Southern Africa
Landis+Gyr has recently won a major contract to supply Eskom with advanced metering technology. The contract will run for an initial three-year period with an option to extend it for a further two years. The project affects all three of Eskom's business areas - generation, transmission and distribution. The company says that the undertaking, based on very precise specifications, will put high-precision metering in place for the transmission division, allowing full monitoring of power supplied from generation to transmission and from transmission to distribution. The contract covers design and development of prototypes, manufacture and testing of equipment, training, and supply and commissioning.
A joint venture company known as Barloworld Optron Technologies has been formed by Barloworld Equipment and Optron to supply selected Caterpillar information technology products to the mining industry. Barloworld Equipment is the sole Caterpillar equipment dealer in southern Africa and Optron is a leading edge provider of technology-based positioning and integrated information solutions and sole dealer for Trimble survey equipment in southern Africa. The core competency of the new company will be the provision of machine positioning technology using GPS and wireless communications, linking machines in the field with business and operating systems to provide accurate, realtime operational and on-board machine information.
Spescom Software, the US operation of Spescom has formed an alliance with Singularity - a provider of process-centric solutions. Under the terms, it will incorporate Singularity's ActiveWorkflow platform under licence as the eB Workflow component of the Spescom eB product set. eB Workflow allows non-technical staff and business analysts to automate business processes by drawing the process as a flowchart.
Hughes Network Systems (HNS), a provider of broadband satellite solutions, has selected Grintek Telecom as its representative in South Africa, with special focus on the Telkom SA account. Grintek will work together with HNS to pursue the VSAT networking business with Telkom, including pre- and post-sales support of HNS' Direcway broadband satellite solutions. Grintek will distribute the complete satellite product line that HNS offers.
Spectrum Concepts has been appointed the exclusive representative/distributor for Midcom in South Africa. Midcom offers standard and custom transformer products for analog modem, digital telecom, LAN datacom, and power applications - ISO9001 and BABT-approved.
Keops Altech has been awarded the ISO 9001:2000 quality certification.
Overseas
Business
Texas Instruments reported second-quarter revenue of $2,34 bn, up 7% from $2,19 bn in the previous quarter and 8% from $2,16 bn in the same period a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $121m. This compares to a net of $117m in the previous quarter, and $95m a year ago. Semiconductor revenue increased 3% sequentially and 9% year-over-year. But revenue from the wireless market was down 5% sequentially and was up 16% from the year-ago quarter. DSP revenue was about even sequentially and grew 21% compared with the year-ago quarter.
Motorola reported sales of $6,2 bn in the second quarter of 2003 and net earnings of $119m. This represents a decrease in sales of 10% from $6,9 bn in the year-ago quarter. Q2 net earnings of 2003 were $19m, compared with net earnings of $39m in the year-ago quarter. Motorola's semiconductor products segment's (SPS) sales were $1,1 bn, down 11% compared with the year-ago quarter. The segment reported an operating loss of $125m, compared with last year's operating loss of $1,3 bn for the quarter. Excluding special items, the segment reported an operating loss of $134m, compared with an operating loss of $81m in the year-ago quarter. Motorola said the operating loss, excluding special items, increased from the year-ago quarter as a result of lower sales volume, a reduction in manufacturing capacity utilisation and the impact of earthquake damage to the Sendai, Japan manufacturing facility.
On Semiconductor reported sales of $256,2m in the second quarter of 2003, a decline of 5% from $269,5m in the previous quarter. This compares to $280,6m in the like period a year ago. The company reported a net loss of $58 m that included $35m in restructuring and other charges. The company also reported a revised net loss of $51m, for Q1 of 2003 that included a $22m charge relating to a change, made in the second quarter but effective as of Jan. 1, 2003, in the company's method of accounting. On said that the decline in second quarter revenues was primarily the result of weakness in the automotive and wireless sectors coupled with higher than expected price declines in all markets.
