Southern Africa
Grintek has reported its results for the six months to 31 December 2000. Compared with the corresponding period in the previous financial year, earnings increased by 33% to R31,5m and profit before tax rose by 45% on a turnover that increased by 14% to R613m, with gross profit of R97,4m, reported the company. Commenting on the results, Grintek MD Sybrand Grobbelaar said: "Profitability was well maintained in core areas of the telecommunications business while fully expensed investment continued in fields of consulting and networking. A more diverse and broader product offering greatly assisted the business to expand its customer base during the period under review". He said performance of the defence and technologies businesses improved significantly and that this trend was expected to continue. Grobbelaar said improved levels of business in the industrial electronics market were expected to continue as local and international government structures proceeded with the deregulation of electricity supply and the associated revenue management. Grintek is well placed to gain from opportunities that will arise from the licensing of the second national operator as well as from the infrastructural rollout associated with the granting of the third cellular licence, said the company.
The Langa Group of Companies - Mantech Electronics (Jhb, KZN, Cape) and Asatron (Hong Kong, formerly Langa Electronics) - has announced that it has acquired an additional 50% controlling interest in Langa Electronics. This makes Langa Electronics a fully-owned subsidiary of the group. The company says this will afford customers a far larger stock profile, as well as increased logistics, with distribution being more uniform in its three centres - Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
Mutronics has announced that Philips Semiconductors has officially authorised it to operate as a Philips Semiconductors Value Added Reseller, through its existing agreement with European distributor, Eurodis Texim Electronics BV.
Following the merger of Siltek Distribution Dynamics and One Technology Group, the company has announced it would henceforth be known simply as SDD. It also announced the appointment of a new Managing Director: Toni Gorlei, previously of Nissan South Africa, who will take up the reins at SDD, effective from 12 March 2001. SDD has also created new divisions within the company. These include Local Brands, headed up by Stephan van Rensburg, and Siltek Technical Services, under the leadership of General Manager Andre Louw.
Bryanston-based TLC Software says it recently supplied the Laurentian University in Canada with a portable data acquisition and analysis software system. The programs will be used for the measurement and analysis of vibration tools and of periodic, random and transient whole-body vibration in one of the University's Technical Departments for research in collaboration with a Canadian Workers Health and Safety Body. TLC says the portable hand-arm and whole-body computer-based vibration data acquisition systems have been specifically customised for frequency analysis and for weighting of acceleration levels in the 1/3 octave band frequency range in accordance with relevant ISO standards.
Nortel Networks has expanded its Midrand training facility to include a full GSM network. Paul Southern, Nortel Networks Operations Director responsible for training, says that the expansion to provide in-depth training covering the entire GSM system is consistent with Nortel Networks' strategy of transitioning the Sub-Saharan sales support centres from Europe to Johannesburg, thus creating a locally-based Centre of Excellence. The training courses are aimed at customers, partners and staff in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. He said it will assist in overcoming the serious shortage of telecommunications and IT engineers on the continent.
Grintek has announced a new bursary scheme for university students who want to study engineering, accounting or information technology. It said the scheme is worth more than R1m annually and will pay for the registration, tuition, accommodation and an allowance for textbooks for approximately 30 students across the country this year. Grintek chairman Zoli Kunene says that the bursary scheme was intended to address shortages amongst designated groups in the electronics industry.
Nigeria's commitment to restructuring its economy - to make it a technology-driven, market-oriented and private-sector-led West African powerhouse, make it an ideal market for South African IT companies looking to expand business into Africa. This is according to John Thomson, MD of Exhibition Management Services (EMS) who says that major markets are now opening in Nigeria for all aspects of computing solutions. He says there are major computerisation plans for the IT-starved government, quasi-government, education and corporate sectors now being formulated. EMS is holding the first Nigerian Information Technology Exhibition - N.Intex.Com 2001 - in Lagos, Nigeria during September in conjunction with AITEC Nigeria, the organiser of the concurrent Nigerian Internet & E-Business Conference.
Tyco Electronics South Africa - formerly known as AMP Products SA - has recently relocated its offices. New details are:
Head Office: 134 Burman Road, Deal Party, Port Elizabeth 6001; tel: (041) 405 4500, fax: (041) 486 1314.
Sales and Marketing Office: MIFA Industrial Park, Unit 10, 399 George Street, Midrand 1685; tel: (011) 314 1089, fax: (011) 314 1910/1.
