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Electronics news digest

4 September 2013 News

Africa

Former communications minister Dina Pule has been found guilty by the South African parliament of the majority of the well publicised charges levelled against her, as well as lying to the committee during its investigations into her activities. The panel’s report will also be handed over to police and prosecuting authorities for further action.

Kenya is already enjoying collateral benefits from its 2012 switchover from analog to digital television, thanks to a project which is using the resulting freed up or ‘white space’ radio spectrum to increase broadband penetration in the country. Part of Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative, the project is expected to increase the country’s broadband subscriber base from 6 000 to

68 000 subscribers by year’s end.

Overseas

Business

Agilent Technologies reported orders of $1,60 billion, down 4% compared with one year ago, and revenues of $1,65 billion for the third fiscal quarter ended 31 July 2013, also down 4% from one year ago. Third-quarter GAAP net income was $168 million, or $0,49 per share. Last year’s third-quarter GAAP net income was $243 million, or $0,69 per share. Significantly, revenues from the electronic measurement sector were down 17% compared with the prior year, with continuing weakness in wireless manufacturing.

ARM Holdings kept going strong with a 27% increase in revenue for the first half of 2013 compared to the first half of 2012, for a total of £341,5 million. Earnings per share (EPS) were 10,19 pence for the first half of 2013, 47% up from the first half of last year. In the second quarter of this year alone, the company signed up 25 new processor licensees for a wide range of applications from smartphones and mobile computers, to storage and embedded microcontrollers, and announced that 2,4 billion ARM-based chips were shipped, up 20% year-on-year.

Cree announced revenue of $375,0 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. This represents a 22% increase compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, and a 7% increase compared to third quarter of fiscal 2013. For the full fiscal year, the company reported revenue of $1,39 billion, which represents a 19% increase compared to revenue of $1,16 billion for fiscal 2012. GAAP net income was $86,9 million, or $0,74 per diluted share, an increase of 96% compared to $44,4 million, or $0,39 per diluted share, for fiscal 2012.

Maxim Integrated reported net revenue of $608 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, an increase from the $605 million revenue recorded in the prior quarter. For the full fiscal year, earnings were $1,52 per diluted share based on revenue of $2,44 billion, an improvement over the diluted EPS of $1,29 and revenue of $2,40 billion in fiscal year 2012.

Revenue for Atmel’s second quarter of 2013 was $347,8 million, a 6% increase compared to the first quarter of 2013, and 6% lower compared to the second quarter of 2012. GAAP net income totalled $13,0 million or $0,03 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2013. This compares to a net loss of $47,7 million or $0,11 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2013, and GAAP net income of $0,8 million or $0,00 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2012.

For its second fiscal quarter of 2013, NXP Semiconductors accrued revenue totalling $1,19 billion, resulting in net income of $111 million or $0,43 per diluted share. These compare to second quarter 2012 figures of $1,03 billion in revenue and net loss of $90 million or $0,36 per diluted share.

Infineon Technologies reported revenue of 1,022 billion Euros for the third quarter of the 2013 fiscal year, 104 million Euros or 11% percent up on the figure recorded in the previous quarter, with all four of its operating segments contributing to growth. Net income improved quarter-on-quarter from 33 million Euros to 77 million Euros, while EPS increased to 0,07 Euros as compared to 0,03 Euros one quarter earlier.

ams recorded sequential revenue growth in the second quarter of 2013, reaching 91,2 million Euros, up 8% sequentially compared to the first quarter but down 5% from 96,1 million Euros in the same quarter of 2012. The net result for the second quarter was 9,0 million Euros compared to 19,7 million Euros in the same period last year. Diluted EPS for the quarter was 0,64 Euros, compared to 1,48 Euros for the second quarter of 2012.

International Rectifier announced financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2013. Revenue was $276,5 million, a 23,3% increase compared to the prior quarter and a 3% increase over the prior year quarter. Revenue for fiscal year 2013 was $977 million, a 7% decrease from $1,05 billion in the prior fiscal year. Net loss for fiscal year 2013 was $88,8 million or $1,28 per fully diluted share compared with a net loss of $55,1 million or $0,79 per fully diluted share for fiscal year 2012.

National Instruments announced second quarter 2013 revenue of $296 million, a 1% increase over the second quarter of 2012. In Q2, the company’s orders under $20 000 declined 4% year-over-year; orders between $20 000 and $100 000 grew 4% year-over-year; and orders above $100 000 declined 30% year-over-year after growing approximately 130% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2012. GAAP net income for Q2 was $14 million, with fully diluted EPS of $0,12.

Linear Technology reported financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended 30 June 2013. Quarterly revenues of $327,3 million for the fourth quarter increased 4% over the previous quarter and decreased 0,8% from the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012. Revenue for fiscal year 2013 was $1,28 billion, an increase of 1,2% over the prior fiscal year. Net income of $406.9 million for fiscal year 2013 increased 2,2% over the previous year.

ON Semiconductor announced that total revenues in the second quarter of 2013 were $688,3 million, up approximately 4% compared to the first quarter of 2013. During this most recent quarter, the company reported GAAP net income of $47,7 million, or $0,11 per diluted share.

Industry

The market for semiconductors used in industrial electronics applications relished a better than expected first quarter as macroeconomic headwinds turned out to be less severe than initially feared, according to a new report from IHS. Worldwide industrial electronics chip revenue in the first quarter reached $7,71 billion, up 1% from the final quarter of 2012. Although the uptick seemed modest, the increase marked a turnaround from the 3% decline in the fourth quarter. It also represents a major improvement compared to the 3% contraction of the market a year ago in the first quarter of 2011, as shown in the figure below.

ABI Research estimates that the installed base of Bluetooth-enabled devices alone reached 3,5 billion in 2012 and is forecast to grow to almost 10 billion by 2018; this doesn’t take into account many other technologies such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee and cellular. Bluetooth Smart Ready devices shipments are growing rapidly and this is creating a large number of ‘hub’ devices that Bluetooth Smart ‘node’ devices can connect to. Initial growth has been strong in the health and fitness market, but the massive Bluetooth ecosystem is also driving growth in many other markets including keyboards, remote controls, watches, toys, door locks and many more.





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