Southern Africa
Digicore Technologies and DexData Technologies are entering the fleet management market in Brazil. DEX will market, sell, install and fully support Digicore's fleet management systems in Brazil. The DEX team in South Africa will handle all communications and acquisitions by Digicore SA. DEX SA will then monitor and manage the Brazilian team and strategy. The systems use GPS satellite technology to track each individual unit and use the GSM network to communicate to a central point. The technology also has the ability to monitor and report on various other parameters of the vehicle.
Grintek Aviation Systems has been awarded a multimillion rand contract by Zambia's National Airports Corporation Limited (NACL) to upgrade its VHF communications network. The contract includes the provision of three new sites, inclusive of all civil infrastructure and equipment. The company is also upgrading a similar network for the Botswana Directorate of Civil Aviation.
Intel, in conjunction with Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) as well as a number of IT vendors including Mecer, Fujitsu Siemens, IBM and Rectron, recently demonstrated the benefits of wireless network and Internet access at Johannesburg International Airport. ACSA has already rolled out a number of wireless 'hotspots' at airports in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Five stands were set up at the airport's domestic departures area and two at the international departures with the vendors demonstrating their latest PCs equipped with Intel's Centrino Mobile Technology that features integrated wireless LAN capabilities.
Electrothread has been appointed an Amphenol Military and Aerospace Value Added Distributor within the sub-Saharan African marketplace. Amphenol International, based in Johannesburg, is a division of Amphenol Corporation of Connecticut, USA.
KH Distributors has been appointed as a distributor for Alliance Semiconductor's complete product range.
Cirtech Electronics has moved to Cirtech House, Unit A, Stiblitz Road, Westlake Business Park 2, Tokai, 7945, Cape Town. Tel: 021 700 4900; Fax: 021 701 2322. Postal address remains the same.
Parsec has moved to new premises: Buildings 9 and 10, Manhattan Office Park, 16 Pieter Street, Highveld Techno Park, Centurion. Tel: 012 678 9740; Fax: 012 678 9741. Postal: Box 67499, Highveld, 0169.
Overseas
Business
National Semiconductor reported sales of $571,2m in the fourth quarter of 2004, up 34% from Q3 of 2003 and 11% higher sequentially than the Q3 of fiscal 2004. National reported a profit of $126,4m, for the quarter, compared to a loss of $4,4 bn in the like period a year ago. For fiscal 2004, National reported a $315,0m profit, on revenues of $1,98 bn. This compares to a net loss of $33,3m on revenues of $1,67 bn for fiscal 2003.
Companies
ICOS Vision Systems of Belgium, has acquired the wafer inspection business of Siemens for Euro 6,25m in stock and cash. ICOS is a supplier of inspection solutions for the semiconductor industry.
Mentor Graphics has acquired compiler technology and engineering resources from Atair, based in Vienna, Austria.
Zoran of Israel is purchasing fabless chip maker Emblaze Semiconductor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emblaze, for $54,2m.
Cisco Systems has acquired Procket Networks, a competitor in the router business, for $89m in cash.
Xilinx is acquiring Hier Design, an EDA company whose tools exclusively support Xilinx FPGAs. Hier had been a member of Xilinx's EDA partner program since 2001. The company's floorplanning technology, recently enhanced with timing analysis capabilities, is planned for integration with Xilinx's ISE design environment.
Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea, has agreed to sell its non-memory chip operation to Citigroup for about $822m. The non-memory operation sells chips for flat-panel displays and camera-equipped mobile phones. The disposal is part of the company's efforts to raise cash and reduce debts following three years of financial strains.
Wireless chip specialist WJ Communications, is purchasing EiC Corporation for $12,5m. EiC is a specialist in power amplifiers for wireless infrastructure.
Broadcom has acquired Zyray Wireless, a provider of baseband co-processors, for $96m in stock. Zyray's Spinner co-processor line for WCDMA applications complements Broadcom's existing EDGE/GPRS/GSM chip products.
Mitsubishi Electric and Toshiba have agreed in principle to transfer a majority of Toshiba's high capacity power module business to Mitsubishi. The deal will include product development, design, manufacturing and the marketing of high capacity power module products, but will not include products for automotive use, high voltage modules, or other related products.
Samsung Ventures America has invested $2m in power management device developer, Advanced Analogic Technologies.
STMicroelectronics and Microsoft are working together on consumer electronics chips that will add support for Microsoft's Windows Media 9 Series. The components will extend the reach of Windows Media 9 Series content to a wide range of devices such as set-top boxes and DVD players.
