Southern Africa
Qualcomm and Ericsson have announced that they are jointly supporting CDMA technical trials in South Africa by demonstrating the benefits of CDMA2000 and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO wireless services while utilising the existing GSM networks. The technology demonstration will be conducted in a Johannesburg area that includes residential neighbourhoods, business parks, and locations with limited wireless access. They said testing the CDMA technology in a diverse range of locations will highlight the flexibility and advantages of the technology. The trial will showcase how CDMA and GSM roaming can be accomplished to provide seamless voice services using a dual-mode GSM and CDMA handset.
Alstom Protection & Control (P&C) and Slovenia-based metering equipment manufacturers, Iskraemeco (Iskra), recently signed an agreement confirming P&C as the sole distributors in southern Africa of Iskra products and systems. Iskra is a leading player in AMR (automatic meter reading) systems.
Professional Technology Africa (P T Africa) has gained the LeCroy agency in South Africa. LeCroy is a leading provider of test equipment. P T Africa is a supplier of products and services in the fields of communications, RF solutions, test equipment, mobile radio and broadcasting.
Integr8 & Autom8 has reported that Satel radios are now being used by four of the F1 teams in the 2005 Formula 1 Season. The radios form the key component in the link between the pits and the on-board computer. Integr8 & Autom8 is the local distributor for Satel's range of datacommunications modems that are commonly used in manufacturing plants.
Mobile messaging services provider, Clickatell, announced it has relocated to larger, more up-market offices to coincide with the expansion of the company. New address details are: 7th Floor, Manhattan Plaza, 100 Edward Street, Bellville, Cape Town. Tel: +27 (0)21 910 7700. Fax: +27 (0)21 910 7701.
Overseas
Business
Kingston Technology's total 2004 revenue increased by 38%, year over year, to $2,45 bn, marking the highest revenue figure the company has achieved since its founding in 1987. Kingston said the excellent result is attributable to performance increases in several key business areas as well as greater attention focused on newly developing memory market segments and accelerated global production expansion. Over the past year, Kingston Technology placed greater emphasis on its digital media products, and the line has experienced exceptional growth, with year-over-year revenue up almost 350%.
Companies
Agere Systems has announced that it has acquired Modem-Art, a developer of advanced processor technology for 3G/UMTS mobile devices, for $145,1m.
Broadcom has acquired Zeevo, a provider of semiconductor and software solutions for Bluetooth-based wireless headset products, for $32m.
Spectrum Control has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Spectrum Microwave, has acquired Amplifonix, a designer and manufacturer of RF amplifiers, switches, detectors, integrated systems and voltage-controlled oscillators for $10m.
Toshiba has acquired Socrates Software India, an embedded software and re-usable software component developer for digital consumer and personal communication applications.
To expand the range of technologies offered by its Detection division, Smiths Group of the UK has acquired Farran Technology, based in the Republic of Ireland. Farran is a developer of millimetre wave technologies for the detection of hidden weapons and explosives and for other applications. Using the electromagnetic radiation naturally emitted by all objects, Farran is applying its technology to create an image that pinpoints the presence on a person of metallic, ceramic and other materials, including plastic explosives. Smiths will pay 19m Euro plus deferred performance-related consideration up to a maximum of 5m Euro.
BAE Systems North America has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire United Defense Industries (UDI) for approximately $4 bn.
Vishay Intertechnology has announced it intends to tender an offer to acquire the remaining shares of Siliconix. It currently holds approximately 80,4% of the outstanding Siliconix shares.
Two leading forces in 3D integrated circuits, Tezzaron and Ziptronix, are to cooperate in joint development and work towards a general industry adoption of 3D solutions. 3D technology promises to create low-power, high-speed devices by building vertically-interconnected circuits. The companies said the cooperation is expected to promote industry confidence in the technology and accelerate the adoption of 3D ICs.
TRDA (Taiyo Yuden R&D Center of America), and Wisair are teaming up to develop the first MBOA standard ultrawideband (UWB) module for customised applications, using Wisair's UWB chipset and Taiyo Yuden's RF and UWB components.
