The number of US bank failures this year has topped more than 100 after US federal regulators shut down a trio of small Florida banks.

In January, China's exports to its Southeast Asia neighbors counted for around one third of that to the EU. Eight months later, China's exports to Asean countries had grown to the equivalent of about half of exports to the EU.

The Obama administration has made increasing US exports a key part of its strategy to reduce unemployment and is moving on several fronts to do that, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has said.

The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions.

Consumer sentiment as measured by the Reuters/University of Michigan index fell to 69.4 in early October, below the 73.5 print in late September, which economists were expecting would remain unchanged.

South Korea and the EU did US$98.4 billion in trade in 2008 and officials hope the deal will spur a jump in commercial activity between the two sides.

"People are printing money, gold is going up," according to investor Jim Rogers in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

Murata Electronics North America has asked the US International Trade Commission to investigate whether two subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics have been importing electronic components into the country that infringe four of its patents covering ceramic capacitors.

The world's leading semiconductor manufacturers plan to discuss ways to prevent overproduction and enforce fair competition at an industry-wide annual meeting on Jeju Island, according to the South Korean government.

GTM Research says boom in US solar manufacturing to create 20,000 jobs between 2009 and 2012.

Arrow Electronics has entered into a new distribution agreement with AU Optronics (AUO) for the company’s flat-panel displays used in the medical device, aerospace and defense, kiosk and digital display industries. Arrow will provide AUO with distribution services, and offer value-added integration with AUO technology to Arrow customers.

Google chief economist Hal Varian is pretty confident the US economy is recovering, and he's not just basing that on government data.

TSMC and SMIC reached a US$175 million deal in 2005 to settle a claim by TSMC. But the Taiwan-based company now alleges SMIC reneged on the deal, and oral arguments began yesterday in Oakland.

US consumers slashed their borrowing by a record amount in July as rising job losses and uncertainty about an economic recovery hit home.

"In the US, energy policy is made on the state level," CEO Mike Ahearn said. "Every state has a different approach." In contrast, Ahearn said China has designated a region within the country for renewable energy production and transmission.

Japanese electronics manufacturer Epson Imaging Devices has agreed to plead guilty and pay a 26-million-dollar fine for its role in a price-fixing conspiracy, the US Justice Department said Tuesday.

The US International Trade Commission has said it plans to launch an investigation into flash-memory chips in popular products such as Apple's iPhone, Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm, as well as camcorders and laptop computers.

President Obama wants to make the US "the world's leading exporter of renewable energy," but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy — especially in solar power, and even in the US.

Texas Instruments has placed a bid of US$172.5 million on used 300mm equipment from the now-shuttered Qimonda fab near Richmond, Va. The Dallas-based company plans to use the equipment for 300mm analog production.

Samsung Electronics and Toshiba said they have received notices from the US Justice Department informing them that an antitrust investigation into the flash-memory chip market had ended.

Countries must rebalance their economies to make it sustainable, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard commented. Economies dominated by consumption - such as the US - would have to focus more on exports, while Asia turned more to imports.

The latest rumor: Japan's Elpida Memory is looking to buy Spansion's wireless chip unit for US$200-300 million. A spokeswoman from Elpida declined to comment. Spansion did not respond to e-mails.

Spruce Pine, a modest, charmingly low-key town in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, is at the heart of a global billion-dollar industry.

Qualcomm CEO promotes "smartbooks" and says the US is ready to lose its reputation as a laggard in wireless.

Silicon Valley executives are taking a close look at Taiwan's stock markets as a place for raising capital to fuel their growth given the tight US venture capital and public markets

Beijing now expects China to achieve 8% growth for 2009 as a whole, which compares with a predicted contraction of between 1% and 1.5% in the US. However, the Chinese government warned that some economic challenges remain.

South Korea has announced that it had concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU that it hoped would encourage US lawmakers to ratify a free trade deal with the country.

The US trade deficit fell to the lowest level in more than nine years in May as exports posted a small gain while the weak American economy pushed imports down for a 10th consecutive month.

3Com has reported fourth-quarter and full-year results that indicated the networking supplier has settled down. The firm said it recorded a net income of US$20.2 million on sales of US$295.1 million.