According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea recorded a trade surplus of US$29.8 billion in its trade with China for the first 10 months of this year. The amount fell 24% from a year ago whereas South Korea's total exports showed a negative growth of 12% during the same period. The trade surplus is estimated to reach US$35.7 billion at the end of this year. For reference, South Korea posted its all-time high trade surplus with respect to China, US$62.8 billion, in 2013.

Nikon plans to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in Japan, or 10% of its domestic workforce, as the company shifts resources away from once core businesses to medical devices and other growth areas.

RCS is a messaging standard set by GSMA that allows the sending of texts, group chat, and the sharing of large multimedia files. Unlike other messaging apps, it allows users to communicate on any network by telcos who have RCS infrastructure.

IBM researchers have finally unlocked the secret to creating microchips using carbon nanotubes. The innovation could lead us to some of the most powerful microchips ever created paving the way for injectable microchips and bendy computers.

Google is to open a new headquarters building in London which could see 3,000 new jobs created by 2020.

According to the latest rumor from its home country of South Korea, Samsung is thinking about making the Galaxy S8 come with a pressure-sensitive display. If you're wondering what that means, just think Apple's 3D Touch on iPhones - that's basically it. The technology detects how hard you press on the screen, and this can be used by software to enable different functionality depending on the pressure level applied. The rumor is reportedly coming from multiple industry sources, as well as a senior executive at Samsung's component division.

Qualcomm US$39 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors helped push US announced deal volume this month to US$248.9 billion, according to data provider Dealogic.

Europe's largest economy grew by 0.2% between July and September, half the 0.4% rate seen in the previous three months.

Siemens' planned acquisition of automation and industrial software provider Mentor Graphics is the German giant's latest play to stay competitive in the race to digitize heavy industry.

Advances in semiconductor technology will be on display at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Samsung and TSMC will describe 7nm SRAMs, Mediatek will show a 10nm SoC and STMicroelectronics will unveil a neural network accelerator made in a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator process.

Dolby has dragged Vivo and Oppo to court for illegally selling phones with Dolby technology. The court has ordered the two companies to deposit Rs 32 per infringing device manufactured, imported and sold in escrow while royalty terms are discussed.

Siemens, Europe's biggest industrial group, is nearing a deal to buy Mentor Graphics, which makes software for designing semiconductors, for $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion in cash, according to people familiar with the matter.

Will fingerprint swiping and gestures be the next big thing? We don't know for sure. But Google took a chance with it on the Google Pixel smartphones. And now it seems like Samsung will be having this technology in their phones soon, probably on the Samsung Galaxy S8 if all things go right.

As the scale of Trump's success became clear, Asian stocks fell sharply, the dollar weakened and gold prices rallied as investors raced for cover amid anxiety about his economic policies.

An investment firm has delved deeply into Apple's most recent Securities and Exchange Commission 10-K filing, and sees purchase orders extending over one year in duration which suggests to them that Apple is in the middle of a big OLED buy from Samsung -the main supplier of the technology.

The influence-peddling scandal shadowing South Korean President Park Geun-hye is raising fresh questions about decades of cozy ties between the nation's big conglomerates and those in power.

Sony (China) has signed a binding definitive agreement to transfer to Shen Zhen O-Film Tech all equity interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sony Electronics Huanan, which manufactures camera modules. The sales price is approximately US$95 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments.

Reporters from Reuters and the Nikkei Asian Review were denied access to a post-event group interview with Qualcomm executive chairman Paul Jacobs, to which only journalists from Taiwan's local press were invited.

South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of Samsung Electronics as part of a probe into the political scandal around President Park Geun-hye.

The status of Samsung Electronics' light-emitting diode (LED) business has dramatically changed. The company's LED business was considered the first unit to sell until recently due to China's low-priced competitors. However, it recently succeeded in turning a profit and is strengthening its workforce.

A Canadian company is suing Sony in a Chinese court for alleged patent infringement, in a dispute that could establish the country as an important new venue for intellectual property cases.

A rather speculative KGI note suggests that Apple's focus on augmented reality (AR) instead of virtual reality (VR) will give the company a 3-5 year lead on the rest of the industry when it launches its first products. The report also suggests that Apple could use augmented reality as part of an autonomous driving system.

Apple captured an estimated 104% of total smartphone industry profits during Q3. How is this possible? Because the Android vendors were busy losing money.

Apple will not refresh the iPhone SE in the first half of 2017, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The lack of refresh comes as Apple attempts to maintain high margins on its high-end iPhone models, Kuo said in a new research note.

When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, one of the biggest and loudest skeptics was Steve Ballmer, who was CEO of Microsoft at the time.

Among its early backers are technology group Samsung, German engineer Bosch and Hermann Hauser, the founder of Cambridge-based chip designer ARM.

Zeiss SMT has been a supplier to ASML for 30 years. It makes lenses and other equipment needed to focus the energy beams ASML uses to help companies such as Intel and Samsung create the circuitry of semiconductor chips.

Massive government investment in China's semiconductor industry risks distorting the global market for integrated circuits, leading to damaging overcapacity and stifling innovation, US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has warned.