Overseas
Business
RF Micro Devices has surpassed 100 million units in cumulative shipments of its RF71xx family of 2G dual-band and quad-band transmit modules. The company achieved the milestone in less than one year of production shipments, positioning the RF71xx product family among RFMD’s all-time most successful product launches.
Kontron suffered a slight annual revenue decline from 496,7 million Euros in 2008 to 468,9 million in 2009. EBIT earnings were exposed to greater margin pressure, and fell from 46,9 million Euros to 30,1 million Euros, mainly due to weakness in the high-margin automation market. Earnings per share amounted to 41 cents, compared with 67 cents in 2008. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company achieved revenue of 135 million Euros, and an EBIT operating profit of 10 million Euros.
Semiconductor maker Bosch recently opened the wrapping on its new 600 million Euro, eight-inch semiconductor fabrication plant in Reutlingen. The new facility, which will manufacture semiconductors and micromechanical components, is the largest single investment in the history of the Bosch Group. The new fab belongs to the automotive electronics division, which employs some 20 000 personnel worldwide.
Companies
Mentor Graphics has completed its acquisition of Valor Computerized Systems for a net consideration valued at about $50 million. Mentor paid approximately 5,6 million shares of Mentor stock and $32,5 million in cash. Immediately prior to closing, Valor had cash of approximately $29 million. Valor’s revenues for its last reported full year ending 31 December 2008 were approximately $40 million. Valor products include leading software for printed circuit board (PCB), design for manufacturing (DFM) and manufacturing execution (MES) systems. This move is believed to make Mentor the only EDA supplier to provide a PCB systems solution from concept through manufacturing.
Microchip has partnered with Google PowerMeter to develop the first reference implementation of the Google PowerMeter API for embedded developers. This solution aims to provide designers with a quick and easy way to enter the global energy-conservation market, by creating products for the measurement and monitoring of energy usage. Google PowerMeter is a free software tool that allows consumers to view their energy consumption from their iGoogle personalised homepage. The open-source, standards-based PowerMeter API allows device manufacturers to build energy-monitoring products that work with Google PowerMeter.
Mitsubishi Motors has adopted Analog Devices’ iCoupler digital isolators to develop a safe, reliable and efficient Li-ion battery power system for the next-generation EV (electric vehicle), the ‘i-MiEV’. Mitsubishi describes the vehicle as the ultimate eco-car that produces no CO2 emissions. Powered by 100% electrical power, the i-MiEV has a single-charge range of 160 kilometres and features a three-way charging system that allows a driver to charge the battery at home at 100 Volt or 200 Volt or at a remote quick-charge station. The i-MiEV will be introduced in Japan during this calendar year. AD’s ADuM1402W and ADuM1201W iCoupler digital isolators provide the means to transmit data across the safety isolation barriers between the high-voltage Li-ion battery system electronics and standard vehicle electronic systems.
In connection with its legal action to recover from Credit Suisse the amount invested in unauthorised auction rate securities against the company’s instructions, STMicroelectronics has received a court ruling affirming the unanimous arbitration award in its favour for more than $431 million, including collected interest. The ruling of the federal district court in New York denied Credit Suisse’s motion to vacate the award, also granting ST’s petition to affirm the award and directing Credit Suisse to pay the company the unpaid balance. Based on the ruling, ST should receive approximately $354 million, which includes approximately $23 million of interest to date, in addition to the approximately $75 million previously received in December upon selling a portion of these securities.
IDT (Integrated Device Technology) has announced a joint development programme with Samplify Systems, a provider of signal compression technology, semiconductors and solutions. The two companies will work together to develop data transmission semiconductor products for wireless infrastructure applications using Samplify’s Prism compression technology. This technology is said to reduce the fibre-optic bandwidth requirements for wireless base stations by over 2:1, saving mobile operators significant capex as they migrate to fourth generation technologies.
Avnet has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bell Microproducts in an all cash merger for $7,00 per share, which equates to an equity value of approximately $252 million and a transaction value of approximately $594 million. Founded in 1988, Bell, with sales of approximately $3,0 billion in calendar year 2009, is a distributor of storage and computing technology. With over 1900 employees, the company offers integration and support services to OEMs, VARs, system builders and end users through 55 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. The company, which operates both a distribution and single tier reseller business, offers a portfolio of storage, computing, software and networking products from industry-leading suppliers.
