Olympus is also looking to slash 2,500 jobs, the Asahi Shimbun said, without naming its sources.

Japan and China said Tuesday they will start direct currency trading this week, marking the first time Beijing has let a major unit other than the dollar swap with the yuan.

"People are starting to position bankruptcy filing as a way to rebuild the company, and that's becoming more acceptable," says Mitsushige Akino, a chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. "If more cases like JAL emerge, it will help to revitalize the Japanese market, as well as the economy."

Revenues for core semiconductor components used in mobile handsets, including platform ICs and wireless connectivity ICs, are expected to reach almost US$37 billion per annum in 2012.

With the investment from Intel Capital, Trigence Semiconductor will expand integration of Dnote to computing devices including Intel architecture-based PCs, Ultrabook and smartphones, and also expects to expand its LSI and licensing businesses.

Lantiq has appointed Board of Directors member Dan Artusi as Chief Executive Officer of Lantiq.

A group of Elpida Memory bondholders opposes Micron Technology's offer to buy the bankrupt Japanese chipmaker as too low and has begun talks with SK hynix and Globalfoundries on an alternative plan, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

FormFactor raised its second-quarter revenue expectations Tuesday, pointing to customer demand across its DRAM and flash memory segments.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas has seen its shares tumble to a record low amid reports it is planning to raise cash and cut jobs.

Samsung has shed more light on its plans for OLED HDTVs, saying it hopes to have a 55-inch "Super" OLED 3D TV available in Korea by the second half of 2012. It's not clear when a Samsung-branded OLED TV would hit the U.S. During a press conference in Seoul, a company executive said it would take two to three years before OLEDs were widely available, according to the Associated Press.

LG has reached a significant milestone in its TV business with the launch of the 55EM9600.

Solar power plants in Germany produced a world record 22GW of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

The confirmation came after a Yomiuri Shimbun report that the chipmaker would likely outsource some microchip production to TSMC under a tie-up.

China is developing third-generation photovoltaic technology, which may help China-based solar makers circumvent heavy duties imposed by the US, according to He Zuoxiu, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

US renewable-energy subsidies in five states violate free-trade rules, China's Ministry of Commerce said today.

California is poised to more than double its targeted electricity output from rooftop solar panels.

An experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight yesterday, aiming to reach North Africa next week.

Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany has added to its Oslux family with a new LED designed specifically for the camera flash in smartphones, providing a high-quality white light that illuminates the target area.

Coretronic Corporation (5371.TW) today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2012. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, Coretronic posted consolidated sales revenue of NT$16,481 million with an operating income of NT$178 million, drop 11% and 75% QoQ respectively. Net income was reported at NT$239 million, drop 41% QoQ.

Spansion's five-year technology roadmap includes 1Gb-8Gb SLC NAND solutions on 4Xnm technology today, 3Xnm technology by end of 2012 and 2Xnm in 2014.

Solar companies Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and Trina Solar Ltd said their first-quarter margins were squeezed as they set aside money to offset anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the US government on solar panel imports from China.

China should respond forcefully and make every effort to let the United States withdraw the unfair and harsh ruling, so as to avoid a trade war between the two countries in the solar power sector, said Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

EpiGaN NV, a startup spun out of the IMEC research institute in 2010, has officially opened a production facility for gallium nitride on silicon wafers at the Research Campus in Hasselt, Belgium.

When Barnes & Noble launched a Nook e-reader with an integrated light last month, many speculated that it was only a matter of time before Amazon would release a new front-lit version of its monochrome Kindle e-ink e-reader. Well, according to an unnamed Reuter's source who's allegedly seen a prototype of the product, Amazon is aiming to have that new Kindle in stores by July