Southern Africa
Vodacom has concluded a framework contract with Siemens as a sole supplier for the construction of Vodacom's UMTS network in South Africa. By 2007, Siemens will upgrade Vodacom's existing GSM and GPRS network throughout the entire country with third-generation radio and core equipment. This is Siemens' first 3G/W-CDMA contract on the African continent and its 30th UMTS installation worldwide. Vodacom said it will be the first mobile phone operator in Africa to operate a UMTS network commercially.
Eskom and the Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) have launched the Real Time Power Systems Studies Centre in Durban. Following Eskom's 1999 research project to evaluate realtime power system simulators worldwide, it was found that in the South African context, there is a skills shortage in the area of power systems. The aim was to acquire a realtime simulator and use this tool for training of students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in power system related areas of study. The Real-Time Power Systems Studies Centre currently has two realtime simulator racks, purchased from RTDS Technologies in Canada, and will purchase another two such racks later in 2004. The centre also has a range of power system protection and control equipment donated by various industrial sponsors.
A nationwide hunt for South Africa's best SMS applications has been launched with a new competition through the The Vodacom Developer Zone (www.vodazone.co.za) that is targeting developers at colleges and universities. Some R45 000 is up for grabs in the competition and will be split between a prize of R30 000 to the developer and a further R10 000 to the winner's academic institution. Launched by Clickatell in April, the Vodacom Developer Zone is a Web environment providing users with instant connectivity to a carrier-grade, high volume messaging gateway through multiple interfaces. The closing date for registration for the competition is 31 January 2005.
Overseas
Business
Fairchild Semiconductor reported second quarter sales of $414,3m, 19% higher than the second quarter of 2003 and a 4% increase from the prior quarter. Fairchild reported a Q2 net income of $17,0m, compared to a net loss of $63,8m, for the like period a year ago, and net income of $13,0m, in the prior quarter. Included in these quarterly results are pre-tax charges of $4,4m, and $11,0m as a reserve for potential losses stemming from customer claims related to products manufactured with a defective mould compound.
Analog Devices reported revenue of $717,8m for Q3 of 2004. Revenue increased 38% compared to the same period a year ago and 6% compared to the previous quarter. Net income was $169m for the quarter, more than double the $79m reported for the same period in the prior year and 11% above the $152,6m reported in the immediately prior quarter. ADI said it saw revenue growth across each of its major end markets with the highest growth from communications applications which span wireless, broadband, and a range of other telecoms equipment. However, ADI said that while new orders during the third quarter were approximately equal to sales, an unusually high level of cancellations resulted in a book-to-bill ratio of approximately 0,8 for the third quarter.
Marvell Technology reported a record $297,2m net revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2005, an increase of 54% over revenue of $192,9m for the like quarter of 2004 and a 10% sequential increase from revenue of $269,6m for the first quarter of fiscal 2005. Net income was $28,6m for Q2 of fiscal 2005, compared with a net income of $9,4m for Q2 of 2004.
Companies
Applied Materials has acquired the operating subsidiaries and businesses of Metron Technology for $85m.
ARM Holdings is acquiring Axys Design Automation, a provider of processor and system simulation EDA tools, for an undisclosed amount. Axys, headquartered in Irvine, California, has a design centre and engineering base in Aachen, Germany. ARM intends to use Axys' ESL (electronic system level) products to expand its RealView design tools portfolio.
Taiwanese chip packaging provider ChipMOS Technologies Bermuda has announced plans to acquire the assets of subcontractor, First International Computer Testing and Assembly Technology (FICTA), also based in Taiwan.
Mentor Graphics has acquired the parallel and serial ATA intellectual property business of Palmchip for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition expands Mentor's position in IP for storage applications.
RF Industries has acquired Aviel Electronics, a manufacturer of microwave and RF connectors for an undisclosed amount.
National Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to sell its imaging chip business to Eastman Kodak for an undisclosed amount. Kodak will acquire certain assets, including intellectual property and equipment. National said that the sale will enable it to further sharpen its focus on its core analog capabilities.
MB Tech, a Korean manufacturer and distributor of electronic components has established an antenna company called Faserware. Faserware will develop and sell auto-positioning flat antennas, phased array antennas, in-motion tracking antennas, and other antenna-related products.
Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC), Juniper Networks, Marvell Semiconductor, Patriot Scientific, Qualcomm and Rockwell Collins have joined the (Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium) EEMBC. With these new additions, the consortium says that it has 58 corporate members, including 42 board of directors members who have access to source code for all of the EEMBC benchmarks. "As EEMBC grows, we are seeing that industry-standard processor benchmarks have applications beyond what anyone expected when this consortium was founded seven years ago", stated Markus Levy, EEMBC president. The benchmarks serve the needs of companies that want a reliable means of testing their own processors.