Overseas
Business
Analog Devices reported revenues of $772m for the first quarter of fiscal 2001, up 58% in the like period a year ago. ADI said the first-quarter revenues were in line with the revised expectations it communicated in January. However, ADI is currently planning for second-quarter revenues to be in the range of $710-to-$725m, or down about 6-to-8% sequentially and up 22-to-25% from last year's second quarter, it said.
Mitel has reported that it has completed its transition to a pure-play semiconductor company with the sale of its worldwide communications systems business and the name 'Mitel' to a company controlled by Terence H. Matthews. Mitel retains a 10% equity interest in the systems business. Mitel will continue to operate as Mitel Semiconductor and Mitel Corp. until a new identity is announced.
Companies
Intel has announced that it is acquiring VxTel, California, for $550m to expand its chip offering in voice-over-packet (VoP) applications. VxTel has developed unique DSP technology, software and reference designs for VoP for next-generation optical networks. Intel says the company's DSP was specifically designed for voice and data processing and is thus more efficient than general-purpose DSP solutions for such applications.
Vishay Intertechnology has announced that it has proposed to purchase the remaining 19,6% share in chip maker Siliconix. Vishay already owns 80,4% of Siliconix.
Motorola has announced it will acquire Blue Wave Systems, a supplier of board-level systems based on Texas Instruments' DSPs. The value of the deal ranges from $135m to $165m, dependent on the share price. Blue Wave develops and sells the ComStruct line of DSP-based products for use in communications equipment.
Japanese company NEC has agreed to settle a longstanding dispute with US rival supercomputer-maker Cray. Under the agreement NEC will invest $25m in Cray. Cray will distribute NEC supercomputers in North America and is to ask the US government to discontinue dumping duties, which have effectively barred NEC from the US market. In exchange for the Cray investment, NEC said it will receive 3m nonvoting, preferred shares of Cray stock.
E Ink Corporation and Philips Components have announced that they will jointly develop high-resolution electronic ink displays for use in smart handheld devices. Under the terms of the agreement, Philips Venture Capital and Philips Components have made an investment in E Ink to help advance their research and development program. Under the agreement, the companies will build a high-resolution electronic ink display prototype. E Ink will develop electronic ink sheets which Philips will integrate with active matrix backplanes and drivers. In return for funding and development assistance, Philips Components says it will receive the global rights to manufacture and sell handheld display modules using E Ink sheets and exclusivity on display modules for certain applications. including PDAs and electronic books, for a select period.
Belgian research laboratory IMEC and Sony have announced that they will work together in R&D of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and BiCMOS processes for high-speed analog ICs. Under a new agreement, Sony will participate in IMEC's programme to develop system expertise and design methodologies for 5 GHz WLANs. Sony intends to accelerate development of proprietary wireless network devices for consumer applications.
Toshiba will use 32 bit processor technology licensed from MIPS Technologies to develop new products for engine control, air bag systems and other high-volume digital consumer applications. MIPS Technologies' 32 bit MIPS32 4Kc core and instruction set architecture will be used to develop the new TX19 series. Toshiba says this will help migrate its customers from 16 bit CISC-based processors to 32 bit RISC environments for higher levels of performance.
Nortel Networks has been selected to assist in building another Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network by Cegetel in France. The company says it has established a series of alliances with key developers of third generation (3G) wireless applications and appliances. Nortel Networks is a supplier of UMTS networks for BT Cellnet in the UK, Airtel and Xfera in Spain, T-Mobile in Germany, and AT&T Wireless in the US.
Industry
Market research firm VLSI Research has dropped its growth projection for the worldwide chip market to a mere 1,2%. The firm had previously forecast 11% growth in 2001 but in January cut that figure to 5%. Said Dan Hutcheson, President, "It is going to be a tough year. The number one reason is that the economy is much sicker than people are predicting. I think the evidence is starting to look like we are in a recession." He said that whatever growth the chip industry experiences this year will likely come in the fourth quarter.
More than 38% of semiconductor sales will be conducted online using electronic-commerce software by 2003, according to a new report from Cahners In-Stat Group. It predicts that e-commerce transactions for the chip industry will surge to $104,6 bn worldwide in 2003 from just $19,6 bn in 2000. Online chip sales represented 9,3% of total semiconductor revenues in 2000, estimated In-Stat.
