Chinese internet search engine Baidu, which holds more than 70 percent of China’s internet search engine market has more than trebled as its supremacy in its homeland continues. Net profit between October and December was 1.16bn yuan ($175.9m; £110m), up from 427.9m yuan a year earlier.

Huge demand for mobile phones has aided South Korea's Samsung Electronics to a strong fourth quarter profit. Net gain was 3.42 trillion won ($3.1bn; £1.9bn) compared with 3.04tn won within the same quarter last year. Even so, the data was down from the 3rdquarter, when profits had strike 4.46tn won because of higher sales of flat screen TVs.

China's Lenovo and Japan’s NEC, two of the world's biggest personal computer makers, have declared a deal to determine a joint venture in Japan. Lenovo will be taking a 51 percent pledge in NEC Lenovo Japan Group, with NEC taking the remaining 49 percent.

HTC, the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer which has appeared as a major competitor to Apple's iPhone, saw net profits increase by 160 percent during the Oct to Dec quarter compared with a year earlier. HTC was the first smartphone maker to use Google's Android operating-system.

Net profits rose to New Taiwan dollars 14.59bn ($500m; £315m) on the back of NT$104bn sales. The organization sold 24.6 million phones last year more than double the year 2009 figure. Growth is anticipated to remain rapid this season, with the organization predicting some 8.5 m handsets to be sold throughout the Jan to March quarter this year.