South Africa

• The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) – which will turn 75 in 2020 – has plotted a new strategic direction built around the vision of accelerating socioeconomic prosperity in South Africa by building on industrial development opportunities, to ultimately create a more balanced focus on scientific and industrial development. The strategy focuses on nine synergistic clusters and enabling initiatives which span several industries and rely on collaboration with a host of public and private sector stakeholders, funding partners, industry associations, higher education institutions and innovation partners.

• The minister of science and technology, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has welcomed the approval by Cabinet of the new white paper on science, technology and innovation (STI), which identifies the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a key focus and purports to place STI at the centre of South Africa’s development agenda. Reviews of the national system of innovation by the department of science and technology have revealed that the system is not inclusive – for example, the number of women (particularly black women) in research, science, technology and innovation is very low – so government’s agenda will also place a strong emphasis on social concerns.

• ExecuKit has relocated to new business premises at Unit B04, Micro Industrial Park, Strijdompark. The company’s landline phone number is set to change, but managing director Renita Fleischer can still be reached on her mobile number of +27 82 744 9660.

• Otto Marketing has relocated from its long-time home in Strijdompark to Unit 6, Anglo Industrial Park, 319 Waltloo Road, Waltloo, Pretoria. Its landline number has changed to +27 12 803 7373.

Overseas

Business

• Analog Devices announced financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2019, which ended 2 February. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenue decreased by 2% to reach $1,54 billion, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) were 22% higher at $0,95. For the second quarter of this year, the company is forecasting revenue of about $1,50 billion and EPS in the region of $0,94.

Companies

• Qorvo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Active-Semi International, a private fabless supplier of programmable analog power solutions. Active-Semi will become part of Qorvo’s Infrastructure and Defence Products (IDP) group. Active-Semi’s technologies are positioned to intersect multiple long-term secular trends in 5G, industrial, data centre, automotive and smart home by addressing the increased demand for efficient power solutions.

• ON Semiconductor has agreed to acquire Quantenna Communications, a Wi-Fi chip and software vendor, for approximately $1,07 billion. The acquisition is another step towards strengthening ON’s presence in low-power connectivity for the industrial and automotive markets.

Industry

• The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $32,9 billion for the month of February 2019, a decrease of 7,3% from the January 2019 total of $35,5 billion and 10,6% less than the February 2018 total of $36,8 billion. Regionally, sales decreased both month-to-month and year-to-year across all regional markets: Europe (-2,3% month-to-month/ -3,0% year-to-year), Asia Pacific/All Other (-5,1%/ -7,2%), Japan (-5,3% / -5,9%), China (-7,8%/ -8,5%), and the Americas (-12,9%/ -22,9%).