Isocom Components 2004 is the new trading name of Isocom Components that ceased trading in April 2004 and went into liquidation in May 2004. The assets and name were purchased on 8 July 2004 by members of the former management team and a group of investors from the UK and Far East. The company is operating from the same premises in Hartlepool, England. Optocouplers and optoswitches remain the current focus of the manufacturer, with special selections and drop-in-replacements for industry standard parts.
Industry
According to new iSuppli rankings, Intel remains the world's largest semiconductor company. Based on first quarter sales, Intel topped the chip rankings. Overall, global semiconductor sales rose 28,2% in the first quarter. Sales for the first quarter were, (% change over same period last year in brackets): Intel $7,32 bn (21,8%); Samsung $3,24 bn (57,2%); TI $2,42 bn (37,7%); Renesas $2,27 bn (17,2%); Toshiba $2,16 bn (22,4%); Infineon $2,09 bn (31,1%); STMicro $2,03 bn (25,4%); NEC $1,67 bn (18%); Freescale $1,11 bn (26,2%); Philips $1,05 bn (19,4%).
The customer-specific, cell-based 64-bit embedded processor market can be expected to thrive, with growth forecast over 2003 to 2008 of 82,7%. This compares to the fairly modest 6,1% growth rate of the overall semiconductor industry over the same period, according to analyst firm In-Stat/MDR. Much of this robust growth will be driven by consumer purchases of cellular handsets, PCs, and DVD players. Most manufacturers today are using two 32-bit width processors rather than a true 64-bit width MPU, it says, but this will change rapidly over the next two years as more move to true 64-bit technology. Similar to its predecessors, the 4/8/16/32-bit embedded processors, the greatest growth opportunity for the 64-bit width processor will be in a wide variety of application-specific standard products (ASSPs), which are already beginning to emerge. In addition, it is important to recognise that changes in recent years have resulted in the communications market, rather than the computer market, becoming the industry driver of the future.
By 2011, the market for next-generation, nonvolatile memories will be worth $65,7 bn, according to a new report from NanoMarkets. This figure includes a raft of new technologies, such as MRAM, FRAM, holographic memory, ovonic unified memory, molecular memory, nanotube RAM, MEMS-based memory and polymer memory, said the firm. New memory technologies are disruptive for the disk-drive and related industries. The new memories, called nanostorage technology, will have penetrated close to 40% of the disk drive and memory chip businesses said NanoMarkets.
Distributors' and Manufacturers' Association of Semiconductor Specialists (DMASS), a European non-profit organisation, has reported that the European semiconductor distribution market showed a healthy second quarter and further stabilised its positive development in 2004. According to DMASS, semiconductor distribution sales from April to June 2004 amounted to Euro 1,22 bn, a growth of 18,8% over Q2 2003. Commented DMASS chairman Pierre-Yves Ferrard: "2004 seems to turn into a very healthy year for semiconductor distribution. The first two quarters have been very promising. What is even more positive is the fact that the typical seasonal slowdown of Q2 over Q1 has not happened. It remains to be seen how strong the current cycle really is. Bookings and lead-times appear to go back to normal, after a period of over-heating." Product-wise, the growth leader once again was memory with 50% (DRAMs and Flash-memories), analog with 18%, optoelectronics with 16,8% and discretes with 16,5%. Of the mainstream products, LEDs (38%) and EEPROMs (28%) grew fastest, followed by standard analog and power FETs. DSPs were 'disappointing' at 7,4%.
Gartner has lowered its PC shipments forecast for 2004, expecting it to increase by 12,6% over last year to 185 million units. It previously predicted a 13,4% increase.
The high brightness light emitting diode (HBLED) market generated revenue of $2,6 bn in 2003 and will more than double to reach $5,4 bn in 2007, according to Frost & Sullivan. In addition, the OLED market generated $200m in 2003 and is set to grow to $2,4 bn in 2007. The firm however, said that HBLED manufacturers were doing too little to counteract unreliable operation due to thermal management and electrostatic discharge issues.
One of the hottest technology markets, wireless LAN, or Wi-Fi, is undergoing a fundamental shift, according to In-Stat/MDR. The research firm reports that in 2003 removable Wi-Fi PC Card adapters were displaced as the most popular Wi-Fi adapter by embedded Mini PCI card adapters. The Wi-Fi Mini PCI card represented 49,1% of the Wi-Fi adapters shipped, and enabled most of the Wi-Fi mobile PCs (eg, notebook and tablet PCs) in 2003. Conversely, PC Cards held a quickly eroding 38,8% market share in 2003 after dominating the market with a 58,3% market share in 2002. The market for embedded Wi-Fi clients (including mobile PCs, PDAs and phones) will grow at a 66,2% to 226 million units shipped in 2008. There has been a significant growth in Wi-Fi-enabled notebook PCs says In-Stat, as 55% of the 32,1 million notebook PCs shipped in 2003 contained embedded Wi-Fi adapters.
