Southern Africa
Ericsson has announced that it will establish an innovation centre in sub-Saharan Africa to develop mobile applications that will benefit society as a whole, but with a special focus on meeting the needs of poor and rural populations. The centre will include three application development hubs, in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. It will initially concentrate on mobile applications such as m-health, where great efficiency gains stand to be made. Other applications will relate to education, agriculture, business development, finance, government services and the overall improvement of communication capabilities.
Altech has announced remarkable half-year results for the period ended 31 August 2008. Revenue increased by 13% to R4,5 billion, operating profit increased by 34% to R409 million and headline earnings per share were up by 19% to 261 cents. CEO, Craig Venter, commented that the company’s continued strong balance sheet and net asset value underpinned the group’s expansion strategy, with notable progress in several areas having been made during the half-year, particularly in Africa.
Actum Electronics has launched a new and improved website, featuring information on all its products and suppliers, as well as updated news articles and featured products. The company is also running a launch competition. Visit www.actum.co.za.
Overseas
Business
Avago Technologies reported financial results for its third fiscal quarter of fiscal 2008. Revenue was $439 million, an increase of $28 million, or 6,8%, when compared with the previous quarter. This revenue level represents a gain of 15,2% above the same quarter last year. Gross margin was $171 million, or 39,0% of sales. Net income of $44 million, which includes a gain of approximately $25 million from discontinued operations, is a $27 million improvement over the prior quarter.
For its fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, Micron posted a net loss of $344 million, or $0,45 per diluted share, on net sales of $1,45 billion. These results include a non-cash charge to cost of goods sold of $205 million to write down the value of work in process and finished goods inventories of memory products to their estimated market values and the effect of a recovery of $70 million for price adjustments for NAND products purchased from other suppliers in prior periods. For the 2008 fiscal year, the company posted a net loss of $1,6 billion, or $2,10 per diluted share on net sales of $5,8 billion. The annual results also include the effect of a non-cash 'goodwill' charge of $463 million during the second quarter of fiscal 2008, in accordance with a Financial Accounting Standards Board statement.
Freescale has announced that it will explore strategic options for its cellular handset chipset products business and intends to complete a sale, joint venture agreement or other transformation in the coming months. The company’s cellular handset products business includes baseband processors, RF transceivers, power management/audio, software and platforms for the cellular handset market.
NXP Semiconductors is looking for a buyer for its fully operational 200 mm semiconductor manufacturing facility in New York. The site develops and produces high performance BiCMOS RF and high voltage CMOS technologies using 200 mm 0,25 μm equipment. This follows a recent reorganisation by the company which saw it cutting some 4500 jobs worldwide.
Micron has announced a restructuring of its memory operations 'in response to a challenging global environment for technology products'. As a result, the company is shutting down its NAND Flash memory plant in Idaho and plans to reduce its global workforce by approximately 15% during the next two years. Cash restructuring and other related expenses are anticipated to be approximately $60 million, and the next year’s cash operating margin benefit is expected to exceed $175 million.
Companies
Having previously been snubbed by International Rectifier’s board of directors, Vishay has turned hostile by making a tender offer directly to IR shareholders to acquire all of the outstanding shares of IR common stock for $23,00 per share in cash, in furtherance of its acquisition proposal. The $23,00 price represents a 30% premium over IR’s average closing price for the 30 trading days preceding the 15 August 2008 announcement of Vishay’s original acquisition proposal. In response, IR sent a letter to shareholders urging them to reject the proposal on the basis that it is inadequate, and to instead elect IR’s board’s three new nominees at a soon-to-be-held shareholders’ meeting.
IBM, Chartered Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics and ARM announced that they will develop a comprehensive 32 nm and 28 nm system-on-chip (SoC) design platform based on high-k metal-gate (HKMG) technology from the IBM-led joint-development alliance. Under this multiyear collaboration, ARM will develop and license a design platform of physical intellectual property (IP) including logic, memory and interface products for the Common Platform technology alliance of IBM, Chartered and Samsung for distribution to their customers.
