Overseas
Business
Mentor Graphics announced financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended 30 April. The company reported revenues of $230 million and a GAAP loss per share of $0,02. On a comparative basis, last year’s first quarter yielded only $180,6 million in revenues and a net loss per share of $0,22.
Strong demand for energy-efficient products and solutions led to significant growth in revenues and earnings for Dresden-based semiconductor company ZMDI in fiscal year 2010. As the company reported recently, revenues rose year-over-year by 28% while earnings (EBIT) improved by approximately 5 million Euros. Based on the company’s business performance in 2010, each of the approximately 280 employees received a bonus totalling over 2000 Euros.
TE Connectivity reported net sales for its second 2011 fiscal quarter of $3,5 billion, up 17% year-over-year. GAAP earnings per share were $0,67, up from $0,64 in the previous year.
Power Integrations announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter of 2011. Net revenues for the quarter were $76,8 million, up 7% compared with the first quarter of 2010, and up 5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. Net income was $9,9 million or $0,33 per diluted share, compared with $0,42 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter and $0,30 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Companies
National Instruments announced its acquisition of Phase Matrix. The acquisition brings key RF talent, technologies and manufacturing capabilities to NI and will increase the capability of NI products in high-frequency RF and microwave applications, extending the frequency range of NI products to 26,5 GHz and beyond. The purchase price was approximately $38 million. Continuing its spending spree, NI also signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire AWR Corporation, a leading supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) software for designing RF and high-frequency components and systems for the semiconductor, aerospace and defence, communications and test equipment industries. The aggregate purchase price to be paid at closing is approximately $58 million, which includes $7 million in cash on the AWR balance sheet. In addition, the merger agreement contains an earn-out provision, which is payable over three years.
MYDATA won multiple awards at the fifth SMT China VISION Awards in the categories ‘Pick & Placement – Medium & Low Volume’ and ‘Software-Production Management’ for its new MY100HXe and DXe pick and place solution and offline productivity software suite MYCenter. The awards were handed out during a ceremony at NEPCON Shanghai on 12 May.
Skyworks Solutions signed a definitive agreement to purchase Advanced Analogic Technologies. This acquisition expands Skyworks’ portfolio with highly complementary analog semiconductor products including battery chargers, DC/DC converters, voltage regulators and LED drivers. The nominal purchase price is $6,13 per share, representing a 52% premium to AnalogicTech’s 30-day trailing average. Just a week earlier, Skyworks agreed to purchase SiGe Semiconductor, a global supplier of RF front-end solutions that are facilitating wireless multimedia across a wide range of applications, for $210 million in cash, plus an additional $65 million if certain performance targets are met over the next 12 months.
Maxim has acquired privately-held Calvatec, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvatec develops analog and mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for consumer and communications applications, and brings to Maxim its IP as well as design methods and production flows. It employs 15 people. Financial details were not revealed.
Xilinx announced its acquisition of Sarance Technologies for an unknown sum, completing its technology portfolio for addressing next-generation line card applications by adding premier connectivity communications capabilities. The new connectivity solution portfolio enables Xilinx to address the fast growing demand for 40G, 100G and beyond Interlaken, Ethernet and High-Speed Ethernet applications as well as new requirements for meeting 400G Ethernet system needs.
Industry
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors were $24,7 billion for the month of April 2011, a 2,2% decline from the prior month when sales were $25,2 billion, and an increase of 3,9% from April 2010 when sales were $23,7 billion. The month-over-month results are slightly below seasonal patterns in part due to the natural disaster in Japan. The SIA also announced that the worldwide semiconductor industry, through cooperation in the World Semiconductor Council (WSC), has exceeded its initial 10% reduction goal for perfluorocompounds (PFC) emissions, bringing total PFCs emissions down by 32% over a 10-year period. Additionally, the industry has set a new 10-year goal to implement state-of-the-art practices at all new semiconductor fabrication facilities, operated by members of the WSC, which is expected to result in a 30% reduction in normalised emissions by 2020.
IC Insights has raised its forecast for average semiconductor content per automobile to $350 in 2011. This represents a 15% increase from the $305 average in 2010. Semiconductor content per vehicle is expected to increase an average of 9% annually between 2010 and 2014, growing to $425 per vehicle at the end of the forecast period. Growth drivers for the automotive semiconductor market through the forecast period include the convergence of communications and entertainment features, safety and telematics, and green initiatives.
Technology
NXP Semiconductors recently gave a live demonstration of car-to-x (C2X) communication on a public road in The Netherlands. NXP has co-developed the C2X platform with Australian-based Cohda Wireless. Combined with telematics for location-based services and networking security, the platform enables the fully connected car and is therefore a milestone towards mass deployment for safer road traffic. C2X communication uses IEEE802.11p, a wireless standard designed specifically for automotive applications. This allows cars to communicate with each other (car-to-car) as well as with intelligent traffic infrastructure (car-to-infrastructure) around them. The newly developed C2X platform from NXP and Cohda actually ‘sees’ around corners in order to recognise traffic blocks or risks before they are visible to the human eye. Drivers therefore receive early warnings of cars hidden from sight behind trucks or approaching from around corners. Other use cases are warnings about emergency vehicles and traffic jams, or traffic light signals allowing drivers to adjust their speed and optimise driving.
u-blox announced the successful demonstration of an enhanced LEA-6H GPS module which also supports GLONASS navigation. The Russian GLONASS satellite system is an alternative as well as complementary system to the US-based global positioning system (GPS). It currently has 22 deployed satellites, with the complete constellation of 24 satellites needed for complete global coverage scheduled for the end of 2011.
Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Data Storage Institute (DSI) recently entered into a partnership with 4DS to develop a 16 Kbit resistive random access memory (RRAM) prototype and memory controller. RRAM is becoming of interest due to its superior intrinsic scaling characteristics compared to Flash devices, as well as fast switching speeds, lower program voltages and currents.
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