Abu Dhabi Ship Building and Alenia Marconi Systems have announced plans for a Joint Venture in the field of integrated defence systems. The new company, to be called Abu Dhabi Systems Integration (or ADSI) will initially be aimed at providing a broad range of defence systems, products and services for naval platforms. ADSI will be located in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and will be the first joint venture of its kind in the Arabian Gulf.
CoWare, a US-based systems-level design tool company, is to jointly work with the IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) engineering group to develop an integrated design flow for multimedia and wireless applications on a programmable platform as part of IMEC's multimode multimedia (M4) research program.
Arrow Asia Pac has signed a franchise agreement with analog IC manufacturer Linear Technology to distribute its products through its 18 sales offices in Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Renesas Technology Europe has announced it has set up a new design company in Rennes, France, to strengthen its development capabilities on system platforms for 3G mobile phones.
DEK has opened a new advanced stencil manufacturing facility in Singapore to improve delivery and increase the level of experience and expertise available to its customers in Asia.
Industry
Semiconductor sales worldwide of $18,3 bn in January were 0,5% below December sales of $18,4 bn but 17,5% higher than January of 2004 sales, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association's latest Global Sales Report. SIA pointed out that January is usually a weak month for microchip sales following the typically strong holiday season. It said the excess inventories that slowed growth in the second half of 2004 have been largely depleted.
The global capacitor market forecast has been revised down according to a recent report from Reed Electronics Research, and will now increase by 8,6% in 2004 to $12,4 bn. The report also found that the ROW (rest of the world) will experience the fastest growth, with China the main driver. With the influx of overseas manufacturers and a growing indigenous industry, China is one of the world's most important countries in terms of production, in particular, for commodity products as well as being the fastest growing market. Production is also expanding for chip capacitors as manufacturers increase output to meet rising domestic demand and exports. Exports of capacitors however, are expected to remain stable in the short-term unless manufacturers significantly improve product quality to enable them to compete in the global market, it said.
Texas Instruments remains at the top of the analog IC market, outperforming the industry and growing share from 13% in 2003 to 14% in 2004 ($4,4 bn). The company's closest rival is STMicroelectronics, with an estimated $4,2 bn in analog revenue, according to the latest Databeans' estimates. Together, these two companies control nearly one-third of the market. Another third of the market is controlled by Infineon Technologies, Philips Semiconductors, Analog Devices, and National Semiconductor. These large analog companies all performed in line or ahead of the industry, which was up 17% last year. Rounding out the top 10 analog companies are Maxim, Freescale, Toshiba, and Linear Technology.
Worldwide Wi-Fi equipment revenue hit $2,8 bn in 2004, up 15% from 2003, and units reached 36,1 million, up 51% from 2003, as wireless LAN products continued to gain traction across all geographic regions, according to Infonetics Research's quarterly market share service. Enterprise and public hotspot segments continue to fulfil their growth potential, and the already explosive consumer segment continues to grow spectacularly it said, with broadband users upgrading from basic wired CPE to wireless gateways.
The ZigBee Alliance announced a new level of membership, the Adopter Class, designed for companies looking to quickly and cost-effectively bring ZigBee-based products to market. Adopter Class membership provides companies with access to all final, approved ZigBee specifications. The final ZigBee specification was ratified in December 2004.
The traditional PDA is heading for significant declines in sales, and in fact is nearing the end of its life as a major product segment, according to In-Stat. Unit shipments reached only 8,7 million units in 2004, down from 10 million in 2003. The market research firm says that the outlook for upcoming years is not good, as the PDA market will have a negative CAGR of -21,5% during the 2004-2009 period as users switch to other products, such as smartphones and portable media players.
RF Micro Devices has announced it will discontinue its internal wireless local area network (WLAN) chipset development efforts. As a result of the discontinuation, the company will reduce its WLAN chipset workforce in its San Jose location, and close its offices in Moscow and Leuven.
