CEOs from US-based leading technology companies, in a meeting with President Obama, came out strongly in support of the economic recovery package moving through Congress and called for policies that make the US the most attractive destination for businesses, workers and capital.

South Korea denied a report it would offer for sale stakes in chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor and 17 other companies via international auction, but confirmed plans to attract investment into state-run assets. The Asia's fourth-largest economy posted its second-biggest contraction on record in the last quarter of 2008.

Samsung Electronics announced that it has developed the first 4Gbit DDR3 DRAM chip using a 50nm lithography process. The new chip doubles the density of earlier DRAM chips, yielding modules with up to 32GB capacity.

Zarlink Semiconductor has taken proactive measures to protect its foundry base. This is following MHS Electronics UK Ltd.'s advice that it is likely to cease wafer shipments to Zarlink from the analog foundry in Swindon, UK.

Asian stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by banks and technology companies, as a record slump in Japanese factory production and lower profit forecasts renewed concern the global slowdown is deepening.

Reiterating the 'severe deterioration' in order intake caused by the global economic recession, lithography toolmaker ASML has announced that its 2008 fourth-quarter sales hit 494 million euros--a 29% drop from the previous quarter, and a 48% decline year-over-year. The quarterly sales fall within ASML's revised guidance, which the company announced last month along with reorganizing efforts that includes a layoff of 12% of its workforce. Full-year 2008 net sales were 2.95 billion euros, down 21.6% over 2007.

SanDisk said that it had signed a definitive agreement with Toshiba to restructure the Flash manufacturing joint ventures operating at the 300mm Fab 3 and Fab 4. The result of the agreement will be basic SanDisk's transition to fabless flash-based products manufacturing.

Hitachi said the job cuts would be made globally across its car equipment and electronics divisions. The Japanese electronics and engineering group had previously predicted it would make a net profit of 15bn yen in the year to 31 March 2009.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing said it would cut 600 jobs, about 8% of its global work force, as it swung to a fourth-quarter net loss amid a drop-off in demand and delayed deliveries.

In a statement Wednesday, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines said one of the hardest hit sector is the semiconductor and electronics industry, as global demand continues to slide.

Japanese electronics giant NEC has become the latest company to announce massive job cuts. The company revealed on Friday that it would be forced to undertake a major restructuring in which roughly 20,000 jobs will be shed. The cuts will come from both the Japanese and worldwide operations of the company.

Many chip makers and analysts had predicted, as recently as earlier this month, that improvements in the semiconductor market could begin in the second half of 2009 as the chip inventories throughout the tech supply chain bottom and tech companies look to restock shelves with new products. But recent signs suggest a turnaround remains distant, and investors who have been piling into chip stocks could now be regretting their early advances.

The technology industry suffered another black day yesterday (January 30) as a host of big names including NEC and Hitachi, said they would make large losses in the year to March. Toshiba and NEC Electronics warned they would incur losses in the year to March. Even star performer Nintendo cut its profit forecast.

Toshiba is in talks to merge part of its chip operations with the semiconductor unit of NEC, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said, as they struggle with slumping demand and prices.

Qimonda AG, the distressed German memory-chip maker majority-owned by Infineon Technologies AG, on Friday said it has filed for bankruptcy, barely a month after it secured 325 million euros ($422 million) in emergency loans.

To combat the crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel is buying stakes in banks and bailing out industries. Is there no limit?

As the price of oil plunged from its peak last summer, solar and other forms of renewable energy became relatively less cost-competitive—dampening demand from industrial, commercial, and residential customers. At the same time, the credit squeeze has made it harder for customers, whether power companies or energy-conscious homeowners, to finance solar projects. Some also are holding back in anticipation that solar equipment prices will fall even further.

Shares of Seagate Technology tumbled to a 52-week low Thursday after the hard-drive maker posted disappointing second-quarter results and gave a third-quarter outlook below Wall Street's expectations.

The bailout of financially troubled German memory chip maker Qimonda AG could be at risk as the company has an additional financing gap due to detoriating memory chip prices, people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday. The financing gap is around EUR300 million, these people said. One of them said additional financing needs may rise by the end of current calendar year.

Sumco, the world's second-largest maker of silicon wafers, lowered its full-year profit forecast 44%, citing a slump in demand amid a global recession. "While market visibility in December and January is best described as fumbling in complete darkness, we expect the conditions to bottom out in February to March," said company president Kenjiro Shigematsu.

Taiwan stocks reversed course to inch up 0.13% on Wednesday, the last trading day before the Lunar New Year holidays, with DRAM makers rallying amid growing investor expectations for a long-awaited industry restructuring.

In an effort to revive sagging momentum in key markets, Samsung Electronics decided to replace all eight heads of its overseas units, Wednesday. The sweeping reshuffle is part of the company's efforts to slim down its business structure for bigger profits and greater efficiency, a Samsung Group spokesman said in a briefing at its headquarters in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul.

More than 90 jobs are being shed in Boise because of production slowdowns at Micron Technology.

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) cut its fiscal first-quarter guidance because of weak demand from consumers and customers' cuts in their inventories.

Intel said on Wednesday it would close manufacturing plants in Malaysia and the Philippines and scale back US operations as part of a restructuring that affects as many as 6,000 employees.

Singapore's economy may shrink a record 5% this year as exports slump, increasing pressure on the government to take steps to help businesses and consumers. The export-dependent nation has been battered by declining orders for electronics goods and pharmaceuticals from its biggest customers in the US and Europe, as well as emerging markets.

Flextronics, a contract manufacturer that supplies about 75% of Nortel's finished product around the world, warned last week it is working to reduce its exposure to the Toronto-based company after Nortel filed for court protection from creditors.