Overseas
Business
Microchip Technology reported results for the three months ended 30 June 2014, with record consolidated net sales of $528,9 million, up 7,2% sequentially and up 14,3% from the prior year’s first quarter. However, net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, at $89,9 million (40 cents per diluted share) were down 19,4% from $111,5 million (50 cents per diluted share) in the immediately preceding quarter, and up 14,4% from $78,6 million (37 cents per diluted share) in the prior year’s first quarter.
While RF Micro Devices (RFMD) also enjoyed a record sales quarter, with revenues of $316,3 million leading to net income of $38,6 million, or $0,13 per diluted share, the timing meant that the impact of its legal settlement with Peregrine Semiconductor (details of which are in the ‘Companies’ section further along this page) was not accounted for, and will undoubtedly need to be reconciled sometime in this financial year. Nevertheless, RFMD is buoyed by the fact it expects its merger with TriQuint Semiconductor to be concluded during this same period.
Maxim Integrated Products reported net revenue of $642 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, a 6% increase over the prior quarter, and diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0,29. Despite relative weakness in its mobility business, the company’s industrial, automotive, communications and data centre business units lifted overall fiscal performance compared to the same quarter last year. For the full financial year, net revenue increased from $2,44 billion to $2,45 billion but diluted EPS shrank from $1,52 to $1,23.
Net sales for TE Connectivity’s third financial quarter were $3,58 billion, up from the prior year’s third-quarter sales of $3,45 billion. EPS was $0,97, compared to $0,79 in the prior year. For the fourth quarter, the company expects net sales of $3,56 to $3,66 billion and EPS of $0,93 to $0,97.
Revenue for the Infineon Group grew by 6% to reach 1,11 billion Euros in the third quarter of the 2014 fiscal year, on the back of increased sales in all four of its operating segments. Third-quarter net income increased to 143 million Euros, following the 124 million Euros recorded in the previous quarter. Earnings per share (basic and diluted) increased from 0,11 Euros in the second quarter to 0,13 Euros in the third quarter.
National Instruments announced second quarter revenue of $313 million, up 6% year-over-year. Net income was $25 million, with fully diluted EPS of $0,19. The company’s geographic revenue in US dollar terms was up 7% year-on-year in the Americas, up 12% in Europe, down 1% in East Asia and up 4% in emerging markets.
STMicroelectronics’ second-quarter net revenues of $1,86 billion helped it to a net profit of $38 million, the company’s first profitable quarter in almost three years. Excluding legacy ST-Ericsson products, net revenues decreased 0,7% in the first half of this year compared to last, reaching $3,59 billion.
Revenue for the first half of ARM Holdings’ 2014 financial year were £374 million, up 9% from last year’s £342 million first half. EPS was also up, increasing 8% from 10,19 pence to 11,02 pence. The company signed 41 new processor licences over the period, resulting in a total of 2,7 billion ARM-based chips shipped, which is up 11% year-on-year.
Cypress Semiconductor’s second-quarter revenue increased 8% sequentially, and gross margin increased to 54%, due to a favourable product and end-customer mix. Higher revenue and gross margin produced $0,16 earnings per share in the quarter, up significantly from the $0,07 in the prior quarter.
Companies
Analog Devices’ RF and microwave portfolio now spans the entire frequency spectrum following its successful acquisition of Hittite Microwave Corp. in an all-cash transaction amounting to $2 billion. The company also announced that its new RF and Microwave Group will be led by Rick Hess, former president and CEO of Hittite Microwave.
Peregrine Semiconductor and RF Micro Devices (RFMD) have settled their litigation dispute that was centred around Peregrine’s patented RF SOI (radio frequency silicon-on-insulator) technology. Although specific financial terms of the agreement remain confidential, cross licences have been agreed upon between the two companies to calm the waters.
Microchip closed its tender offer for ISSC, a Taiwanese provider of low-power Bluetooth and advanced wireless solutions for the Internet Of Things (IoT) market, securing 83,5% of the company’s outstanding common shares and expecting to obtain the remainder by calendar year-end.
Exar announced the successful completion of its tender offer to acquire the outstanding shares of Integrated Memory Logic (IML). In excess of 68 million shares were tendered, representing approximately 92% of iML’s outstanding shares, at an offering price of NT$91,00 (approximately US$3,02) per share.
AMS’s interest in Dialog Semiconductor appears to have come to nought as AMS announced that it has terminated its discussions with Dialog and does not intend to make an offer of acquisition.
Industry
A merger of Sony’s and Panasonic’s R&D efforts into organic light-emitting (OLED) display panels will soon spell the birth of a new giant in this market. The two companies have agreed to a joint venture which is due to be launched in January 2015 and will be named JOLED. They will each own only 5% of the new company, however, with the rest to be held by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (75%) and Japan Display Inc. (15%).
Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $82,.7 billion during the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 5,4% over the previous quarter and a jump of 10,8% compared to the second quarter of 2013, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Global sales for the month of June 2014 reached $27,57 billion, marking the industry’s highest monthly sales ever, while year-to-date sales during the first half of 2014 were 11,1% higher than they were at the same point in 2013, which was a record year for semiconductor revenues.
New research by IC Insights shows that, between 2013 and 2018, unit shipments of analog ICs are forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 8,9%, faster than the 7,2% forecast for the overall IC market and faster than all other major IC product categories. Shipments of these components grew 15% in 2013 to become the first IC product category to ship more than 100 billion units in a calendar year period, and are forecast to grow another 12,4% in 2014.
Technology
ARM has licensed processor and security IP to Atmel for use in a wide array of devices requiring image, video and display capabilities. Atmel plans to integrate the technology into silicon targeted at wearable devices and automated factory tasks reliant on image processing such as the identification of faulty products. The licence includes the Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-V500 video accelerator, Mali-DP500 display processor and TrustZone technology.
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