According to IDC, worldwide digital handset semiconductor revenues will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 18%, from approximately $17 bn in 1999 to over $38 bn in 2004 while handset shipments will post a healthy 24,4% CAGR during this same period to reach over 780 million units in 2004. It says the GSM cellular segment currently accounts for more than half of all chip revenues due to its large installed base of users, particularly in Europe and Asia. Beyond 2002, however, growth in GSM will continue to slow as CDMA, TDMA, and 3G penetrate further into the market. By 2004, 2G CDMA and TDMA markets will account for over 43% of the total market. It believes the advancement of 3G handsets, which includes primarily CDMA2000 and W-CDMA standards, will also start significantly impacting the future of the market as voice and data-enabled cellular systems drive convergence. Despite the recent slowdown in the economy and inventory issues from several leading OEMs, the opportunities for semiconductor vendors in the cellular market will continue to be very attractive, states IDC.
Analyst group Frost & Sullivan has reported that motor vehicles and especially sport utility vehicles (or SUVs) are expected to become a major automotive application for new CMOS-based image sensors. It says for safety considerations the potential for greater use of CMOS image sensors in cars and high-centre-of-gravity SUVs could push sales of those devices to more than $6,5 bn by 2007. The entire market for all image sensors - CMOS as well as CCDs - was $2,4 bn in 2000, said the research firm.
Microchip Technology has announced it was cutting 400 jobs, delaying a new wafer fab in Puyallup, Washington to December 2002 and closing its Hong Kong test facility as part of cost reductions in the midst of a severe industry downturn. Microchip is also reducing wafer-fab capacity at its two plants in Arizona to match demand. Steve Sanghi, President and CEO of Microchip said that the company had anticipated 9% growth in the December 2000 quarter and about 6% growth in the March quarter but based on the continued uncertainty of the March quarter combined with the lack of visibility for fiscal 2002, would reduce its operating capacity.
Fibre-optics maker JDS Uniphase has announced that it will cut more than 3000 jobs, or more than 10 % of its work force, in an attempt to streamline operations. A company spokesman said that the cuts are the largest in its history. It said that most of the jobs cut will be in manufacturing.
Programmable logic supplier Altera said that orders 'deteriorated' in February and that it predicts a 24% drop in Q1 sales. Although sales through distribution channels improved from the end of 2000 Altera said that it was not enough to hit its forecast. Said John Daane, President and CEO of Altera, "An industry-wide inventory correction began in the fourth quarter and now reduced end-market consumption is exacerbating the impact of that correction. We are seeing the effects of reduced capital spending by [Internet and telecom] service providers and other communications market end customers impact our customers' business and hence their purchases. The slowdown in end market activity is prolonging the inventory correction but we believe that moderate sequential revenue growth will resume in the second half."
Intel said its upcoming 64 bit server microprocessor, code-named McKinley, will be introduced late this year with some version of the 'Itanium' name. Intel said it plans to retain the Itanium family name for all of its 64 bit chips. At the Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, Intel said it is dropping the 'Pentium' tag on its 32 bit family of server processor chips which from now will simply be called 'Xeon'.
IBM Microelectronics is offering an interactive, Internet-based chip design system for its ASIC customers. Through the IBM Edge e-business portal at www.ibm.com/edge, the system will allow users to download IBM software and work with IBM engineers in a Web-based collaborative environment. It supports offerings from IBM's Blue Logic ASIC design system. No third-party EDA software is offered through the environment, but IBM provides its own software and technical documentation online.
AMD's Jerry Sanders will remain its CEO until April 2002 and Chairman until end of 2003. The company said it has amended its agreement with Sanders to assure a seamless transition of leadership to Hector de J. Ruiz, who is President and Chief Operating Officer of AMD. Sanders was scheduled to retire as AMD's CEO at the end of 2001.
Claude Shannon, the mathematician and computer scientist whose theories are the basis for modern communications, recently died aged 84. In 1948 Shannon outlined a series of mathematical formulas to reduce communication processes to binary code and calculated ways to send the maximum number of bits through wires or other communication mediums. But it was only after the development of the integrated circuit that his formulas could be put to use.
Technology
Altera has rolled out the world's first programmable ASSPs. Altera says its new Mercury line integrates the functionality of a high-speed transceiver ASSP with a high performance PLD core. The clock data recovery (CDR) transceivers within the Mercury devices eliminate frequency barriers faced by source-synchronous systems by offering data rates of up to 1,25 Gbps and a total CDR bandwidth of up to 45 Gbps. Unlike typical ASSP solutions which provide 1-4 channels of CDR support and rapidly consume board space, these devices provide either 8 or 18 channels of CDR capability on a single device, says the company. The Mercury devices offer support for a wide variety of common protocols, including SONET, Gigabit Ethernet, RapidIO, POS-PHY Level 4, IEEE 1394 and Fibre Channel.