Actel announced net revenues of $36,6m for the second quarter of 2003, up 7% from both the second quarter of 2002 and the first quarter of 2003. Net income, which excludes acquisition-related amortisation and other non-operating charges, was $2,0m for the second quarter of 2003, down 2% from the second quarter of 2002 and up 115% sequentially. Actel reported net income of $1,4m for the second quarter of 2003 compared with net income of $0,4m, for the second quarter of 2002 and net income of $0,2m for the first quarter of 2003.
RF Micro Devices reported fiscal 2004 first quarter financial results. Revenue for the quarter was $131,5m, an increase of 26,5% versus revenue of $103,9m for the 2003 corresponding quarter, and a sequential decrease of 4,9% versus revenue of $138,3m for the previous quarter. The company said its results reflected continued strength at leading handset OEMs, offset by weakness at handset original design manufacturers (ODMs) and for the company's 802.11b products. Gross profit for the quarter was $41,2m, down slightly from $41,4m in the prior year period. Net loss for the quarter was $8,1m, which compares to a $13,0m loss for the 2003 fourth quarter.
Exar has reported fiscal 2004 first quarter operating results. Revenue for the quarter was $16,0m, up 6,4% sequentially from $15m in the 2003 fourth quarter and down 10,7% from $17,9m for the same period last year. Q1 operating loss was $0,06m, an improvement from the loss of $0,4m for the previous quarter and for the same period last year.
Companies
Intersil is selling its wireless networking product group to GlobespanVirata for approximately $365m in cash and stock. Intersil said it expects to report a one-time gain on the transaction. "Intersil has been instrumental in creating the wireless local area networking market and our team has done an outstanding job over the past five years making us the acknowledged industry leader under our Prism brand," said Rich Beyer, Intersil president and CEO. "The WLAN evolution is resulting in even greater differences in the business models of Intersil's High Performance Analogue Product Groups and its Wireless Networking Product Group. We have made a strategic decision to focus our technology and resources entirely on our leadership positions in high performance analog."
Littelfuse has acquired Teccor Electronics from a subsidiary of Invensys for $44m in cash plus a future payment of $5m contingent on sales of Teccor products reaching $107m for calendar year 2005. Teccor manufactures semiconductor products for the telecom and industrial market segments. It manufactures two product groups: a line of transient voltage suppressor devices and a line of power switching devices.
ARM Holdings has purchased Belgium DSP company Adelante Technologies. With the acquisition, ARM will aquire the A/RT system-level design tool, which is used to optimise block layout to accelerate high data throughput processing applications.
Texas Instruments has acquired Radia Communications, a chip maker that specialises in RF design. Radia specialises in 802.11-based wireless local area networking development and multiband/multimode radio technology.
International Rectifier and Sanyo Semiconductor are forming a joint venture to design, develop and market electronic motor drive power modules for energy-efficient appliances and light industrial applications. To be called IR-SA Integrated Technologies, the new company will pursue the rapidly expanding market for variable speed motion control technology being driven by government mandates, as well as consumer demand for energy efficient air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and a host of light industrial equipment.
Pericom Semiconductor has acquired SaRonix, a supplier of frequency control products (FCPs). SaRonix and Pericom are developing joint marketing and product initiatives for crystal-based products including clock recovery, frequency translator and timing modules.
3M has formed a new electronic materials business unit. The 3M Electronics Markets Materials Division, will offer product lines that include conductive, thermal and other electronic grade adhesives and pressure sensitive tapes, fluorochemical materials for cooling and cleaning applications, and other performance fluids and gases.
Heraeus Sensor-Nite, a subsidiary of precious metals and technology group, Heraeus Holding, is operating under the name Heraeus Sensor Technology as of July 1 2003. In October 2002, Heraeus Sensor-Nite acquired the platinum thin-film sensors product line from the Temperature Division of ABB Automation Products, known as Sensycon.
AT&T Wireless has selected Nortel Networks and Ericsson as equipment vendors for what is expected to be the first W-CDMA-based 3G wireless network in North America.