Avago Technologies has acquired Infineon Technologies’ bulk acoustic wave (BAW) business, based in Munich, Germany. Under the terms of this agreement, Avago paid Infineon approximately 21,5 million Euros in cash. Infineon’s BAW business is a leader in high-precision RF filtering for wireless applications and complements Avago’s existing film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) filtering technologies. This acquisition provides Avago with several strategic assets, including a strong IP portfolio and highly experienced R&D team, which forms the core team for Avago’s recently established wireless R&D centre in Munich.
Cobham Defense Electronic Systems has acquired M/A-COM Aerospace & Defense Solutions and M/A-COM Commercial Products Solutions from Tyco Electronics for $425 million. The latter has been renamed M/A-COM Technology Solutions and Cobham plans to divest the commercial business as its focus is on core aerospace and defence markets. There are expected to be no changes to product lines or personnel and the sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2009.
Microchip and ON Semiconductor have sent a proposal to the board of directors of Atmel to acquire Atmel for $5,00 per share in cash. The proposal provides a premium of 52,4% to Atmel’s closing price of $3,28 on 1 October 2008, and values Atmel at $2,3 billion. Microchip cited Atmel’s failure to carry through the proposed transformation of its microcontroller business as a key factor in its decision to make the offer.
IMEC, a leading independent European nanoelectronics research institute, and Japanese Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. (TNSC), a total solution provider in the compound semiconductor field, have signed an agreement to jointly develop manufacturing technology for high-efficiency 'green' LED devices.
Kontron has reached an agreement to acquire Intel’s communication rackmount server operation of 1U, 2U carrier-grade rackmount and IP network security server products. The transaction, subject to regulatory review and standard closing conditions, is expected to close shortly.
Broadcom has filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that the sales and licensing practices of Qualcomm amount to patent misuse, that Qualcomm patents are 'exhausted' by Qualcomm’s practices, and that Qualcomm’s patents and patent licences are unenforceable under applicable US law. The complaint asserts, among other things, that Qualcomm’s use of 'exhausted' patents to control post-sale use of products in the wireless communications industry results in a double recovery of royalties (or other consideration) to Qualcomm for the use of its patents. It further asserts that these practices constitute patent misuse that has brought Qualcomm a financial windfall and brought harm to the industry and consumers.
ON Semiconductor has completed its acquisition of Catalyst Semiconductor in a stock-for-stock merger. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Catalyst stockholders have generally received 0,706 shares of ON Semiconductor common stock for each share of Catalyst common stock they own. ON Semiconductor issued approximately 11 million shares for the outstanding shares of Catalyst Semiconductor. The company also assumed Catalyst stock-based compensation awards that will result in an additional increase of approximately 2 million shares of ON Semiconductor common stock equivalents on a diluted basis.
Micron is expanding its partnership with Nanya Technology by signing a definitive agreement to acquire Qimonda’s 35,6% ownership stake in Inotera Memories, a Taiwanese DRAM memory manufacturer, for $400 million in cash. To help fund the purchase price, Micron has obtained $285 million in term loan financing commitments. In the current Qimonda and Nanya partnership, Inotera operates two state-of-the-art 300 millimetre wafer fabrication facilities producing a total of 120 000 wafers per month. Under the agreement, Micron will acquire access to half of the total manufacturing capacity of Inotera, with the other half allocated to Nanya. Micron will also share its industry-leading Stack DRAM technology with Inotera for the production of Stack DRAM products for Micron and Nanya.
Industry
It is likely that femtocells and picocells will form an integrated part of the initial rollouts of LTE (long term evolution) networks, say analysts at ABI Research. These cellular mini-base stations, which offer improved wireless coverage indoors, have been generating considerable interest in mobile wireless markets and LTE deployment is expected to boost shipments and revenues. In most parts of the world, LTE will be deployed using high-frequency bands. Higher frequencies penetrate structures less effectively than low frequencies, so femtocells and picocells offer an attractive way to compensate for lower indoor signal strength and provide LTE’s touted bandwidth.