Peregrine Semiconductor has announced the world's first 3 GHz phase-locked loop (PLL) chips for space and military applications. Based on Peregrine's Ultra-Thin-Silicon (UTSi), a proprietory silicon-on-insulator technology, the PE9701 and PE9702 line of PLLs incorporate dual module prescalers, phase comparators, and counter values on the same device. The company says the CMOS-based chips can be programmed through a serial or parallel interface or hard wired.
STMicroelectronics has entered the high-performance analog-to-digital converter market with the launch of a 0,25 µm CMOS chip series. The 8 bit TSA0801 and 10 bit TSA1001 and 1002 A/D converters have a pipeline structure and employ digital error correction for a high level of static linearity, according to STMicroelectronics. The 8 bit TSA0801 features a 40 MSa/s frequency and it has power dissipation of 40 mW at that speed. The 10 bit TSA1001 is aimed at portable systems applications with a 25 MSa/s, 35 mW rating and the TSA1002 with a 50 MSa/s, 50 mW rating.
Oki Semiconductor has rolled out a prototyping board for reusable IP and SoC designs. A rapid prototyping system for its Micro-plat platform which is based on an ARM 32 bit RISC core, it allows engineers to try out their system-on-chip (SoC) designs before they are committed to IC fabrication. Oki says the Micro-plat system is designed to provide customers with a flexible prototyping board for connecting all intellectual property (IP) blocks together. It has embedded DRAM core, cache RAM, a memory controller and other ASIC features.
Texas Instruments has announced plans to invest in start-up software companies working on new products for DSPs and next-generation wireless phones. TI said it will invest $100m to accelerate software development for its DSP-based open multimedia applications platform (OMAP) engines. The first standard product in the OMAP series is aimed at 2,5 and 3G cellphones using a chip that integrates TI's 320C55x DSP core and an ARM RISC processor. The OMAP engines consume one fourth the power of RISC-only processors in handling multimedia software says TI.
Broadband chip supplier PMC-Sierra has rolled out a new high-speed packet-processing/classification IC that acts much like a co-processor in networking applications. The company says its ClassiPI chip will boost the speeds of switches, routers and other equipment on the so-called edge of the network. The chip also performs the critical packet-processing, classification and inspection of Internet Protocol (IP) packets in a system at network transmission speeds of up to 2,5 Gbps (OC-48). The ClassiPI chip was originally developed by SwitchOn Networks which was acquired by PMC-Sierra last September.
Altera claims it is the first in the industry to use advanced flip-chip packaging and array driver technologies to boost I/O count and performance in programmable logic devices. It said the array driver technology will place I/O pads in the centre of the PLD core while the flip-chip packages increase the performance of devices soldered to PCBs. Altera worked with Kyocera America to develop the flip-chip packages used in its new Mercury programmable logic series which have I/O performance up to 1,25 Gbps. With the I/O pads in the centre of the device core, Altera says the distance that signals must travel to the connections is shorter.
Intel has introduced an architecture-specific C compiler to speed development of code for its its IXP1200 network processor. In addition, hardware enhancements boost overall performance 15 to 30% over earlier devices in the line, it said. The Intel IXA Microengine C Compiler and a new software developer kit can help streamline development of feature-rich networking equipment. This includes a library of more than 100 optimised machine routines of commonly used instructions for the Intel IXP1200 network processors, such as routines for addressing, utilities, networking and I/O, among others.
Analog Devices rolled out its new direct-conversion radio chipset for handsets using new GSM standards and the general packet radio service (GPRS) format for voice and Internet data communications at the recent GSM World Congress. ADI says the Othello One chip set reduces the number of components needed for the radio function by 40% compared to an existing-generation chip set. It says that a reference design system based on the Othello One fits on a 3 cm by 5 cm PCB with the radio section occupying only 7 cm2.
ChipPac has announced a new high-pin count flip-chip package that it claims is capable of accommodating more than 2000 input/outputs on an integrated circuit. The company said the new FlipPac series of ball-grid array (BGA) packages is being aimed at microprocessors, PC chipsets and high-performance ASICs for networking, communications and computing applications. ChipPac claims the FlipPac BGAs offers up to 30% cost savings compared to conventional flip-chip packaging while maintaining performance and reliability.
A highly flexible processor that can be remotely reconfigured, said to be the next evolution beyond an FPGA, is currently being sampled by Chameleon Systems. The CS2112 features 108 arithmetic processing units and each 32 bit processing core runs at 125 MHz. According to the company their combined power is comparable to that of a Pentium-class processor running at frequencies higher than 12 GHz. The initial target market for the chip is for cellular basestations but also for other ASIC and gate array uses where custom configurations are needed.
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