Sharp and Texas Instruments will jointly develop a reference design for GSM/GPRS camera phones to enable customers to quickly develop megapixel camera phones. The partners plan to offer the reference design by the end of 2003 to global handset manufacturers.
Nokia, ARM, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics have formed the Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance (MIPI). The intention is to accelerate the creation of mobile products by defining standard hardware and software interfaces for microprocessors intended for mobile equipment. MIPI results from the OMAPI interface created by ST and TI. Texas Instruments' original OMAP acronym stands for 'open multimedia applications platform'.
Toshiba of Japan has announced it will establish a new 'engineering' company dedicated to provide support for its discrete devices. The company, to be based in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, is expected to achieve shorter time-to-market for advanced discrete products, including power transistors, diodes and opto-devices.
Industry
IC Insights has released its ranking of worldwide top 10 semiconductor suppliers for the first half of 2003. For the first time, there are more European companies on the list than US companies. Intel maintained its number one position, however, significant movement took place in the remainder of the ranking. According to the statistics, highlights include: Renesas, the recently-formed entity comprised of Hitachi and Mitsubishi's semiconductor businesses, claimed the third spot in the top 10 ranking - Hitachi alone would have ranked 10th; Motorola fell from the top 10 ranking. IC Insights believes that Motorola has been on the Top-10 supplier list since it built its first semiconductor fab in 1959; a 22% increase in the value of the euro in 1H03-1H02 significantly boosted the 1H03 results of Infineon and Philips when converted into US dollars; total 1H03-1H02 top 10 semiconductor company sales grew 12%. The worldwide semiconductor market also grew 12% in 1H03 increasing to $74,3 bn from $66,3 bn in 1H02. In order, the ranking is: Intel, Samsung, Renesas, TI, Toshiba, STM, Infineon, NEC, Philips, and TSMC.
According to Gartner Dataquest analysts, the semiconductor equipment industry is 'poised for growth', with 8% growth in capital spending likely this year and 15% growth possible for 2003. Next year, growth could exceed 20% for both 2004 and 2005, resulting in a $250 bn semiconductor industry in 2005, according to the market research firm.
The latest market statistics survey from the EDA Consortium, reveals that the design automation industry's first-quarter 2003 revenues fell 6% from the year-ago quarter, but showed sequential growth over the fourth quarter of 2002 indicating a possible recovery. The EDA industry recorded global revenues of $908m in the first quarter, down from the $962m in the first quarter of 2002, according to EDAC. In a breakdown of revenues, the report shows that product and maintenance revenues constituted 93% of the industry's total for the quarter. That category, which excludes consulting and other services, was down 4% from first quarter a year ago. Revenues for computer-aided engineering were down 6% from the same period of 2002. IC physical-design tools showed a very slight decrease, while PCB and multichip-module layout tools revenues were down 10% from the year-ago quarter. Design services, hard hit by the industry downturn, fell 29%. The EDAC report also states that revenues for semiconductor IP grew faster than other categories, rising by 36%.
In a recent survey on companies that purchase embedded computer boards, IMS Research found that 42,9% expect to use CompactPCI boards in their systems by 2006, slightly more than the 39,3% that currently use them. This suggests that companies will still require CompactPCI even as the new PICMG AdvancedTCA specification becomes more widely accepted. During the collapse of the telecoms market at the start of the decade, suppliers of CompactPCI solutions had to find other applications to maintain sales and retain market share, said IMS Research. New applications for CompactPCI were found in industrial, transportation, traffic systems and military. The group forecasts that further penetration into these applications combined with increasing business from the recovering telecoms industry will cause the CompactPCI market to experience strong growth over the coming years with a CAGR of 9,7% during the period 2002 to 2007.
The Bluetooth semiconductor market has made solid progress in spite of economic ups and downs, reports In-Stat/MDR. The market research firm says that final 2002 worldwide chipset shipments were 35,8m units, resulting in 245% growth over 2001. As this market's size grows and matures, the growth rates will naturally decrease, resulting in a CAGR of 74% from 2002 to 2007, it states.
