Though already approved by the South Korean government, the merger and integration of MediaTek and MStar is still pending the approval of the Chinese government, according to reports in Taiwanese local media.

South Korea's Samsung has announced plans to invest USD1.7 billion to expand the production capacity of its plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu province.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has agreed to invest EUR1.1 billion, which was about USD1.4 billion, in ASML, one of the largest chip manufacturers in the world, to ensure its access to the latest chip-making technologies in the future.

An insider has revealed to the Chinese local media that China Mobile will start its TD-LTE terminal tender in early August 2012, which is reportedly the first 4G terminal tender of this Chinese telecom operator.

Vimicro Corporation, a Chinese fabless chip company, announced a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the municipal government of Fuzhou for the development, manufacturing, and sales of Surveillance Video and Audio Coding-based security monitoring products in the city.

With the launch of its Tecal V2 servers with Intel Xeon E5 processors inside, Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei has announced its server product plans for 2012, including rack, blade, data center servers and application acceleration solutions.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has announced plans to establish a new business department named "Studio", aiming to reverse the company's recent performance decline.

Following the abrupt resignation of its CEO last week, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation has now named a new leader for the company.

Semiconductor foundry firm UMC has received the Industrial Technology Advancement Award in the category of Outstanding Enterprise Innovation Award from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs.

France-based 4G chipmaker Sequans has opened a new office in Shanghai.

According to reports in foreign media, Chinese PC maker Lenovo has launched its new ThinkPad Edge series based on AMD's microprocessor and it is reportedly the first time for Lenovo to adopt AMD's chips in its notebook products.

Intel Capital, Intel's investment unit, has announced that it has invested USD25 million in seven companies, including two in China, to cultivate new technologies.

According to reports in Taiwanese local media, Taiwan's economic agencies will begin in July 2009 to discuss possibilities to lift limits on Taiwanese companies' investments in mainland China's high-end semiconductor industry.

Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com has reportedly achieved cooperation with several mobile phone companies, including Samsung, Lenovo, Tianyu, and MediaTek, to further enhance its leading position in China's wireless search sector.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has announced its performance for the first quarter of 2009 and states it made NTD39.5 billion during the period, which was higher than expectations.