South Africa
• Four learners from schools in four provinces are off to attend the London International Youth Science Forum starting 22 July, after coming out tops in the prestigious National Science Olympiad. Now in its 51st year, the Olympiad aims to contribute towards excellence in science among learners and to encourage them to take up careers in science, engineering and technology. Thousands of learners in grades 10 to 12 write papers in the physical, natural or life sciences, with the winners in different categories awarded prizes such as laptops, iPads and e-book readers at the awards event. The top-performing schools receive science equipment for their laboratories.
• ICORP Group has moved premises, while staying in the Randburg area it has long called home. The company has completed a move from Kent Avenue to its new address of 345 Main Avenue, but telephone (+27(0)11 781 2029) and fax (+27 (0)86 555 7808) numbers remain unchanged.
Overseas
Business
• Micron Technology announced results of operations for its third quarter of fiscal 2015, which ended 4 June. Revenues were $3,85 billion – 8% lower than the second quarter of fiscal 2015 and 3% lower than the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2015 was $491 million, or $0,42 per diluted share, compared to net income of $934 million, or $0,78 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 and net income of $806 million, or $0,68 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
Companies
• United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has got the buy-in of Synopsys and ARM to help kickstart adoption of its 14 nm FinFET chip production technology. Test chips incorporating Synopsys’ DesignWare embedded memory IP and DesignWare STAR Memory System test and repair solution have been produced. An ARM Cortex-A family core has also been validated on the advanced 14 nm process node which is expected to be ready for customer tape-out by late 2015.
• Keysight Technologies has made a bid to acquire Anite, a UK-based supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market. At 126 pence per share, the acquisition values Anite at approximately £388 million. This cash acquisition has been unanimously recommended by the board of directors of Anite.
Industry
• In 2015, the semiconductor industry’s total capital expenditure is forecast to be $68,7 billion, up 9% from 2014’s $63,3 billion and breaking the previous record set in 2011 at $63,8 billion. According to projections by Semico Research, 15 companies will account for almost 90% of total spending.
These top 15 are expected to stay the same, with Samsung continuing to lead the way, but TSMC will steal second spot from Intel. Rounding out the top five, GLOBALFOUNDRIES will surpass Hynix. The company with the largest increase in the top 15 will be Sony, with a 207% increase to almost $2 billion.
• A consortium of European partners is working towards the development of solar cell technology that will be both cheaper and more efficient than products being made by Chinese manufacturers. Calling itself Sharc25, the project’s goal is to achieve up to 25% efficiency in thin-film solar cells made by the co-evaporation of copper indium gallium (di)selenide, or CIGS for short. With 11 research partners currently on board, the project which was launched in May will run for 3,5 years and get 4,6 million Euros in EU funding sourced from the research framework programme Horizon 2020. The Swiss government is providing another 1,6 million Euros.
• The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $28,2 billion for the month of May 2015, an increase of 5,1% from May 2014 and 2,1% higher than the April 2015 total. Regionally, sales in the Americas increased 11,4% compared to last May to lead all regional markets. Year-to-year sales also increased in China (9,5%) and Asia Pacific/All Other (8,0%), but decreased in Europe (-7,8%) and Japan (-11,8%).
• Applications like smartphones will provide the main impetus for growth in the market for uncooled infrared cameras in the coming years, according to market analysis firm Yole Développement. Over the next several years, shipments will accelerate rapidly, with volumes growing at 22% CAGR from 2015 until 2020, when they are expected to reach more than 1,5 million units. Yole’s analysts revealed that consumer applications, including both personal vision systems and smartphones, multiplied by three times from 2014 to 2015.
Technology
• SiliconReef, a startup from Brazil that specialises in offering analog and mixed-signal design services, released its first product in the form of a complete power management solution for a variety of energy-harvesting applications. The EH01 is a power management IC providing a small and simple solution to obtain power from three different sources – a wall adaptor, photovoltaic cells and a Li-Ion battery – and enabling the implementation of USB chargers. It contains a high-efficiency DC-DC converter, a fully featured Li-Ion battery charger, numerous protection features and a battery status monitoring output.
• At the 2015 Freescale Technology Forum, Freescale Semiconductor unveiled the i.MX 7 series, a new generation of power efficient and full featured applications processors based on its successful and broadly deployed i.MX platform. The i.MX 7 series delivers world class core power efficiency of 15,7 DMIPS/mW, a new Low Power State Retention mode (LPSR) of 250 W and the industry’s first general purpose microprocessor family to incorporate both the ARM Cortex-A7 and the ARM Cortex-M4 cores.
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