South Africa
Jasco Electronics Holdings announced the acquisition of Ferro Resonant Technologies (FerroTech), a provider of specialised power solutions, products and services, for an undisclosed amount. FerroTech manufactures, supplies, designs, installs and maintains power and energy solutions, with a specific focus on quality and security of supply. Its offerings include voltage stabilisers, UPS, automatic voltage regulators, inverters, surge and lightning protection and transformers.
Sealtron has been appointed as the local agent for Redpine Signals, a manufacturer of high-performance Wi-Fi modules and chipsets. Redpine was the first in the industry to launch a single stream 802.11n chipset in late 2007. Subsequently, it has launched several modules and subsystems focusing on specific vertical market segments including industrial, wireless sensor, wireless audio and video, voice over Wi-Fi and high end consumer. The company’s offerings include both the hardware and the software as differentiated subsystems to provide flexibility and ease of integration.
Southern African company Instrotech, distributor and manufacturer of a range of process control instrumentation and specialised systems, is now representing French wireless sensor networks company, BeanAir. BeanAir’s technology is based on IEEE 802.15.4 and GSM/GPRS wireless protocols and is present on advanced WSN applications such as embedded measurement, engineering structure and technical building management, industrial process as well as isolated sites and harsh environments.
The Sustainable Energy Society of Southern Africa (SESSA) has appointed a CEO to streamline the society’s day-to-day operations and give focus to its activities. According to SESSA chairman, Henning Holm, the position was created at the end of 2011 after a review of the year’s achievements highlighted a need for a more conventionally structured organisation. The society’s treasurer, Theo Covary, was offered the role and takes it up as a temporary assignment. Among his first tasks as acting-CEO will be determining members’ commitment to the organisation, assigning value to the role SESSA plays in the industry, and mapping out a way forward that takes cognisance of the office’s mandate and budgets.
International
Business
RF Micro Devices reported financial results for its fiscal 2012 third quarter ended 31 December 2011. The company’s third quarter revenue was $225,4 million, a decrease of approximately 8% sequentially versus the September 2011 quarter, highlighted by market share gains in smartphones, offset by below-forecast sales to manufacturers of cellular handsets in China. On a GAAP basis, quarterly net loss was $9,4 million, or $0,03 per diluted share.
For its fourth quarter ended 25 December 2011, Fairchild Semiconductor reported sales of $339,4 million, down 16% from the prior quarter and 15% lower than the fourth quarter of 2010. Fourth quarter net income was $21,3 million or $0,17 per diluted share, compared to $35,8 million or $0,28 per diluted share in the prior quarter and $51,0 million or $0,40 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2010. Full year revenues for 2011 were $1,6 billion, roughly flat to 2010. Fairchild reported net income of $146 million or $1,12 per diluted share in 2011, compared to net income of $153 million or $1,20 per diluted share in 2010.
Cree announced revenue of $304,1 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2012, ended 25 December 2011. This represents an 18% increase compared to revenue of $257,0 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and a 13% increase compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2012. GAAP net income for the second quarter of $12,1 million, or $0,10 per diluted share, decreased 76% year-over-year compared to net income of $49,8 million, or $0,45 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Rambus reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 December 2011. Revenue was $83,4 million, down 17% sequentially from the third quarter of 2011 primarily due to recognition of various one-time royalty revenues during the third quarter of 2011 from licensing agreements with Freescale and a major smartphone and tablet manufacturer. As compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, revenue was down 8% primarily due to a one-time recognition of royalty revenue during the fourth quarter of 2010 from a licensing agreement with Elpida. Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $312,4 million, down 3% over the same period of last year.