Intel and Proxim are working together to develop WiMAX solutions for fixed and portable wireless access to allow long-range, high-speed broadband wireless Internet access. The partners' goal is to develop a reference design for basestations and customer premises equipment (CPE) that will speed product design and time-to-market, thereby assisting in the proliferation of WiMAX networks. The designs will combine Intel's silicon with Proxim's software and systems test and validation expertise.
Agilent and CST have announced an exclusive alliance to bring three-dimensional EM technology to a wider range of RF and microwave design engineers. The alliance will expand the integration of Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS) EDA software and CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS).
Broadcom and Microtune have announced that they have settled a long patent dispute surrounding silicon tuners.
Industry
The Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) 2004-2007 midyear forecast projects a stronger than expected growth of 28,6% for 2004 and a compound annual growth rate of 10,4% through 2007. For 2005 it predicts growth of only 4,2%, and for 2006, a decline of 0,8%, while in 2007 predicts it will rebound to 11,7%. The new forecast projects worldwide semiconductor sales will grow to $214 bn this year, surpassing the previous record sales of $204 bn in 2000. In product breakdown:
Discrete products are projected to grow by 20,2% to $16,0 bn in 2004 and to $17,6 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 7,2%.
Optoelectronics device sales are projected to grow by 37,3% to $13,1 bn in 2004 and to $16,9 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 15,5%.
Analog devices are expected to grow by 28% in 2004 to $34,3 bn and to $42,7 bn by 2007 - CAGR of 12,4%.
Microprocessors are projected to grow by 17,7% to $32,3 bn in 2004 and to $37,0 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 7,8%.
Microcontrollers are projected to grow by 15,9% to $11,6 bn in 2004 and to $13,5 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 7,8%.
DSP sales are projected to grow by 31,0% to $8,0 bn in 2004 and to $11,6 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 17%.
MOS logic device sales are projected to grow by 23,0% to $45,4 bn in 2004 and to $53,1 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 9,5%.
DRAM sales are projected to grow by 55,8% to $26,0 bn in 2004 before declining to $22,6 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 7,9%.
Flash memory sales are projected to grow by 48,9% to $17,5 bn in 2004 and to $20,5 bn in 2007 - CAGR of 15,1%.
Gartner Dataquest forecast at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) that EDA industry product revenue in 2004 will be $3,12 bn, representing 11,8% growth over 2003. After that, the EDA industry would return to its historical growth figure of around 18 to 20% annually, reaching a total of $6,215 bn in 2008.
Market researcher iSuppli has revised its forecast for worldwide semiconductor revenue for 2004 to 2008. In 2004, it now believes worldwide semiconductor revenue will rise to $226,5 bn, up 24,4% (previously 19,8%) from $182 bn in 2003. It will slow to 11,8% in 2005, and be essentially flat in 2006, growing only 0,1%. A new growth cycle will commence in 2007, it says, when sales will rise 9,2%, then by another 10,4% in 2008 to reach $305,4 bn.
Market research company The Information Network says that the market for MEMs microphones and speakers will grow from less than 1% of the 1,2 billion microphones sold worldwide in 2003 to 20% of the 1,6 billion units in 2006 - a compounded growth rate of 206,6%. A similar growth rate in the microspeaker sector will propel the MEMs market in 2004 with 50 million units shipped.
IDC has raised its forecast for PC shipments in 2004, projecting them to grow by 13,5% in 2004, to over 175 million units, and by 10,7% in 2005. Total PC market is expected to hit $194,5 bn in 2004, up 9,2% over 2003.
Gartner reported that mobile phone sales recorded the highest figure in the first quarter of a year, with sales of 153 million units in the first quarter of 2004. This is up 34% from the first quarter of 2003. It said Nokia remained the top ranked vendor (28,9%), with Motorola (16,4%), Samsung (12,5%), Siemens (8,0%), Sony Ericsson (5,6%), and LG (5,3%) following.
2004 will be a crucial year for 3G cellular in China, reports In-Stat/MDR. With over 260 million mobile subscribers and more than 4 million new subscribers added every month in 2003, China is the largest cellular market in the world. The number of mobile subscribers in China will grow from 268,69 million in 2003 to 497,86 million by 2008, a growth rate of 11,7%, and reaching a penetration rate of 37,6%. Commercial 3G deployments will begin in 2005, and 3G subscribers will grow to 118,13 million by 2008.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced that Bluetooth wireless technology product shipments now exceed two million units per week worldwide. This comes less than nine months after surpassing the one-million-per-week mark, with mobile phones, PDAs, notebooks, and mobile accessories being the key drivers for the continued surge in shipments, it said.
