Southern Africa
Dimension Data and software partner Software AG are setting up South Africa's first centre of excellence dedicated to XML (eXtensible Markup Language). According to the group the establishment of the XML Academy will ensure the body of knowledge around XML in South Africa grows, and that real skills are rapidly developed. XML Academies are being run in eight countries already. Details of the SA XML Academy will be made available at the Southern African Software AG Experience 2001 conference taking place this month.
The British Consulate General has new telephone numbers: tel (011) 537 7000, fax (011) 537 7253/7257.
Overseas
Business
Infineon Technologies has announced that its third quarter business performance will be significantly affected by worsened semiconductor market conditions. Infineon's third quarter results will be negatively influenced by price erosion and by one-time charges related to inventory write-downs. As a result, Infineon said it anticipates a revenue decline of up to 30% in the current quarter, compared to the previous quarter, and a loss before interest and income taxes of up to Euro 600m. Infineon has also announced that it will begin issuing more shares to raise capital. It plans to issue 52,2 million new shares this month (July) to raise 1,7 bn euros.
US semiconductor distributor Arrow Electronics has downgraded its estimate for second quarter revenues to a sequential decline of 25-30% from $3,3 bn in quarter one of this year. Citing continued weakening demand for electronic components in North America and Asia as well as most recently in Europe, CEO Francis M. Scricco said that the company has launched certain cost containment programs.
Semtech has announced it will take a $14,0m charge for write-down of inventories and discontinued products after a review of its chip portfolio. Semtech has refocused the company's power management product line to emphasise higher complexity, higher margin products, and said it will pull out of certain commodity power IC product segments. The company will attempt to sell off discontinued commodity and application-specific standard products during the next two quarters.
PMC-Sierra has reduced its estimate for second-quarter revenues to $93 to 95m, 21 to 22% lower than $119,9m reported in the first quarter. The company posted a pro forma net income of $4,4m for the first quarter. PMC-Sierra said it will take additional charges for impairment of goodwill and write-downs of inventories, but did not release an estimate for those items.
Companies
Vishay Intertechnology and Infineon Technologies have announced that Vishay will acquire Infineon's entire infrared components business with worldwide headquarters in San Jose, California, for approximately $120m. Under the terms of the agreement Vishay will take over Infineon's development, marketing and distribution activities in San Jose and its production facility in Malaysia. A total workforce of approximately 1200 is currently employed within this business. In fiscal year 2000 Infineon's infrared components business posted revenues of US$133m. Subject to approvals the sale is expected to be completed by end of July 2001. Infineon will concentrate on its wireline activities and will continue to expand its strategic core activities in LAN and WAN as well as in network access according to the company. The products included in the acquisition are optocouplers, solid-state relays, infrared data transmission modules, data access arrangements (DAA) kits, and custom optoelectronic modules.
Motorola Computer Group, a business unit of Motorola, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Blue Wave Systems, a Texas-based company that has pioneered the development of high-end, digital signal processing (DSP) hardware and software for telecommunications applications such as media and access gateways.
Conexant Systems is selling its global positioning systems (GPS) chip business to SiRF Technology, a privately held supplier of ICs for GPS. Under the terms, Conexant's GPS assets, including its intellectual property, will be sold to SiRF in exchange for stock.
Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector and SimpleDevices have announced a commercial agreement designed to expand home networking from a productivity/computing-centric technology to one that also delivers entertainment benefits to consumers. Under the agreement Motorola is integrating SimpleDevices' SimpleFi advanced streaming audio technology into its wireless home-networking product family to enable consumers to use home networking to stream Internet CD-quality digital audio to existing home stereo equipment.
Nokia and Qualcomm have expanded the terms of their existing code-division multiple access (CDMA) technology cross-licensing agreement. Under the terms, Qualcomm has been granted rights under Nokia's CDMA-related patents to market and sell CDMA components, including multimode integrated circuits. Nokia has been granted a royalty-bearing licence under Qualcomm's patents to make and sell infrastructure equipment based on CDMA technology.