In its third quarter of fiscal 2012, Microchip achieved the milestone of its 85th consecutive profitable quarter. For the three months ended 31 December 2011, the company’s net sales were $329,2 million, down 3,4% sequentially from $340,6 million in the immediately preceding quarter, and down 10,5% from $367,8 million in the prior year’s third fiscal quarter. GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $77,5 million, or 38 cents per diluted share, down 2,3% from $79,3 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, in the immediately preceding quarter, and down 24% from GAAP net income from continuing operations of $101,9 million, or 52 cents per diluted share, in the prior year’s third fiscal quarter.
Infineon’s revenues in the first quarter of the 2012 fiscal year were 946 million Euros, compared with 1,038 billion Euros in the fourth quarter of the 2011 fiscal year. The company attributed the decline to customer caution as a result of global economic uncertainties. Net income decreased to 96 million Euros from 125 million Euros in the prior quarter. Basic earnings per share were 0,09 Euros, compared with 0,12 Euros in the preceding quarter.
Cadence reported fourth quarter 2011 revenue of $308 million, compared to $249 million reported for the same period in 2010. On a GAAP basis, the organisation recognised net income of $11 million, or $0,04 per share on a diluted basis in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to a net loss of $37 million, or $0,14 per share on a diluted basis in the same period in 2010. Revenue for 2011 totalled $1,150 billion, compared to revenue of $936 million for 2010. Net income for 2011 was $72 million, or $0,27 per share on a diluted basis, compared to net income of $127 million or $0,48 per share on a diluted basis for 2010.
ARM Holdings achieved fourth quarter revenue of £137,8 million, up 21% from last year’s figure of £113,9 million. Earnings per share were also up significantly, from 2,90 pence in last year’s fourth quarter to 3,71 pence this year. For the full year, revenue grew 21% to £491,8 million while earnings per share climbed 33% to 12,45 pence. A record 2,2 billion chips based on ARM processor technology were shipped during the year.
Cypress semiconductor’s fourth quarter revenue decreased 8,5% sequentially and grew 10,0% year-on-year. Inventory decreased 17,3% sequentially, and inventory in the supply chain remains very low. For fiscal year 2011, the company posted total revenue of $995,2 million, an increase of 13,4% from fiscal year 2010 revenue of $877,5 million. On a GAAP basis, Cypress’s fiscal year 2011 diluted net earnings per share were $0,89, compared with diluted net earnings per share of $0,40 in 2010.
Industry
Maxim announced that the G3-PLC protocol has been approved by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a new low-frequency, OFDM-based narrowband powerline communications (NB-PLC) standard. In partnership with Electricité Réseau Distribution France (ERDF) and Sagemcom, Maxim developed the G3-PLC specification to promote open-endedness and interoperability among smart grid implementations. Currently, the G3-PLC is the only NB-PLC standard that supports the IPv6 Internet protocol to allow new Internet-based energy management systems. The specification also optimises bandwidth, corrects errors and provides a higher data rate that supports two-way communication for demand response and other smart grid applications.
The Wi-Fi chipset market continues to march forward at a brisk pace as a growing number of consumer electronics are integrating Wi-Fi. As the demand for devices with Wi-Fi connectivity grows, and as prices for chipsets decrease, new markets for Wi-Fi are opening in areas traditionally dominated by other wireless connectivity standards. According to new NPD In-Stat research, new markets such as smart meters, wireless mice, automobiles and home automation will help drive sales of Wi-Fi chipsets to $6,1 billion in 2015.
With global economic prospects remaining uncertain and semiconductor inventory not moving quickly enough to stimulate new production, the worldwide chip market is expected to suffer a slow year in 2012 marked by sluggish growth. Semiconductor industry revenue in 2012 is expected to reach $323,2 billion, up a slight 3,3% from last year’s revenue of $312,8 billion, according to an IHS iSuppli report. While expansion this year is expected to be better than the paltry 1,25% increase of 2011, the overall picture could brighten considerably if the United States and the rest of the world recover in 2013. Under such a scenario, growth from 2013 to 2015 will average between a more encouraging 6,6% and 7,9%, with total semiconductor revenue by 2015 rising to some $397,7 billion.
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