Terho Uimonen

Intel Corp. has awarded Acer Laboratories Inc., an affiliate of Taiwan's leading PC maker Acer Inc., a license to make chip sets for PC systems powered by Intel's high-end Pentium 4 processor, the Taipei-based company announced Friday.

To fuel its booming mobile phone market, China to date has relied on imported technology. That may be about to change. A homegrown standard for next-generation networks could give Chinese companies an edge and allow them to grab a slice of a market dominated by European and U.S. suppliers.

Household Internet penetration in Singapore and Taiwan is catching up with the United States, Hong Kong users lead the world in instant messaging usage, while South Koreans spend the most time online and are the most ardent users of streaming audio and video applications.

Chinese-language Web portal provider Sina.com has become one of the first companies to receive an Internet content provider (ICP) license in China, the company announced Thursday.

Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has become the seventh memory chipmaker to agree to pay royalties to Rambus Inc. for some of the most commonly used computer memory interface technologies, the Mountain View, Calif.-based technology developer announced Tuesday.

China's booming mobile phone market is proving fertile ground for eager equipment vendors, as the country's operators continue to expand their networks to accommodate new subscribers.

Taiwan-based chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) announced Friday it would build a US$3.6-billion advanced semiconductor plant in Singapore.

Two Japanese mobile phone makers, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and NEC Corp., this week signed licensing agreements giving them access to technology for use in handsets designed for third-generation (3G) wireless services.