03/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 2 December, the European Commission gave the go-ahead to a planned merger of two Japanese companies, Renesas Technology and NEC Electronics Corporation (NEC-EL, jointly owned by Hitachi Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation). Renesas and NEC-EL manufacture semiconductors and microcontrollers for a wide range of applications (like car parts, portable devices and computer peripherals), along with LCD screen pilots, live static memory and other semiconductor products. Microcontrollers are tiny semiconductors that act as the brains of electronic devices. (L.C./transl.fl)