Industry
Exfo has joined the Network Test Automation Forum (NTAF) as a founding member. NTAF, an industry-led organisation, was created to promote interoperability between testing tools and to simplify lab test automation. NTAF’s work will result in the development of a customer-centric and device-agnostic framework that meets the automation needs of customers and the network test industry as a whole. Its membership also includes BT, Cisco, Ericsson, JDSU and Verizon.
The IPC has released a white paper entitled ‘Recasting the RoHS Directive: An opportunity to solidify its scientific basis in support of comprehensive environmental regulation’, urging members of the European Union (EU) council and parliament to ensure that the revised RoHS directive be scientifically based and fully aligned with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. Of concern to the electronics industry is an amendment proposed in the EU parliament that bans all brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated plasticisers and three phthalates. This amendment would weaken the scientific basis of the RoHS Directive and directly contradict the REACH regulation, a comprehensive chemicals regulation that is setting a global standard for chemical safety.
Worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) installations reached a record high of 6,43 GW in 2009—a 6% year-on-year growth, according to the latest report from Solarbuzz, an international solar energy market research and consulting company. In addition, the company reported that the PV industry generated $38 billion in global revenues in 2009, while successfully raising more than $13,5 billion in equity and debt, up 8% on the prior year. According to the company’s Marketbuzz 2010 report, European countries accounted for 4,75 GW, or 74% of world demand in 2009. The top three countries in Europe were Germany, Italy and Czech Republic, which collectively accounted for 4,07 GW. All three countries experienced soaring demand with Italy becoming the second largest market in the world. In contrast, Spanish demand in 2009 collapsed to just 4% of its prior year level. The third largest market in the world was the US, which grew 36% to 485 MW. Following closely behind was a rejuvenated Japan, ranked fourth and growing 109% Y/Y.
Preliminary findings from Semicast’s latest analysis of the world industrial/medical electronics market indicate revenues are set to grow by 11% to $560 billion in 2010, compared with $505 billion in 2009. The research also suggests that as the effects of the global credit crunch and recession pass, so revenue growth will return to the long-term historical average of between 5% and 8% a year. Semicast forecasts revenues in the segment to grow to $850 billion in 2015. Renewable energy is identified as a high growth application; many of the most developed, and most polluting, countries have announced plans or legislation to decrease dependency on energy production using fossil fuels, with a corresponding increase in production from renewable sources such as solar (photovoltaic) and wind.
Global semiconductor revenue in 2010 is forecast to reach $276 billion, a 19,9% increase from 2009 revenue of $231 billion, according to the latest outlook by Gartner. The third quarter is generally the strongest quarter for semiconductor sales with sequential growth of 9% as system companies build product for back-to-school and the holiday season. Gartner’s new semiconductor forecast shows a 7% rise in third-quarter sales followed by a relatively flat fourth-quarter, which will better align semiconductor sales with system sales. Gartner analysts expect the semiconductor industry to show continued growth through its forecast period in 2014. The market is on track to surpass the $300 billion mark in 2012 when it is forecast to total $304 billion.
Technology
RF Micro Devices has successfully manufactured the industry’s first photovoltaic (PV) cell using high-volume six-inch gallium arsenide (GaAs) machinery. This achievement represents the first in a series of milestone achievements anticipated by RFMD related to the commercialisation of high-performance multijunction PV cells.
ARM has announced the launch of the compact and energy-efficient ARM SecurCore SC000 processor, designed specifically for the highest volume smartcard and embedded security applications. The SC000 expands the applications of the SecurCore family of processors into tamper-resistant contact and contactless smartcards such as SIM, government, banking, transport, ID and conditional access. The SC000 combines the proven security features of SecurCore processors, currently the most widely-licensed 32-bit CPU for smartcards worldwide, with technology from the Cortex-M0. The result provides comparable performance at three times the energy efficiency and one third of the size.
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