USA and Canada

Intel has announced a major technical breakthrough in microprocessors with a 22 nanometer chip using 3-D transistors.

Intel’s 3-D transistor design (called Tri-Gate) is now ready for high volume production and will be introduced at the 22-nanometer (nm) node (referring to the size of individual transistor features) in a chip codenamed "Ivy Bridge." More than 6 million 22nm Tri-Gate transistors could fit in the period at the end of this sentence.

Applied Materials, a leading equipment supplier to the semiconductor industry, has taken the first steps in the $4.9 billion acquisition of Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, a leading supplier of ion implantation equipment used by chip makers around the world.

After closure, Varian will operate as a business unit of Applied's Silicon Systems Group and continue to be based in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

New York City has chosen Nissan to supply its next generation taxi fleet. The Taxi of Tomorrow, based on the NV200 minivan, will be built in the Nissan plant in Cuernavaca, Mexico and is expected to enter service in 2013.

The 10-year contract, estimated to be worth $1 billion (£607 million), was announced Tuesday at a City Hall press briefing by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares.

Abingdon, Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources has reported a tripling of net profits to a total of $49.8 million for the first quarter of this year, up from $14 million for the same period a year ago.

Total revenues in the first quarter were $1.1 billion compared to $922.0 million in the same period of 2010. Coal revenues totalled $987.0 million—up 19 percent from $831.3 million a year ago.

Caterpillar has reported all time quarterly record profits for Q1 2011, driven by the continuing improvement in global demand for its products and its focus on cost management.

First-quarter revenues of $12.949 billion were up 57 percent from $8.238 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Profit was a record $1.225 billion in the quarter, an increase of 426 percent from $233 million in the first quarter of 2010.

French-owned energy group Total is offering $1.37 billion for a majority stake in California-based solar panel manufacturer SunPower, to create a partnership that could help the solar industry move to the next stage of its development.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal, and SunPower will continue to operate with its current management team after it is concluded. Total will also provide SunPower with up to $1 billion of credit support over the next five years.

As April draws to a close, the world’s major oil companies are coming out with their first quarter results for 2011, with ConocoPhillips, BP, EXXON and Shell all reporting this week.

Reporting yesterday, the third largest US oil company ConocoPhillips reported a 43 per cent year-on-year rise in quarterly earnings to $3 billion, but said it was disappointed not to have achieved its production and refining targets.

The Boeing Company has reported first-quarter net income of $0.6 billion ($0.78 per share) on revenue of $14.9 billion and reaffirmed its 2011 revenue, earnings per share and operating cash flow outlook.

"We're off to a good start in an important year for our company," said Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We delivered strong operating performance, made significant progress on 787 and 747-8 flight testing, and scored a major win on the US Air Force Tanker program.

Journalists of a certain age all over the world are feeling a pang or two of nostalgia today, with the news that the last ever manual typewriter has been made in a factory in India.

Godrej and Boyce, the last company to make manual typewriters, has closed its plant in Mumbai, India, leaving the typewriter officially a product of the past.