Samsung LED Co Ltd said it had filed a complaint with the US fair trade commission to ban imports of LED products from Siemens' light bulb unit Osram and affiliates Osram Opto Semiconductors and Osram Sylvania Inc.

While estimates of how many jobs are being created in "green industries" are never easy, a report by nonprofit research institution Brookings has found that 2.7 million workers are now employed in industries that also benefit the environment, such as photovoltaics.

Chinese manufactures of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells and modules, China Sunergy, has opened its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Apple originally asserted 10 of its patents against HTC in March 2010, and the judge ruled today that HTC infringed on two patents, according to an HTC statement.

David Wang has resigned as CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), according to the China-based foundry, which named Wenyi Zhang chairman of the board of directors and acting CEO.

Sony Ericsson has blamed the the Japanese earthquake for a EUR50 million (US$71 million) loss during the three months to June.

Google's Facebook competitor Google+ grew to 10 million users in just two weeks, the company announced Thursday.

In an effort to increase its competitiveness in the North American consumer market, Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502) is selling its Chihuahua, Mexico-based LCD production facilities to PC manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc. The announcement, made in a press release today, comes on the heels of market reports that LCD TV demand in North America is "alarmingly" weak, despite increasing prices for LCD panels worldwide.

On July 13, 2011, Solar Frontier K.K. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that it has begun shipping 150 watt copper indium selenium (CIS) solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from its Kunitomi Plant in Japan.

Nokia Siemens Networks will remain under the full ownership of Nokia and Siemens after buyout firms failed to come up with a compelling offer.

"This means our content is getting stronger, while our supervision is getting more strict and more regulated," a state-run think tank said.

Prior to HTC, Mackenzie held a progression of sales and marketing positions with DENSO Wireless and Siemens Communications, concluding as Vice President for Siemens Communications.

Rama Skukla, VP of Intel's architecture group, said during his keynote address to the SEMICON West conference in San Francisco that tablets are disappearing, and that the kind of devices we will be using a decade from now "could not be described." Intel is gearing up for this change, and the next five years will see major advances in processor technology, he added.

3M has announced the completion of a major expansion of 3M's development laboratory and cleanroom located at its headquarters in Saint Paul, Minn. The expansion includes a 300mm CMP tool and defect metrology for product and application development.

It has the same silhouette as a standard light bulb: a white hot-air balloon with a silver, spiral basket. However, on closer inspection, the bulb itself is just a small part of the shape of the LED light. Along the sides are eight curved metal fins, cradling the bulb, designed to cool the device.

Shares of solar LDK Solar Co. jumped 4 percent Wednesday after it signed contracts to supply solar modules to two electric power companies in China.

Everybody has been copying Groupon, so why not the solar power folks? San Francisco officials are rolling out a first-in-the-nation program today where commercial building owners can participate in group purchasing for discounted solar power.

Analysts covering the solar energy technology industry have been reviewing the wares this week at the Intersolar North America industry conference in San Francisco, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow.

Dutch chip lithography manufacturer ASML reported strong sales in the second quarter, but said new orders in the third quarter would be significantly lower, lending weight to reports of slowdowns in the semiconductor industry.

"What foundries are seeing more and more, and what we're seeing overall, is a very tight linkage to consumer demand. All of us are disappointed with demand for PCs this year, and tablets probably will be 20 million units short of what people thought was possible for the year..."

Toshiba and SanDisk on July 12 celebrated the opening of Fab 5, the third 300mm wafer NAND fabrication facility at Toshiba's Yokkaichi Operations in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

Toshiba President Norio Sasaki also said the company is gaining on South Korea's Samsung Electronics in terms of flash memory global market share, though warned that the rivalry could undercut prices.

Globalfoundries will leverage Intermolecular's high productivity combinatorial (HPC) technology to accelerate the creation of process modules that will be integrated into Globalfoundries manufacturing lines worldwide.

LG is seeking to prevent the importation of Osram LED products into Korea, while the ITC has agreed to investigate Osram's complaints against both LG and Samsung. Meanwhile, Nichia has filed a lawsuit against a DIY retailer in Germany.

Yingli has experienced positive growth in the U.S. solar market, with module shipments having notably increased. It also announced the opening of a new R&D facility in San Francisco.

One of the biggest solar panel factories in Europe has been launched in Italy as a U.N. report says photovoltaic modules have become more price-competitive.

The news comes just weeks after Apple and Samsung accused each other of copying designs and technology.

The US trade agency has agreed to review a complaint by Freescale against Funai Electric, Funai, Mediatek and Zoran.

Cisco Systems, the largest networking-equipment company, may cut as many as 10,000 jobs, or about 14% of its workforce, to revive profit growth, according to two people familiar with the plans.

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG Electronics has slashed its forecast for 2011 smartphone sales as the company struggles to compete against aggressive giants like HTC, Samsung and Apple.

There are two key goals for any solar energy equipment makers: converting a greater percentage of the sunlight into electricity and cutting production costs. Suntech Power, which is the world's top solar cell and panel maker, has launched two solar panels built with technologies that can do both, the company said Tuesday.

MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper.