Overseas
Business
• Net sales for the third quarter of Microchip Technology’s fiscal 2018 were $994,2 million, up 19,2% from the prior year’s third fiscal quarter. Net loss from continuing operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 was $251,1 million, or $1,07 per diluted share, down from a net income of $107,3 million, or 46 cents per diluted share, in the prior year’s third fiscal quarter. While 2017’s net income results were significantly adversely impacted by purchase accounting adjustments associated with its Atmel acquisition, Microchip’s 2018 third quarter was affected even worse by tax adjustments related to the USA’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
• NXP Semiconductors reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 December 2017. It delivered fourth quarter revenue of $2,46 billion, an increase of approximately 1% percent year on year, and an increase of 3% as compared to the prior quarter; while full year revenue was $9,26 billion, a decline of approximately 3% year on year.
• STMicroelectronics’ fourth quarter net revenues totalled $2,47 billion, a 32,6% year-over-year increase driven by double-digit growth across all product groups. For the full year 2017, net revenues increased by 19,7% to $8,35 billion and net income rose from $165 million ($0,19 per diluted share) in 2016 to $802 million ($0,89 per diluted share).
• ON Semiconductor announced that total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2017 were $1,38 billion, up approximately 9% compared to the same quarter the previous year but down roughly 1% as compared to revenue in the third quarter of 2017. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $1,22, based on net income of $529,9 million, compared with EPS of $0,26 and net income of $110,9 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
• Keysight Technologies reported financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2018 ended 31 January. Its revenue grew 15% to reach $837 million, when compared with $726 million last year, and net income was $94 million, or $0,50 per share, compared with $109 million, or $0,63 per share, in the first quarter of 2017.
Companies
• Qualcomm has raised its offer to buy NXP Semiconductors, a move which may consequently deter Broadcom from its persistent hostile takeover attempt of Qualcomm. The increased offer of $127,50 per share – substantially more than the $110 per share initially offered some 16 months prior – has been approved by Qualcomm’s and NXP’s boards of directors.
• Cree has acquired the assets of Infineon Technologies’ RF power business for approximately 345 million Euros. The transaction expands the Cree Wolfspeed business unit’s wireless market opportunity, and deepens the company’s penetration in growth areas such as electro-mobility, autonomous driving, renewables and technologies for a connected world.
• In a push to expand its solutions for the data centre, communications, defence and aerospace markets, Microchip Technology has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Microsemi for $68,78 per share in cash, amounting to a total equity value of about $8,35 billion. Microchip expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to its non-GAAP earnings per share, and anticipates achieving an estimated $300 million in synergies in the third year after closing the transaction.
• TDK has reached an agreement to acquire Chirp Microsystems for an undisclosed sum. Chirp is engaged in high-performance ultrasonic sensors featuring smaller sizes and lower power consumption compared with existing sensors. Its solutions are expected to find broader applications, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), in addition to areas such as smartphones, automobiles, industrial machinery and other ICT applications.
Industry
• Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $37,6 billion for the month of January 2018, an increase of 22,7% compared to the January 2017 total, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Global sales in January were 1,0% lower than the December 2017 total, reflecting normal seasonal market trends. Year-to-year sales increased substantially across all regions: the Americas (40,6%), Europe (19,9%), Asia Pacific/All Other (18,6%), China, (18,3%) and Japan (15,1%).
• Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government is planning to invest as much as 200 billion yuan ($31,5 billion) in its domestic semiconductor industry. This would accelerate the country’s plans to reduce its reliance on imported chips, and establish itself as a global leader in the industry – a possibility that the USA has publicly stated its concern over because of the potential to harm American business interests.
• The 10 largest semiconductor R&D spenders increased their collective expenditures to $35,9 billion in 2017, an increase of 6% compared to 2016. Intel continued to far exceed all other semiconductor companies with R&D spending that reached $13,1 billion. In addition to representing 21,2% of its semiconductor sales last year, Intel’s R&D spending accounted for 36% of the top 10 R&D spending and about 22% of total worldwide semiconductor R&D expenditures of $58,9 billion in 2017, according to IC Insights.
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