Subscription required

Worldwide semiconductor revenue reached a record $235 billion in 2005, surpassing the industry's previous high of $223 billion set in 2000

Samsung on Friday that its first-quarter profit rose 26 percent from the same period the year before amid strong demand for flat screen televisions.

Saturn JSC, a Russian company that supplies photovoltaic systems for satellite applications, is to mass-produce GaAs-based solar cells for the first time.

At ?1.2bn ($1.45bn), the offering was the largest in Europe so far this year and Germany's biggest since Postbank, the formerly state-owned bank, launched in 2004. The company, the Wacker family and Morgan Stanley sold 15m of a total 50m shares.