The wireless infrastructure industry is shifting from hardware-based base station manufacturing industry to one based on software and services, says ABI Research. Base station hardware is no longer the 'big thing' any more, as they are all becoming software-reconfigurable, it states.
The US government has adopted new smartcard-based identification cards for federal employees and government contractors. All federal agencies will issue the smartcards to employees and contractors to gain access to federal buildings and facilities.
AMD has announced the release of the open platform management architecture (OPMA) specification. The OPMA defines a robust connector-level interface that allows a wide range of management subsystems to be attached to server motherboards in a standardised way.
The UK's National Microelectronics Institute has initiated a benchmarking study for its semiconductor manufacturing members within the specialist areas of: production equipment engineering; purchasing; human resources; training; and development. The study is intended to help them improve operation by comparing against industry best practice.
Royal Philips Electronics' semiconductor division has deployed a major implementation of RFID in its supply chain in Asia - the first major rollout in the semiconductor industry. The project was developed in close collaboration with solutions partner IBM, using Philips own RFID ICs.
Tessera Technologies has filed a patent infringement suit against Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology, charging the companies infringed upon its IP for packages used to house memory and other semiconductor devices.
LG Philips Displays has announced it would close its CRT plant in Durham, England, because of 'crippling price erosion', and a shift of demand from Europe to Asia Pacific.
The UK's Queen Elizabeth has bestowed an honorary knighthood on Bill Gates, primarily in recognition of his efforts to improve health and reduce poverty in the developing world.
Sony has named Sir Howard Stringer as chairman and chief executive - the first foreigner to run Sony.
Technology
Aeroflex has launched a new development and conformance test system that can test applications running on all major cellphones including GSM/EGPRS and W-CDMA. The Aeroflex air interface monitor emulator/applications test (AIME/AT) system can be used for all major phone types and is claimed to be the first test system that can test applications on GSM/W-CDMA and CDMA handsets on a single platform.
MagnaChip Semiconductor has announced it is introducing a CMOS image sensor for capsule cameras. It claims the solution provides a low power capsule camera technology with superior image quality. MagnaChip's imaging solution is designed to be swallowed by a patient, and generates two images every second. These are transmitted wirelessly to an external recording device. It can operate for up to 8 hours, and take up to 50 000 pictures. MagnaChip touts its sensitivity in low illumination conditions.
The Soitec Group says it has generated the first single-crystal, thin-film gallium nitride (GaN)-on-insulator substrate - a critical step forward in enabling the development of high-performance blue and white light-emitting diodes (LEDs), using its proprietary Smart Cut layer-transfer and wafer-bonding technology. Soitec's Smart Cut technology was used by the research team to split and transfer a thin layer of GaN from a high-quality GaN donor wafer onto a carrier wafer - generating a single crystal GaN-on-insulator substrate.
Samsung Electronics has developed an 82-inch thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) TV panel, claimed to be the largest produced to date. It has 12,44 million thin-film transistors, an image quality of 6,22 million pixels, and a viewing angle of 180°. This is the first product from the S-LCD joint venture announced by Samsung and Sony in 2004.
Two superconducting devices have been coaxed into a special, interdependent state that mimics the unusual interactions sometimes seen in pairs of atoms, according to a team of physicists at NIST and University of California. The experiments are a step toward possible use of 'artificial atoms' with superconducting materials for storing and processing data in an ultra-powerful quantum computer of the future. The work showed that it is possible to measure the quantum properties of two interconnected artificial atoms at virtually the same time. Until now, qubits - quantum counterparts of the 1s and 0s used in today's computers - have been measured one at a time. The advance shows that the properties of artificial atoms can be coordinated with a quantum phenomenon called 'entanglement', which is the 'quantum magic' allowing the construction of logic gates in a quantum computer - a means of ensuring that the value of one qubit can be determined by the value of another in a predictable way. The red arrow shown in the optical micrograph points at the Josephson junction that might be used in a future quantum computer to represent a 1, 0, or both values at once.
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