A move designed to punish China-based solar panel makers that charge unfairly low prices in the US could, ironically, end up hurting American-based solar panel installers, a fast-growing sector of the green economy.

Loss-making Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics plans to cut 6,000 jobs, about 15% of its workforce, and raise JPY50 billion (US$630 million) through a third-party share allotment, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Tuesday.

When will the stock price of China solar panel makers stop collapsing? When China starts switching to solar power. In other words, unless there are bottom feeders in the market with a long-term bullish outlook on the sector, 2012 promises to be a killer for China solar. Yet, despite US government's anti-dumping charge against them on Friday, industry insiders said at a conference in Shanghai that they were hopeful for a rebound.

Automakers who are dabbling in ambient lighting are preparing to dive into greater use of LED technology as a way to both create a distinctive brand identity inside the vehicle and to meet customer demand, according to automotive suppliers at the WardsAuto Interiors Conference in Dearborn.

According to the latest Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report published by market analysis firm DisplaySearch, 2012 will see significant growth in the shipments of LED-based LCD TVs and 3D-capable HDTV displays. Over the course of this year, there is expected to be a rise in the market share held by LCD TVs equipped with LED backlight technology to 70.1 percent, which is a sizable increase compared to 2011 when the share was only 45.3 percent.

Apple said its North Carolina facility will be powered by a combination of photovoltaic solar energy, green fuel cells and other sources of renewable energy.

China-based solar panel manufacturers are making plans to source components from Taiwan in order to get around US anti-dumping tariffs of at least 31% announced by the Department of Commerce last week.

China unleashed a storm of protest Friday on multiple fronts against the US decision to impose a 31% antidumping tariff on Chinese solar-panel makers and said the action could backfire on US industries.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday in downtown Taipei to protest government policies ahead of the inauguration of recently re-elected Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou. Participants said they were angry about Ma's economic policies, including his decision - announced after his January re-election - to raise utility prices.

STMicrolectronics has filed a complaint in the Northern District of California alleging that InvenSense infringes nine ST patents.

Samsung Electronics has started producing the industry's first 4Gb, low power double-data-rate 2 (LPDDR2) memory utilising 20nm class technology.

Some nine million pre-orders have already been logged for Samsung's new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

ARM CEO Warren East says the notebook space will be a better opportunity for ARM than the crowded mobile chip market will be for Intel.

With a solid cash position, we believe that Micron will be able to win the bid for Elpida and position itself to capitalize the consolidation in the DRAM market.

According to IDC, 838.7 million employees in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan will be mobile workers by 2015 and majority of these mobile workers will be office-based.

Qualcomm has announced the appointment of Clifford Ficke as vice president and president of Qualcomm Japan.

The new factory and R&D center will focus on the design, development and full scale production of innovative semiconductor packaging and test services for the world's leading semiconductor and electronic manufacturing companies, the company said.

Researchers have revealed details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip.

With sales of LCD television technology falling far short of expectations in the global marketplace, Sony and Panasonic are in talks to jointly mass-produce the next generation of OLED television sets.

LG Electronics Inc. (066570), the world's No. 2 television maker, plans to sell 55-inch sets using the new OLED technology for more than $9,000 in the U.S., two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The move, announced by the Commerce Department, is certain to infuriate Chinese officials already upset after recent bilateral frictions over China's human rights policies and its increasingly confrontational approach toward American allies like the Philippines and Japan.

The US yesterday imposed tariffs of as much as 250% on Chinese-made solar cells to aid domestic manufacturers beset by foreign competition, though critics said the decision may end up raising prices and hurting the US renewable energy industry.

SolarWorld said its Hillsboro, Oregon-based U.S. unit can't compete with Chinese exporters, including Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP), the world's largest solar-panel maker, and Trina Solar Ltd. unless tariffs are imposed. Suntech was told to pay 31.22%, Trina's levies were set at 31.14% and others were told to pay duties ranging from 31.18-249.96%.

The US solar-power industry has been nervously awaiting a federal decision on whether to impose antidumping tariffs on Chinese solar-panel makers.