According to the SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association), worldwide sales of semiconductors grew by 5,5% to $22,7 billion in August from August 2007 sales of $21,5 billion. This represented a 2,4% increase over July when sales were $22,2 billion. Year-to-date sales through August were $170,2 billion, an increase of 4,5% from the same period of 2007 when sales were $162,9 billion. Sales of personal computers and cellular handsets continued to be the principal drivers of demand, while continuing price pressure on DRAMs and NAND Flash memory dampened overall industry growth. Excluding memory products, industry sales were up by 11,4% year-on-year in August.
Eight organisations working within the advanced wireless market have recently joined the SDR Forum, bringing the total number of new members joining the group since its technical conference in November 2007 to 25. Feedback from the new members indicates that this rapid expansion can be attributed to the growing acceptance of SDR and related technologies in mainstream wireless markets.
A collapse in memory spending, combined with a weak economy, is driving a major contraction in semiconductor capital equipment spending in 2008, according to Gartner. The slowdown is expected to continue into 2009 before the industry recovers in 2010. Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending is on pace to total $47,1 billion in 2008, a 25,7% decline from 2007. In 2009, spending is expected to decline another 12,8% and return to growth in 2010. These projections are down from Gartner’s July forecast of a 19,8% decline in spending for 2008.
Technology
Researchers at the University of California have developed a printing method which has allowed them to create an integrated circuit that uses nanowires as both sensors and electronic components. The development exploits nanowires’ property of making good sensors (because of their tiny size, they can be highly sensitive) but overcomes difficulties associated with assembling sensing and electronics materials on the same surface. The developers are optimistic that their system could enable nanowires to be printed directly onto paper or plastic surfaces, opening up new application areas.
A team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a unique type of camera lens, composed of a pair of water droplets which vibrate upon exposure to a sound, thereby changing the lens’s focus. Although liquid lenses are not new, this system does not attempt to maintain focus the way that other designs do. Instead, it captures images in a continuous stream. Because the lenses are constantly vibrating, some frames are in focus and some are not, and advanced imaging software ignores the blurry frames and retains the in-focus ones. Consuming less energy than traditional lenses and capable of capturing 250 pictures per second, the technology could find its way into systems such as cellphones, automobiles, miniature spy planes and autonomous robots.
The DOE (Department of Energy) in the US is developing a smart battery monitoring system that will track the health of hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric car batteries. The system, called Impedance Noise Identification (INI), diagnoses batteries by pulsing them with 'pink noise' (a truncated form of white noise) and can complete a typical test in under 30 seconds. INI could one day be installed as an onboard system that gives more accurate lifetime predictions and does not drain the battery during testing. If it is successful, the work could also apply to battery-powered military missions and off-grid energy storage.
A University of California engineer has developed a new material with a negative refractive index, which is a property required to develop optical cloaking systems. The material, only 800 nm thick, is composed of alternating layers of metal and an insulating material, both of which are punched with a grid of square holes. These stacked layers form electrical-current loops that respond to the magnetic field of light.
At the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology, researchers are developing a microprocessor with which they want to challenge Intel. The quad-core Godson 3 chip will be manufactured by STMicroelectronics under the brand name Loongson or 'dragon chip'. The chip will use an 'x86-like' architecture that will only run at about 80% of the speed of a genuine Intel x86 chip, and as such is targeted at low-cost, lower-end computing systems such as those used for education.
A researcher from MIT has developed a new kind of solar concentrator, a device that gathers diffuse light and focuses it onto a relatively small solar cell. Solar concentrators can make it possible to use much smaller cells, thereby lowering the overall cost of solar power. The new development employs specially developed glass sheets which act as waveguides to channel light, in much the same way as optical fibres. Dyes on the surface of the concentrator absorb light and then transmit it into the glass material, where it is then channelled to the edges where solar cell strips convert it into electricity.
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