Matt Berger

The semiconductor arm of Japanese electronics manufacturer NEC Corp. announced Friday it would reduce operations at one of its U.S. fabrication facilities and lay off 700 employees from a number of its business units.

Responding to a brutal day on Wall Street and a published report questioning the company's cash position, Motorola Inc. Friday issued a wordy statement denying that it was facing a liquidity problem.

French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel SA will lay off about five per cent of its U.S. workforce, the company said Monday. The news came amid a stream of earnings warnings and staff cuts at high-tech vendors including Ariba Inc., i2 Technologies Inc. and Inktomi Corp.

General Motors Corp. recently announced a deal to upgrade its consumer Web site, GMBuyPower.com, with new technology that lets car buyers access the site faster and on a variety of platforms, from cell phones to handhelds.