, Hewlett-Packard and others has been declared invalid, according to legal documents.

Toshiba and Fujitsu booked deep losses during the October-December quarter, blaming a spike in component costs caused by Thai flooding and a tough market for consumer electronics. Both companies slashed their earnings targets for the current fiscal year through March, but said they are still on track to book an annual profit.

A war is brewing between two coalitions of solar power providers-those who get materials from China and those who don't-and the outcome could have an impact on the future of American solar energy.

The US Department of Commerce said Monday that a late-2011 surge in Chinese solar-panel imports could affect the agency's pending decision on a dumping complaint filed by SolarWorld AG .

Intel has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with QLogic to acquire the product lines of and certain assets related to its InfiniBand business. A significant number of the employees associated with this business are expected to accept offers to join Intel.

Micron Technology and Virtensys have announced that the companies have signed an agreement for Micron to acquire the assets of privately held Virtensys, a provider of PCIe-sharing solutions based in Manchester, England and Beaverton, Ore.

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.

Qualcomm has acquired display startup Pixtronix, which develops technology applicable to smartphone and tablet screens.

"We delivered a solid fourth quarter amid challenging market conditions," said company president and CEO John Kispert. "2011 was a year of transition and intense product development. Spansion is now well-positioned for growth in the future in areas such as automotive, industrial, communications and gaming..."

MagnaChip Semiconductor announced that its Korean subsidiary has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dawin Electronics, a privately held semiconductor company that designs and manufactures Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), Fast Recovery Diode (FRD) and MOSFET modules.

Foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has hit back at analysts who have said it has yield problems with its 28nm CMOS manufacturing processes.

Globalfoundries CEO Ajit Manocha has praised his firm for what he called a "remarkable quarter" in Q411, and promised that the foundry was on track to "keep the momentum going," after a year plagued with difficulties and setbacks.

Following the amendment to the Quarto Conto Energia, GIFI, the Italian PV Industry Association, has said manufacturers are rising up to urge the government to repeal its decision on cutting FiTs for solar plants on agricultural land. Panic has spread through the PV manufacturing industry, where already financed projects will now not provide as much of a return as under the original legislation.

Windows 8 is stable on the ARM chip platform and will be seeded to developers soon, sources told CNET. Devices may be priced significantly less than their Intel counterparts, too.

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.

Nanya Chairman Chia Chau Wu told Reuters on Monday that he did not know of any deal between the other two companies and the company had no current intention to take part in any deal. He declined to comment on whether Nanya would welcome any such tie-up.

Elpida Memory has entered the final stage of negotiations on a merger with Micron Technology and Taiwan's Nanya Technology, sources said.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML said Wednesday it expects a healthy start to 2012, as its customers invest in chip production to drive faster and more powerful smartphones and tablets.