IC Insights has lowered its semiconductor forecast for 2003 slightly, but has also raised its outlook for unit shipments for the year. Its original projection was that the worldwide semiconductor market would grow 15% in 2003 over 2002. But now, the research firm believes the market will reach $136,4 bn in terms of sales in 2003, a 13% growth rate over 2002. IC units are expected to grow 15% in 2003 over 2002. This is an increase of 4% from IC Insights' previous 2003 unit IC volume forecast of 11% growth.
Expanding into new markets and reaching new subscribers in virtually all regions of the world, cable modem services are 'absolutely hot', according to In-Stat/MDR. The market research firm reports that total worldwide cable modem subscribers reached 27 million in mid-2003, and is expected to hit 34 million by the end of the year. By 2007, In-Stat/MDR projects that there will be 68 million worldwide cable modem subscribers.
Global Sources has released 'Electronics Industry Outlook: China,' the annual report that provides an in-depth analysis of mainland China's electronics industry. According to the research, China's demand for IC technology is expected to grow at 20,3% annually between 2003 and 2005. This year alone, its manufacturers will likely consume 41,1 billion ICs valued at $30 bn, with 95% of that value comprised of imported technology, it says.
The Semiconductor Test Consortium (STC) has released the second draft specification for its Open Semiconductor Test Architecture, Openstar. The new draft covers hardware, software and mechanical specs. Openstar is designed to enable open test solutions that offer true hardware and software interoperability. See www.semitest.org.
Wireless LANs are being installed on US Navy warships to free up manpower, reduce crew sizes, and improve monitoring of a range of mechanical and electrical systems according to a PCworld.com report. Captains will be able to command the entire ship from anywhere on board via 802.11b wireless systems. Instead of laying hundreds of metres of cabling by cutting through a steel ship and adding weight to the vessel, the radio link will allow much faster and less-disruptive deployment of the sensors.
The Chinese government is committed to transforming its current analog TV infrastructure to digital systems in the period through 2015. According to industry supply analysts, iSuppli, if the Chinese DTV initiative is successful, it will drive a Total Available Market in excess of $20 bn for terminals (HDTVs plus DC-STBs) and approximately $10 bn in annual semiconductor demand.
Samsung Electronics of South Korea announced that it would ship more cellular phones than it originally planned for this year. The company is expected to ship more than 52,5 million handsets, which was the company's shipment goal for 2003.
Vision Engineering has produced an independent, informative report covering the issues involved with the impending change to lead-free production. This report describes how production processes will change and what effect this will have on inspection criteria and defect types. See www.visioneng.com or contact local agent Test & Rework Solutions, 011 708 3451.
Technology
Swiss researchers have developed a password-cracking scheme, based on a method first developed in 1980, that they say lets them crack most Windows passwords in about 13 seconds (the original method takes more than a minute and a half longer). This enforces a growing security community concern that the way in which Microsoft encodes passwords in Windows is inherently weak, opening the door for brute-force cracking programs to test and break passwords. Swiss researcher Philippe Oechslin recently published an online paper ( http://lasecwww.epfl.ch/pub/lasec/doc/Oech03.pdf) which describes the password-cracking scheme.
Carpets with woven-in 'intelligence' could soon be produced on the looms of Vorwerk Teppichwerke's (Vorwerk) carpet plant in Hameln, Germany. The company has signed a cooperation agreement with Infineon Technologies to develop a marketable solution and plan to present an initial prototype by the end of 2004. In May, Infineon first presented the concept for the integration of microelectronics in textile surfaces, which makes it possible to create floor coverings with a self-organising network of robust chips. Vorwerk is the first partner from the textile industry who will work with Infineon to further develop this concept into a solution that it says will 'enhance the technology lifestyle of individuals'.
MicroEmissive Displays (MED), a Scottish start-up company has developed an active matrix polymer OLED colour display for viewfinder applications comprising 320 x 240 pixels on a 7,62 mm diagonal substrate. Being emissive, rather than an LCD, the viewfinder requires no back-light and uses about 25% of the power required for viewfinders currently in use, according to the company.
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