Overseas
Business
• Infineon Technologies increased its revenue by 1% sequentially and 3% year-on-year, posting a total of 1,6 billion Euros. Based on net income of 186 million Euros, the company achieved diluted earnings per share of 0,16 Euros, in line with the prior quarter and 60% up on the same quarter last year.
• Sierra Wireless reported results for its second quarter ending 30 June 2016: revenue was $156,2 million, a decrease of 1,1% compared to the second quarter of 2015. Net earnings were $0,7 million, or $0,02 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2016, compared to net earnings of $4,1 million, or $0,12 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2015. During the quarter, the company also completed its acquisition of GenX Mobile, a provider of in-vehicle cellular devices for the fleet management, asset tracking and transportation markets, for $7,8 million.
• Qorvo’s June quarterly revenue increased 4% year-over-year and 15% sequentially to $698,5 million. It made a net loss of $5,7 million, or $0,04 per share. During the period, the company released its next-generation BAW filter process and reported that it secured what it described as “key 5G and massive MIMO design wins.”
• Texas Instruments reported second-quarter revenue of $3,27 billion, net income of $779 million and earnings per share (EPS) of 76 cents. That represents a 1% increase in revenue year-on-year, and a 17% increase in EPS. Compared with a year ago, demand for TI’s products continued to be strong in the automotive market, and grew in the industrial and communications equipment markets. Embedded processing revenue grew 9% and analog revenue was about even with the same quarter a year ago.
• For its second quarter of 2016, NXP Semiconductors brought in $2,37 billion in revenues, an increase of 57% year-on-year but down 8% on a comparable basis considering product line divestures and the acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor earlier in the year. Diluted net loss per share was $0,04, which was primarily affected by accounting related to the Freescale acquisition.
Companies
• TDK announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, EPCOS, will launch a public tender offer for all publicly held shares of Tronics for 48,7 million Euros. The move is part of TDK’s strategy to grow its sensor business, as Tronics’ services range from MEMS design to high-volume MEMS manufacturing, with a portfolio of technologies covering inertial sensors, gas sensors, infrared sensors, micro-mirrors, micro-optics and micro-actuators, as well as forward-looking BioMEMS and microfluidic devices for in-vitro diagnostic and DNA analysis.
• Osram is expanding its specialty lighting business through the acquisition of Novità Technologies, a US manufacturer of automotive LED modules which are used particularly in tail lights, fog lights and daytime running lights. Although financial details are being kept confidential, Novità has annual sales of over 40 million Euros, with around 100 employees and ships mainly to headlight and tail light manufacturers in the United States.
• Following Datwyler’s recent bid for Premier Farnell, Avnet has thrown its hat in the ring with a better offer. Avnet reached agreement with Premier Farnell’s board of directors on the terms of a recommended all-cash offer of £1,85 per share for an equity value of approximately £691 million, compared with Datwyler’s offer of £1,65. Headquartered in the UK, Premier Farnell is one of the world’s leading global distributors of electronic components and related products, with revenues of £982,7 million in its most recent fiscal year.
• Renesas Electronics is rumoured to be in the advanced stages of negotiations to acquire Intersil. According to a report in Japanese newspaper Nikkei, Renesas is poised to spend up to $3 billion to buy the power management, analog and mixed-signal semiconductor firm. Neither company has thus far confirmed the rumour.
• With an eye towards expanding its range in growth areas such as the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 and smart metering, Würth Elektronik eiSos has acquired fellow German company Amber Wireless, a manufacturer of industrial wireless connectivity solutions. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
• STMicroelectronics has acquired assets related to ams’ NFC and RFID reader business. The deal includes intellectual property, technologies, products and business complementary to ST’s secure microcontroller solutions serving mobile devices, wearables, banking, identification, industrial, automotive and IoT markets. Approximately 50 technical experts from ams have been transferred to ST. The purchase includes a cash payment of $77,8 million as well as deferred earn-out contingent on future results, which ST estimates will be about $13 million but which will not exceed $37 million.
Industry
• IC Insights’ top-20 worldwide semiconductor sales ranking for the first half of 2016 (shown in accompanying table) includes eight suppliers headquartered in the US, three in Japan, three in Taiwan, three in Europe, two in South Korea, and one in Singapore, a relatively broad representation of geographic regions. In total, the top-20 semiconductor companies’ sales increased by 7% in 2Q16/1Q16. Although, in total, the top-20 2Q16 semiconductor companies registered a 7% increase, there were seven companies that displayed a double-digit 2Q16/1Q16 jump in sales and only two that registered a decline (Intel and Renesas). Given the possible acquisitions and mergers that are likely to occur over the next few years, the top-20 ranking is likely to undergo a significant amount of upheaval as the semiconductor industry continues along its path to maturity. (see table below).
• Global revenue for lighting equipment grew by 4,6% in 2015, a slightly lower rate of growth than the previous year, when revenue grew 4,8%. According to IHS Markit, lamp market revenue grew 4% percent in 2015 (lower than the 7,3% growth in 2014), and luminaire revenue grew 4,8% (compared to 3,9% growth in 2014). While the switch to LED technologies, which have much longer lifespans than traditional technologies, means that fewer replacement lamps are required, luminaire revenue growth is forecast to continue, driven by LED integrated and LED replacement luminaires.
• The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $79,1 billion during the second quarter of 2016, an increase of 1,0% over the previous quarter and a decrease of 5,8% compared to the second quarter of 2015. Global sales for the month of June 2016 reached $26,4 billion, an uptick of 1,1% over May’s total of $26,1 billion, but down 5,8% from the June 2015 total of $28,0 billion. Cumulatively, year-to-date sales during the first half of 2016 were 5,8% lower than they were at the same point in 2015.
• Though beacon retail technology is grabbing headlines, the future of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon shipments is not in retail. ABI Research forecasts the amount of BLE beacon shipments made in the personal tracking, IoT and real-time location system (RTLS)/asset tracking markets will easily surpass those in retail. The overall BLE beacon market continues to grow rapidly with shipments set to break 500 million units by 2021. In the IoT space, ABI Research expects to see BLE combined with LPWAN technologies to support large scale deployments in smart cities. Another emerging trend is the shift to software-based beacons, in which vendors leverage integrated BLE ICs as beacons and virtual beacons; these will be major drivers across a range of markets.
Technology
• A research group at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has developed new display sheets that can be cut into any shape with scissors. The technology employs a polymer with electrochromic properties that can be sprayed onto a flexible substrate to form a coating layer stable against moisture and oxygen. In addition, it requires only a few seconds of electrical input to switch visual information, and the display will last even after power supply is discontinued. Since it can be cut into any shape desired, and attached to the surfaces of complex objects such as clothing or buildings, the display could meet diverse needs beyond what can be achieved by conventional display technologies.
• Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a novel type of photodetector that needs far less space than conventional ones. The component has a base area of less than one millionth of a square millimetre without the data transmission rate being affected adversely, allowing it to be integrated with electronic components on the same CMOS chip. In experiments, the researchers reached a data rate of up to 40 gigabits per second.
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