"We expect strong tree sales this year and strong holiday sales overall," said Jean Niemi, a spokeswoman for Atlanta- based Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home-improvement retailer. "History shows us that even in a down economy, the Christmas tradition isn't one that families part with."

Apple's 4S topped the list at all major carriers offering the device in the US, while the Samsung Galaxy S2 took the crown at T-Mobile. The S2 also came in second at Sprint and AT&T, sandwiched in between Apple's 4S and iPhone 4, while the Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Rezound rounded out the top three at Verizon, where the S2 is not sold.

Solar power company SunPower Corp. will cut about 125 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce, as the company faces a global solar power market where prices and demand are stagnating.

Apple's long-rumoured iOS-packing LCD TV range may be set for a 2012 release according to the latest round of rumours.

Hynix Semiconductor has set around KRW4 trillion (US$3.5 billion) for its 2012 capital expenditure, up 18% from the KRW3.4 trillion set for this year, an online news provider Edaily reported Thursday, citing industry sources.

Applied Materials has announced its new Applied Producer Optiva CVD system that enables the manufacture of backside-illuminated (BSI) image sensors used in the most advanced smartphones, tablet PCs and high-end cameras.

ASM International (ASMI) has announced the successful demonstration of a new 14nm high-k gate dielectric process that achieved less than six angstroms equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) at a customer's 14nm R&D line, an improvement of about 40% from the current advanced nodes.

Struggling solar manufacturers will likely be driven into mergers with rivals to survive a sector squeeze, a trend that could draw major Asian conglomerates deeper into the renewable energy sector.

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., the Korea-based LED manufacturer, has announced that is has settled its LED patent dispute with Royal Philips Electronics.

Targray Technology International was selected by Giga Solar Materials as the global distributor for its back surface aluminum paste.

Freescale Semiconductor has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) accusing MediaTek, Zoran and others of patent infringement, the ITC has said by way of an online posting of pending complaints.

Under a new agreement announced today, OSM Solarform Corp. will manufacture around 20 megawatts worth of LDK Solar's photovoltaic modules at its Welland-based production line in Ontario.

Google is working out any bugs in the latest update to the Android mobile operating system before releasing it broadly, and that's good news for Samsung Nexus S users.

Honda Motor said its production facility in Taiwan will be suspended starting Dec. 15, as the flooding in Thailand has stopped supply of some key components.