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Rohm and Haas Company has reported second quarter 2008 sales of $2,567 million, a 17% increase over the same period in 2007, with Electronic Materials and the chemical businesses outside North America delivering strong growth. The Electronic Materials Group comprises two reportable segments which provide materials for use in applications such as telecommunications, consumer electronics and household appliances. Sales for the Electronic Materials Group were $536 million in the second quarter of 2008, up 34% over the same period in 2007, reflecting the impact of acquisitions in Display Technologies as well as solid organic growth of Electronic Technologies. The Electronic Technologies segment is comprised of the company's Semiconductor Technologies, Circuit Board Technologies and Packaging and Finishing Technologies business units. Sales for the segment of $460 million were up 16% versus the second quarter of 2007, driven by strong growth in Asia for all business units. Sales in the second quarter excluding precious metals pass-through sales were up 15%. Semiconductor Technologies sales grew 13%, reflecting strong demand and favorable currencies, particularly in the Asia Pacific Region. Circuit Board Technologies sales increased 20% as compared to the same period last year, with solid growth in the Asia Pacific Region more than offsetting declines in North America. Packaging and Finishing Technologies sales rose 20% versus last year, primarily driven by strong growth in precious metal sales and in process sales. Adjusted pre-tax earnings for this segment of $107 million were up 11% from the second quarter of 2007, reflecting increased demand and favorable currencies, partially offset by higher metal costs and increased costs related to expansion efforts, including the new Asia Technical Center in Taiwan.\n\n\n

Growth in Asia is illustrated from this reporting at multiple levels of business - Opportunities are available for copper in a multitude of applications.

The solar industry and semiconductor industry are intimately connected. Both industries rely on silicon and both use much of the same processing technology and supply chain to produce their products. Nowhere has this connection been on better display than last week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco California, where the Intersolar North America made its debut in conjunction with SEMICON West 2008. The show provided an opportunity for those in the two industries to connect and allowed those companies that work in both spaces to showcase their collective efforts. According to Chris O'Brien, Head of Market Development and Government Relations for North America for Oerlikon Solar, holding the two conferences together gave companies greater exposure and showed the promise of the U.S. solar market. In recent months a number of traditional semiconductor companies including Intel and National Semiconductor have made announcements that they are making plans to enter the solar industry in one way or another. Intel spun off it's solar research area into a new solar company called SpectraWatt. National Semiconductor announced that it will be introducing it's first solar product, SolarMagic, that could raise the efficiency of residential and industrial solar systems. Kevin Kayser, Senior Marketing Manager at National said that he product will be targeted at installers and integrators and much planning went into the company's decision to enter the solar space. "Photovoltaics currently has less than 1% of the energy market, but we think it has potentially one of the fastest growth rates of any alternative energy source. Now certainly we're looking at wind, we're looking geothermal, we're looking at other sources, but from an electronics point of view we saw that we had the most immediate potential impact in solar photovoltaics," Kayser said.

BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Abu Dhabi investment agency Mubadala Development Co said on Tuesday they have entered into an $8 billion joint venture with an initial focus on providing commercial finance in the Middle East and Africa.The two companies also plan to work together in the clean energy and water, aviation, and oil and gas sectors, they said."This partnership is consistent with our global growth initiatives and builds on our long-term relationships in a high-growth region like the Middle East," said Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE, the second-largest U.S. company by market value.The companies said Mubadala "plans over time" to become one of the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company's ten largest shareholders, by acquiring shares in the open market.They also aim to establish a clean energy technology center in Masdar City, a new city in Abu Dhabi that aims to be carbon neutral. GE plans to commit up to $50 million for Masdar's second clean-tech fund.Growth in the Middle East has been a major thrust for GE in recent years. Last year the company generated $5 billion in revenue in the region, up 50 percent from the prior year.

Hewlett-Packard said on Monday it plans to buy Colubris Networks, furthering the consolidation of wireless networking companies. Financial terms were not disclosed. HP said the deal should close by the end of fiscal 2008, which occurs in October. Colubris, founded in 2000 and based in Waltham, Massachusetts, sells wireless access infrastructure products based around the 802.11n wireless standard, which can match or best the speeds of a plugged-in broadband connection. But the upgrade to 802.11n poses many issues for it to work efficiently. Colubris has centered many of its products around the predicted upgrade of those networks over the next few years. Colubris also sells wireless security and network management products. HP said products from Colubris will be incorporated into its ProCurve Networking portfolio, which will improve HP's ability to serve the health-care, transportation, manufacturing and education markets, among others. In June, Belden said it would buy WLAN vendor Trapeze Networks for US$133 million

Most of Wang's neighbors were not so fortunate. Recyclers in Qingyuan have lost an estimated $4.4 billion since the bottom dropped out of the marketWidely known as a copper recycling center, Qingyuan once had a workforce of 80,000, employed by 22 national companies and more than 150 medium-sized enterprises. Of those, 20 percent have gone bankrupt, 50 percent have been cut in half, and the remainder has lost about one-third of their market value, according to a local recycling association. For Qingyuan, the disaster was unpredictable, but instructive. Recyclers typically locked in the price when they signed a contract with foreign suppliers. Saddled with fixed operating costs, that left them nowhere to go when the price for their product dropped, according to Yan Jinming, general manager of CITIC Securities Futures.

Asia is using technology to build new models for delivering goods and services to its vast low-income populations. Many of those models will lead to powerful innovations for global markets.

The Y. S. Sun Green Building Research Center, which costs TWD87,000 ($296,1) per 36 square feet, adopts 13 different green building design methods, including five natural ventilation energy-saving methods, two equipment reduction methods, and five equipment energy-saving technologies and renewable energy technologies.

The Copper and Brass Servicenter Association reported that shipments of brass mill products amounted to 20.24Mlbs in May 2011, up by 0.4% on the previous month and down 11.3% y-o-y. This comes after a 13% fall in April from 25Mlbs in March, which was the peak that service centers experienced in Q1. Industry sources attributed the flattening in shipment levels in May to a decline in general consumer activity, also indicated by the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index falling from 60.4 to 53.5. In addition, it was reported that US brass mills are expecting lead times to narrow or flatten during Q3. Lead times are currently two to five weeks, having previously lengthened in early Q2. Lead times tend to be longer when consumer and service center demand is weak.

"The market for commercial CHP systems has achieved limited penetration into global building infrastructure, but growth is accelerating. Two primary motivations are driving the increased adoption of CHP today: the potential to conserve energy and to guarantee power supply to mission-critical operations (e.g., research institutions, hospitals, and data centers). "

LS Cable & Systems, the world's third largest manufacturer of wire and cable, reaffirmed on 23rd November that it is seeking to become the world's largest wire and cable manufacturer by 2020, and that it is targeting the value-added cable market in India as part of its strategy. The company, which according to chief executive officer Koo Cha-yol "has 33 manufacturing firms, 64 operational bases and four research centers in 26 countries," generates 60% of its sales abroad. LS Cables & Systems has been expanding these overseas sales through acquisitions, in recent years buying American cable maker Magnet Wire in 2008, and Chinese cable maker Hongchi in 2011, giving it access to the world's largest markets.

Revere Copper Products Inc., which is based in Rome, N.Y., will increase its fabrication charge on all copper and copper alloy products by an average of 10%, effective as of 1st March. Revere said that the rise in costs related to supply, energy and health-care were attributable for the price hike. It also added that the new revenue will ensure that the company can reinvest in key process centers to improve its quality, service and reliability.