Unit shipments of digital television (DTV) sets in China are expected to rise from 4,3 million in 2004 to 17,6 million by 2008 according to market researcher iSuppli. Although China is known as an electronics exporter, most digital TVs built in China are likely to be sold there, it says. In the US, the FCC has mandated that half of all TVs 36" and larger must incorporate digital reception since July, and will require most remaining sets to do so by 2007.
Nortel Networks has announced plans to restructure into two operations and cut an additional 3500 employees from its worldwide workforce. Earlier financial problems forced Nortel to restate its 2003 results and first and second quarter results for 2004. Nortel said it will move from four to two units focusing on carrier and enterprise networks.
Cypak, a company developing RFID, processing and communication technology applications, has received 30 million Swedish Krona from the Swedish Industrial Development Fund and IT Provider, a venture capital group. The Swedish technology company has created what it calls 'the world's first disposable paperboard computer' by integrating innovative microelectronics and printable sensors into paperboard.
Samsung Electronics announced it sold its 10 millionth DDR2 SDRAM chip (256 Mb equivalent) in July, leading the latest transition in the mainstream memory market. Samsung has been working on developing and expanding the DDR2 SDRAM market for years. In May 2002 the company had completed the world's first 512 Mb DDR2 SDRAM. In October 2003, Samsung also became the first to ship mass-produced DDR2s.
Agilent Technologies has announced it has shipped its 300 millionth optical mouse sensor since the release of its first navigation sensor in 1999. Agilent was a pioneer in optical sensing for mouse technology and today, mice using Agilent sensors range from inexpensive entry-level models to high-precision, dual-sensor versions with scroll wheels and multiple programmable function buttons.
Conexant Systems said it plans to open a design centre in Taipei, Taiwan, which would provide engineering hardware and software support services, including board design verification and testing for wireless, digital subscriber line (DSL) and dial-up systems.
National Semiconductor is claiming a record year for innovation, with 221 new US patents granted in fiscal year 2004. This is the most it has received in a single year since it was founded in 1959. Approximately one-third of all national patents are in analog technologies, while the balance of its patent portfolio includes processing, device design, packaging, architecture and other key IC technologies.
u-blox has announced that it has completed a new round of funding for 2 million Swiss franc from global investor iGlobe Partners to further expand its GPS technologies business. The announcement comes after a record first half 2004 for u-blox, with a sales increase of 40% from the previous year. The company showed strong performance in North America, Europe and Asia, driven by the continued success of its ANTARIS-based chipsets and modules.
A consortium of companies collaborating under the moniker 'WwiSE' (worldwide spectrum efficiency) announced their intended submission of a complete joint proposal to the IEEE 802.11 Task Group N (TGn), which is chartered with developing a next-generation Wi-Fi standard capable of sustaining data throughput in excess of 100 Mbps. The technology foundation is based on MIMO-OFDM. The WWiSE proposal builds on the globally adopted 20 MHz channel format of the tens of millions of Wi-Fi devices already in use. This approach ensures support for the existing installed base, while improving the performance of Wi-Fi networks within the designated RF spectrum.
In a new report, market research company, Lux Research, says that governments, corporations and venture capitalists will spend more than $8,6 bn worldwide on nanotechnology research and development in 2004. With national and local governments set to spend more than $4,6 billion in nanotechnology R&D in 2004, the field is still dominated by government directed research. Lux predicts that commercial corporations would spend more than $3,8 billion globally on nanotechnology R&D in 2004.
The effort to adopt lead-free electronic assembly is being driven by a combination of environmental considerations, government legislation, and the marketing advantages of lead-free packages, according to a report by market research firm Frost and Sullivan. It notes that lead-free solder paste is not only technologically feasible but in most cases provides equivalent reliability to eutectic-based solder paste. However, long-term reliability of some solder alloys, such as tin-silver-copper, has not yet been established. The research indicates that additional process development is needed for lead-free assembly to grow in usage. In particular, establishment of better thermal profiles for the products being processed will be required.
Technology
General Dynamics C4 Systems has been awarded a US Air Force contract to develop 10 prototype tablet computers powered by direct liquid fuel cells. The fuel cell technology is developed by Medis Technologies.
Symantec has announced that it has discovered the first 'proof-of-concept' virus that targets AMD's 64-bit processors. Called 'Shruggle', the virus is similar to Rugrat. The virus is written in AMD64 assembly code, said Symantec, and so cannot run on 32-bit editions of Windows, such as Windows XP and Windows 2000.
Seiko Epson has developed the FR ('micro flying robot') to demonstrate the micro-mechatronics technology that it has cultivated in-house over the years. Claimed to be the world's smallest flying prototype microrobot, the FR, is levitated by contra-rotating propellers powered by an ultra-thin, ultrasonic motor, said to have the world's highest power-weight ratio. It is balanced when airborne by a stabilising mechanism using a linear actuator. It measures 130 mm in diameter, is 70 mm high, and weighs 8,9 g.
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