South Africa
Hiconnex has moved to new premises at 93 Adriana Crescent, Gateway Industrial Park, Centurion. The company can be reached on the toll free number 086 111 1289.
Overseas
Business
u-blox announced revenue for the first half of 2010 of CHF 49,3 million. This constitutes a 44,3% increase over the first half year of 2009. Gross profit increased strongly by 42,2% from CHF 18,4 million to CHF 26,2 million. EBIT for the first half of the year was CHF 7,6 million and net profit of CHF 6,0 million was higher by 293% than the same period in 2009.
TSMC announced its net sales for August 2010: on an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$36,5 billion, an increase of 0,9% over July 2010 and an increase of 26,3% over August 2009. Revenues for January through August 2010 totalled NT$263,47 billion, an increase of 56,2% compared to the same period in 2009. On a consolidated basis, net sales for August 2010 were approximately NT$37,39 billion, an increase of 0,5% over July 2010 and an increase of 25,4% over August 2009. Revenues for January through August 2010 totalled NT$271,76 billion, an increase of 55,5% compared to the same period in 2009.
National Semiconductor reported sales of $412,0 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended 29 August. National’s first quarter sales were 3% higher sequentially than the $398,5 million in sales reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, and 31% higher than the $314,4 million reported in the first quarter of fiscal 2010. First quarter fiscal 2011 sales increased sequentially due primarily to demand from wireless handset and industrial markets, the two largest markets served by National. First quarter net income of $88,8 million, or 36 cents per diluted share, was an increase from the $79,2 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. National reported net income of $29,8 million, or 13 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
Agilent Technologies reported revenues of $1,38 billion for the third fiscal quarter ended 31 July 2010, 31% above one year ago, or 24% excluding the effects of the Varian acquisition and recent divestitures. Third quarter GAAP net income was $205 million, or $0,58 per diluted share. Last year’s third quarter GAAP net loss was $19 million, or $0,06 per share.
Altera announced second quarter sales of $469,3 million, up 17% from the first quarter of 2010 and up 68% from the second quarter of 2009. New product sales increased 36% sequentially. Second quarter net income was $180,6 million ($0,58 per diluted share) compared with net income of $153,2 million ($0,50 per diluted share) in the first quarter of 2010 and $47,4 million, $0,16 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2009.
Cypress Semiconductor announced that revenue for the 2010 second quarter was $223,0 million, up 10,2% from $202,3 million for the prior quarter, and up 43,1% from $155,8 million for the year-ago period. The company recorded GAAP net income of $20,6 million in the 2010 second quarter, or diluted earnings per share of $0,11. This compares with last quarter’s diluted earnings per share of $0,07 and a diluted net loss per share in the year-ago second quarter of $0,32.
Digi International reported revenue of $47,2 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2010, compared with $44,5 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2009, an increase of $2,7 million, or 6,2%. Net income was $3,8 million, or $0,15 per diluted share, in the third fiscal quarter of 2010 compared to $1,4 million, or $0,06 per diluted share, in the year-ago comparable quarter.
Reporting financial results for its fiscal 2011 first quarter, Exar announced net sales of $39,6 million, compared to net sales of $38,5 million for the prior quarter and $30,9 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2010. GAAP net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 was $7,4 million, or $0,17 net loss per share, compared to a net loss of $3,3 million, or $0,08 net loss per share in the prior quarter, and a net loss of $12,9 million, or $0,30 net loss per share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
Companies
Maxim has acquired privately held Phyworks for approximately $72,5 million in cash. Phyworks is based in the United Kingdom and manufactures transceivers and transimpedance amplifiers spanning data rates from 1 Gbps through to 10 Gbps.
Industry
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), global sales of semiconductors grew to $25,2 billion in July, an increase of 1,2% from June when sales were $24,9 billion and an increase of 37,0% from July 2009 when sales were $18,4 billion. Year to date sales total $169,2 billion, an increase of 46,7% from the $115,3 billion reported for the first seven months of 2009. All monthly sales numbers represent a three-month moving average.
According to findings from Semicast Research’s recent analysis of the world industrial/medical semiconductor market, revenues are projected to grow by 9% in 2010 to $22,5 billion, and to grow by almost 10% in 2011 to $24,6 billion. As recovery takes hold following the downturn of 2009 and business confidence and credit availability slowly return over the medium term, so Semicast forecasts revenues of semiconductors in the industrial/medical sector growing to $35,7 billion in 2015, a CAGR of almost 10% over the period 2009 to 2015.
Technology
Cree announced that it has achieved a major breakthrough in the development and wide scale commercialisation of silicon carbide (SiC) technology with the demonstration of high quality, 150 mm SiC substrates with micropipe densities of less than 10/cm². SiC is a high-performance semiconductor material used in the production of a broad range of lighting, power and communication components, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), power switching devices and RF power transistors for wireless communications. The significant size advancement of single crystal SiC substrates to 150 mm can enable cost reduction and increased throughput, while bolstering the continued growth of the SiC industry.
At the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, imec presented several large-area silicon solar cells with conversion efficiency above 19%. Two types of cells were realised, namely with Ag screen printed contacts and plated Cu contacts. Efficiencies of cells with screen printed contacts were up to 19,1% whereas 19,4% was obtained with Cu-plated contacts. The results were achieved on large-area cells (148 cm²) with 170 μm thickness, proving the industrial viability of the process.
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