DARPA has awarded Universal Display an additional $1,5m to develop flexible organic light-emitting device (OLED) technology for flat-panel displays. Universal Display said that flexible flat panel displays, because of their light weight, conformability and potential for continuous web-based manufacturing, will have an impact on the flat panel market and can enable new products and applications for military and commercial uses.
STMicroelectronics has announced that, in collaboration with Analog Devices, they have introduced the world's first 'DSP system memory' - a device that integrates a large block of flash storage, programmable logic, input/output ports, and interfaces, for a digital signal processor. The new DSM2180F3 has been tailored to provide a complete memory solution with in-system programming for Analog Devices' ADSP-218x series of processors, said ST. According to the company, the DSP system memory (DSM) allows larger flash memory with JTAG-based in-system programming to be added to equipment designs without additional glue logic chips or interface ICs.
ARM and Sun Microsystems have agreed to jointly develop next-generation embedded Java technology for use in the wireless terminal market. ARM has licensed the J2ME platform and joined the Java Community Process as part of the deal. ARM intends to use the J2ME platform with Jazelle, its Java-enabled licensable processor cores. J2ME is the Java subset being adopted for use in terminals and 3G handsets.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced a settlement of its lawsuit against its chip customer Alcatel Business Systems, which was accused of breaching a two-year purchasing agreement for flash memories. It said the lawsuit had been dropped and the parties had reached a confidential settlement agreement.
Industry
The communications market will continue as a major growth driver for semiconductor manufacturers looking to recover from this year's bust cycle, according to a new report from In-Stat. Chips destined for computers once comprised over 50% of all semiconductors worldwide however, the market is now broader in terms of semiconductor applications. The group also found that overall, broadband will represent a great opportunity for semiconductor manufacturers, but that growth in this segment will be hindered by decreasing average selling prices for xDSL modem chipsets. Despite a 15,8% decline worldwide revenue in 2001, In-Stat believes the semiconductor industry will still see a 12,1% CAGR from 1999-2005. Semiconductor consumption in the communications market will experience a decline of 15,1% this year; however, like the semiconductor industry as whole, communications IC consumption will see a positive CAGR over the 1999-2005 forecast period. Also, the commercial viability of new optical networking equipment will present a very lucrative opportunity for chip companies.
A new report from Stanford Resources reveals that the market for display components used in mobile systems will surge to $26,4 bn in 2007 from $14,4 bn in 2001. It expects that a total of 1,6 billion mobile display systems will be shipped in 2007 with at a value of $316 bn. The report estimates that LCD technology will continue to dominate, but organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays will gain share from just 0,3% in 2001 to 8,3% in 2007.
Any further weakening in the European economy could have a major impact on the demand for IT products and services over the next three years, according to IDC. It says that with new economic data pointing to the possibility of a more severe downturn in Western Europe, the likelihood of the US technology slowdown spreading to Europe is increasing, and could reduce worldwide IT spending between 2001 and 2003 by as much as $150 bn, based on a 'worst-case scenario' projection, with $50 bn less demand from Europe. Currently, IDC forecasts 11% growth for IT spending in Western Europe this year. At the bottom end of the economic predictions, a worst-case scenario for Europe would see total IT spending grow only 7,9%. Moreover, this slowdown would likely continue into 2002 and potentially into 2003 as the European economy struggles to maintain growth while controlling inflation. Most at-risk countries include Germany and Italy, with the United Kingdom expected to be more stable.
