The maker of high-speed memory chips changed its focus during a downturn, from retail to direct sales to device makers and sellers, and the company's shares have soared.

Renesas Electronics and Nokia are deepening their collaboration by forming a strategic business alliance to develop modem technologies for HSPA+/LTE and its evolution, according to Renesas. As part of this alliance, the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Renesas is to acquire Nokia's wireless modem business for US$200 million.

Sanyo Electric has decided to sell its semiconductor business to ON Semiconductor for 20-30 billion yen (US$228-341 million), Kyodo News reported Friday, without citing sources.

The US unemployment rate fell to 9.5% in June 2010 from 9.7% in May. Analysts say that high unemployment has kept consumer confidence low, preventing retail sales from growing rapidly.

Silicon Integrated System (SiS) has adopted Cadence solutions for its PC peripheral and multimedia system on chip (SoC) designs, according to Cadence.

Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe's coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.

China's central government has approved proposals to establish a national-level new-energy demonstration city in Turpan in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and the first low-carbon demonstration township in the Jujiapu Financial District of Tianjin.

The Asian Development Bank is leading the establishment of a nonprofit organization to promote the large-scale development of solar energy in Asia.

Think about it: which would you rather do without for a day, your computer or your smartphone?

WebOS tablet is expected to have most of the features and functionality missing from the iPad. A tablet built on a mobile OS, but including USB or SD memory card ports, front and/or rear facing cameras, and compatibility with Adobe Flash content offers business professionals a number of compelling reasons to shun the iPad.

As compared with previous generations, Micron's new RLDRAM 3 memory offers a further increase in density and speed, while minimizing latency and reducing power consumption for higher performing networking applications. Micron expects to begin sampling its RLDRAM 3 device in the first half of 2011.