South Africa
Altech has reached an agreement with Itas Services to acquire the remaining equity interest (50% less one ordinary share that it does not already own) in Altech NuPay for a sum of R80 million. NuPay developed an electronic payment solution that facilitates deferred payments by swiping customer debit cards at a point-of-sale device, essentially providing binding and automated authenticated debit transaction services.
Overseas
Business
Maxim Integrated reported net revenue of $606 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2014 ended 29 March, a 2% decrease from the prior quarter. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0,42, up from the $0,15 of the preceding quarter. The company expects revenues in the next quarter to be in the $635 to $665 range, with a matching improvement in EPS.
Texas Instruments reported first-quarter revenue of $2,98 billion (up 3% from the previous quarter), net income of $487 million (up 35%) and earnings per share of 44 cents (up 38%). The company’s outlook for the second quarter of 2014 is for revenue in the range of $3,14 billion to $3,40 billion and EPS between $0,55 and $0,63.
Companies
Freescale Semiconductor has concluded an agreement to acquire the Comcerto CPE communications processor business of Mindspeed Technologies. This business includes a series of multicore, ARM-based embedded processors and associated software, with Tier 1 customers spanning the globe. The deal (exact numbers for which are being kept under wraps) is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
Industry
Worldwide semiconductor revenues rose a solid 5% last year, with memory chips the star performers, according to the latest research from IHS Technology. Total revenue in 2013 reached $318,1 billion, up from $303,1 billion in 2012. Chip suppliers headquartered in Asia-Pacific saw their combined revenue grow 14,7%, allowing them to capture slightly more than a quarter of the chip market – the largest share ever for the region. For the first time, Asia-Pacific accounted for over a quarter of the worldwide semiconductor market. For companies headquartered in the Americas, collective revenue also grew strongly, up 8,7%, translating into 52,4% of total industry takings. Meanwhile, Japan continues to be mired in a slump, with chip revenue for the area declining a steep 17,9%.
Altium has joined the AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) development partnership, which brings together car manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics, semiconductor and software industry to create an open, standardised software architecture for the automotive industry. Altium’s TASKING development tools are already well regarded by automotive developers for the programming of microcontroller-based powertrain, driver assistance and safety related applications.
The global semiconductor materials market declined 3% percent in 2013 compared to 2012 while worldwide semiconductor revenues increased 5%. Revenues of $43,5 billion marked the second consecutive year of contraction for the semiconductor materials market. For the fourth consecutive year, Taiwan was the largest consumer of these materials due to its large foundry and advanced packaging base, despite not experiencing any annual growth. While the market in North America also remained flat year-over-year, it grew in China and Europe, benefiting from strength in wafer fab materials. The materials market in Japan contracted 12%, with markets also contracting in South Korea and ‘rest of world’.
Chinese news outlets are reporting on plans to invest big in the coming years to boost China’s development of integrated circuits. Central and regional governments are expected to pump 120 billion yuan (equivalent to about US$19,2 billion) into the industry over an undefined period, in an effort to reduce the country’s reliance on imported chips. It is estimated that consumption of ICs on the Chinese mainland currently accounts for one third of the global market.
Technology
University of Michigan researchers claim to have developed the world’s first room-temperature infrared light detector that spans the full infrared spectrum. Based on the wonder material graphene, they believe this could be the foundation for eventually putting heat vision into a form factor the size of a contact lens. The team has already demonstrated a device smaller than a pinkie nail.
Scientists from Singapore’s A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) are tapping into low-frequency vibrations, the most abundant and ubiquitous energy source in our surroundings, to power small-scale electronic devices indefinitely. They have developed an energy harvester with the widest sampling range of 10 to 100 Hz and record-high power density of 1,5 mW/cm³ – capable of generating electricity roughly equivalent to three commercial implantable batteries over a 10-year period.
At Microsoft’s Think Next conference, Israeli firm Storedot showed off bio-organic technology that can fully charge a Samsung S4 smartphone’s battery within 30 seconds. The technology makes use of self-assembling nano crystals, upon which the company has built optical displays and is also developing memory chips. While the battery pack demonstrated was bulky (about the size of a box of cigarettes) the firm is confident it can integrate a battery into a smartphone within a year and have a commercially ready device in three years.
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