Altera has announced it is to cut its workforce by 7% (152 people), as part of a restructuring of its operations in the current industry downturn. The programmable logic supplier also said it was planning to take a one-time, pre-tax charge of about $115m for excess inventory in second quarter. Additionally, the company plans to record an approximately $10m charge in connection with specific steps it is taking to align its organisation with current and projected revenues. Altera said it has reduced executive officer pay by 10% and postponed employee merit increases. As a result of these and other recently taken actions, Altera expects to have cost savings of about $6m per quarter, beginning Q3 of 2001. The company reaffirmed prior revenue guidance and continues to expect second quarter revenues to be down approximately 25% from the first quarter. While the company continues to see signs of stability in North America, it said international business has remained soft.
Marconi, the British telecommunications equipment maker has announced that it expects to cut 4000 more jobs from its worldwide workforce. The new cuts are in addition to 4000 jobs lost since April. The company said sales for the current financial year were likely to fall by 15%, while operating profits could be halved. Marconi says these job losses excludes Marconi Medical Systems in the US, which Philips Electronics NV recently announced it would buy for $1,1 bn in cash. The company said the new job losses were part of a cost-cutting plan, and that 1000 of the jobs would be cut in management.
Analog and mixed-signal chip supplier, Sipex, has announced that it will cut its workforce by 15% and reduce chip production at outside silicon foundry providers. Instead of using outside foundries, it said it expects to save about $3m per quarter by boosting production in its own fab by 30%. In addition, the company said it will also take a $500 000 charge in the quarter and will be shutting down its manufacturing operations for some time in its third quarter.
Dense-Pac Microsystems has announced it will increase its direct labour force by 10 to 15% to cope with growing demand for its three-dimensional stacked memory products. The company said it was seeing healthy interest in its technology as the need for higher density memory continues to grow - especially in the server and network segments of the market.
Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced plans to build a new wafer fab in Germany. The fab is expected to cost about $100m and will make chips for LEDs, laser diodes and sensors. Osram Opto Semiconductors is a joint venture between Infineon Technologies and lighting manufacturer Osram.
JEDEC has announced that the preliminary spec for the next generation DDR-II memory chip has been approved. As part of the preliminary spec, JEDEC approved 400 and 533MHz DDR chips.
With overwhelming interest from around the world, Texas Instruments has announced the winners in its $100 000 Analog Design Challenge. Indranil Majumdar of India was awarded the top prize for his railway collision avoidance system design. His winning design incorporated a variety of high-performance power management, interface, RF, logic and microcontroller products exclusively from TI. The highest number of designs focused on audio applications, including multiple designs of an all-digital audio system, said the company. Medical, video and imaging, wireless, test and measurement, and transportation applications, such as a wearable electromedical home monitoring system and a PAL video system that supports closed captioning in sign language, also received a high number of design submissions. The winning design is an anti-collision system for a railway network. It uses paired digital transponders operating in the ISM for radio ranging and quasi-packet connectivity.
A new Gartner Dataquest report has ranked Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) as the market-share leader in ICs for communications systems. Motorola's communications ICs include PowerPC host processors, C-5 network processors, PowerQUICC communications processors, DragonBall processors, and gallium arsenide-based RF and baseband transceivers. According to the Communications Semiconductor and Optical Component Market Share in 2000 report, the communications semiconductor market, excluding optical components, grew 41,5% in 2000. Motorola was the largest supplier, shipping over $4 bn worth of semiconductors in 2000. Motorola said that industry analysts predict that the market for wired and wireless semiconductors will triple over the next five years, reaching $110 bn by 2005.
FlexICs, a USA startup, has announced the opening of a pilot fabrication facility to manufacture semiconductors on plastic substrates. The company claims it has developed an ultra-low temperature semiconductor process to fabricate ICs on plastic - producing circuits at temperatures less than 100°C.
Arrow Electronics has been named a top e-business on the second annual 'InternetWeek 100 e-Business leaders' list.
Technology
A disposable digital cellphone made its debut at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Convention in Las Vegas in June. The maker, Hop-On Wireless, a division of Hop-on.com, expects its $30 credit-card sized phone to take off in the fast-growing world of disposables. It comes with an earphone, and will soon be made of environmentally friendly biodegradable plastic according to the company. The phone offers 60 minutes of out-bound, domestic talk time. The company expects pharmacy chains and convenience stores to become major outlets. It is currently working on an international edition that will be available for sale at major airports.