The Spirit Consortium (Structure for Packaging, Integrating and Re-using IP within Tool-flows) has announced a first draft of its standard for encapsulating and describing hardware intellectual property, now out for review. The Spirit Consortium members include: Beach Solutions, Philips Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, ARM, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Synopsys, Aptix, CoWare, Denali, Design & ReUse, Giga Scale IC, HCL Technologies, IPextreme, Novas Software, Prosilog, Sonics, Summit Design, Synchronicity, VCX Software, Verisity and Timing Tool.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has called for the United States needs to create a Nanoelectronics Research Institute as a necessary part of efforts to maintain its leadership position, and to maintain US engineering jobs.
IBM spin-off Endicott Interconnect Technologies has announced a $10m capital expansion program in order to meet demand for its PCB and semiconductor packaging products.
ITU has approved a set of global industry standards for Ethernet that will extend its flexibility and simplicity to carrier networks. The standards outline a way for Ethernet - widely used in local area networks - to link any number of endpoints in a wide area network (WAN), or simply as a service delivery mechanism. The ability to offer Ethernet services means that carriers will be able to offer considerably improved flexibility to customers through a much simpler and lower cost interface.
New semiconductor capacity that is coming online this year and next, will drive the IC industry from its present state of undersupply into an oversupply condition in less than two years. "The return of oversupply and declining chip prices will contribute to a stall in the semiconductor industry in 2006, when revenues are expected to remain essentially flat at just 1,7% growth," states a new report from iSuppli. "While semiconductor capital spending will rise robustly over the next two years, it will not even come close to the excesses of 2001 when it reached $71,3 bn. Correspondingly, the coming semiconductor industry slowdown will not be nearly as severe as the downturn of 2001, when revenue plunged nearly 30%," it says.
Forward Concepts has reported that the sale of Class-D power amplification devices has increased over 200% last year to $84m, due to the strong demand for DVD receivers. It predicts that the Class-D market will increase by a further 68% this year, and will grow almost tenfold to $823m in sales by 2008. According to the report, Texas Instruments, Philips Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, and Apogee Technology dominate the market in that order. Tripath Technology offers a 'unique' product solution in the Class-D amplification area.
Bishop & Associates has released a report that provides a detailed review of new major connector initiatives that influence billions of connector sales in the future. See www.bishopinc.com/initiatives.htm#initiatives.
UK telecoms giant BT has moved into the competitive digital-rights management (DRM) software market, by launching a new software business to protect music, films and photographs from digital piracy. BT will work with a host of software partners to resell its publishing and content management tools to amateur film-makers, sports clubs and major media firms. With embedded DRM software, content cannot be copied or viewed without permission.
The effort put forth by Microsoft and its hardware partners to introduce the Tablet PC into horizontal and vertical commercial markets, has only been partly successful according to In-Stat/MDR. The Tablet device, which was designed to counteract sluggish commercial PC sales, has been adopted in vertical markets, such as health care, real estate, and insurance. However, horizontal commercial markets have been somewhat hesitant to adopt a new PC form factor in a world of slow-growing IT budgets, it says.
RF Micro Devices has established an RF module-packaging assembly facility at its Beijing site in China. The facility will supplement its existing assembly capacity.
Infineon Technologies has been awarded the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Leadership Award for the third time running, for its leadership in the global smartcard IC market. In 2003, apart from battling through a difficult market, Infineon maintained its lead in the total smartcard IC market with a 47,3% share in terms of units and 37,1% in terms of revenues generated in 2003. In product types, Infineon was the leader in both the memory and microcontroller markets, it said, accounting for 66,5% in the memory market and 30,0% in the microcontroller market in terms of unit shipments.
Technology
IBM's Microelectronics Group has rolled out a timing flow technology called 'variation-aware timing' targeted at application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) intended to maximise performance and minimise power consumption in next-generation custom chips. It is also expected to reduce custom chip design turnaround time by as much as four times, said IBM at the Design Automation Conference (DAC).
Texas Instruments has announced that it has developed cost effective techniques to dramatically lower chip power consumption and a new approach to increase overall performance. It claims its new power management technologies can reduce leakage power from idle transistors by a factor of 1000, while unique strained silicon techniques can increase transistor performance by 35%. The techniques relate to retention mode bias and other voltage reduction techniques for embedded SRAMs, it says. The retention mode bias condition, combined with selective gate cell sizing, can reduce leakage in the transistor by 300X, translating into much lower power consumption across the millions of transistors.
Innovision Research & Technology of the UK claims to have developed the world's smallest and lowest-cost 13,56 MHz RFID reader. The RFID reader module, known as 'io', is expected to have a unit cost one-tenth of existing readers and will extend the potential of RFID into completely new areas. Smaller than a US dime, io features an on-board RISC processor, and reads and writes to industry-standard 13,56 MHz RFID tags and smart labels. It is optimised for 2,8 V battery operation, and is said to be future-proofed for the forthcoming NFC (near field communications) standard.
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