Analog Devices claims it has surpassed a significant industry threshold with the introduction of the first 1 MSa/s 16 bit SAR (successive-approximation register) analog-to-digital converter. According to the company this level of performance is unmatched in the industry and has raised the bar in terms of speed and precision for SAR converters, which comprise the majority of the ADC market. SAR converters are widely considered the most cost-effective technology for applications that require very precise digital modelling of analog signals. The AD7671 PulSAR converter doubles performance for a variety of high-precision applications, uses 115 mW of power at 5 V, has no data latency, and operates at three different speeds: 1 MSPS 'warp' mode for asynchronous sampling applications, 800 kSa/s 'normal' mode, and an 'impulse' mode, in which power consumption varies with throughput.
IBM has developed a new silicon-germanium (SiGe) transistor, which is capable of reaching speeds of 210 GHz while drawing only a milliamp of electrical current. According to IBM, the transistor is the world's fastest silicon-based device announced to date. It is expected to be used in communications ICs for speeds of 100 GHz within two years, which, according to the company, was four years sooner than recently announced competitive approaches. The new SiGe transistor is five times faster than any other announced silicon-based transistor, said IBM.
RF Micro Devices has released a new low-power AM/ASK/OOK transmitter for use in 868 MHz or 915 MHz ISM band systems.
Typical applications for the new RF2514 include RKE systems, garage door openers, security systems, tags and baby monitors. The RF2514 is supported by the DK1002 reference design kit, which provides schematics, bill of materials, and layouts. The chip is designed to provide a phase-locked frequency source for use in local oscillator or transmitter applications. It contains a fully integrated phase locked loop circuit that features an automatic lock detect circuit that disables the transmitter output when the PLL is out-of-lock to prevent out-of-band transmissions. The device is offered in a small, leadless package and can be operated down to 2,2 V.
Intel has released its fastest Pentium 4 microprocessor, which runs at 1,8 GHz. A 1,6 GHz Pentium 4 has also been released. Both are fabricated in 0,18 mm technology. Intel said it plans to increase the Pentium 4 speed to 2 GHz later in the third quarter.
Fujitsu Microelectronics has introduced a new family of dual (RF and IF) PLLs designed for use in the next generations of mobile telephones, both 2,5G (GPRS and Edge), and 3G (UMTS). The MB15F8xUL family, comprises four devices, all of which offer exceptionally fast hopping/lockup times thanks to the use of a powerful technique called Fractional-N (Frac-N). According to the company the fastest unit, the MB15F88UL, features a hopping/lockup time of just 133 µs, and a phase noise of -80,37 dBc/Hz with a spurious of 71,51dBc. Power consumption is a low 5,5 to 6,5 mA, and frequency spans from 1,7 GHz to 2,6 GHz (RF), and 600 MHz to 1,2 GHz (IF). Frac-N PLLs achieve faster hopping times than conventional Integer PLLs by increasing the number of comparisons made of the input signal to the reference frequency. The phase comparisons which occur during the 'main period', (as integer PLL), are really in-phase, while the additional fractional phase comparisons create small error pulses, which produce fractional spurious.
Edinburgh Communications (ECL) has developed a V.22bis modem that is powered by the telephone line. It is fully compliant with European PTT specifications. The modem is based on the CMX868 V.22bis modem IC from Consumer Microcircuits of the UK.
An integrated circuit (IC) that is thin enough to be embedded in paper has been reportedly developed by Hitachi. It measures 0,4 x 0,4 x 0,06 mm and is said to be three years away from commercialisation. Applications could be found as bar code replacement technology, anti-counterfeit measures for banknotes and cheques, and as an authentication aid for branded goods, according to the company.
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