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JULY 18th, 2005
Samsung Reports Semiconductor Results for the Quarter
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. with its quarterly financials (for the second quarter of its
fiscal 2005 year) reported that its revenue from its semiconductor operations declined slightly year-over-year to 4.17 trillion
Korean won from 4.58 trillion Korean won a year ago. The 4.17 trillion won was also lower than the 4.48 trillion won reported
for Samsung’s first quarter of 2005. The year-over-year change represented a decline in revenues of 9 percent and the
quarter-over-quarter change represented a decline of 7 percent.
Although chip revenue declined, the company reported that margins
were still high in the order of 26 percent and that the company expects improvement in the second half of 2005 as a result
of stronger demand for PCs, and new MP3 players and digital cameras that will require NAND flash chips with higher data storage
capacity. Dr. Woosik Chu, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the IR team at Samsung emphasized the effect of anticipated
demand of IT products on the company’s semiconductor revenue, "With demand for IT products expected to return and steady
growth in our DRAM, NAND Flash, LCD and mobile phone businesses, Samsung Electronics anticipates improvements in both sales
and operating profits in the second half of 2005."
Samsung also reported memory sales for the second quarter of 2005.
These were 3.22 trillion won, compared to 3.57 trillion won for the second quarter of 2004 and 3.54 trillion won for the first
quarter of 2005. System LSI chips, the other major component of Samsung’s semiconductor sales were also down. For the
second quarter of 2005, sales of LSI chips were 0.45 trillion won compared to 0.62 trillion won for the same period a year
ago – representing a 28 percent drop. Sequentially, sales of LSI chips were flat. In the first quarter of 2005, sales
of LSI chips were also 0.45 trillion won.
In recent trading, the Korean won was quaoted at 1032.5 won
to the dollar.
JULY 18th, 2005
Digi International Inc. (NASDAQ: DGII) reported revenue of $30.2
million for the third fiscal quarter of 2005 compared to $28.3 million in the third fiscal quarter of 2004, a 6.7% increase.
Digi also broke out revenue for Rabbit Semiconductor, Inc, which the company acquired in May of this year. For the latest
third quarter, Rabbit’s revenue was $2.9 million, which exceeded the company’s previous guidance of $2.0 million.
Digi’s Device Networking Solutions products, which includes
integrated circuit revenue from NetSilicon, another acquisition, and Rabbit was $12.5 million for the third quarter
of fiscal 2005 compared to $9.5 million in the same period of last year. The Device Networking Solutions group also
obtains revenue from the sale of modules and software based on the company’s integrated circuit chips.
Joe Dunsmore, Chairman, CEO of Digi detailed the overall financials,
"Company results for the quarter were mixed. On the positive side we grew revenues 6.7% over the third quarter of fiscal 2004
and achieved $0.11 earnings per diluted share, which was at the high end of the guidance range including Rabbit. We are particularly
pleased with the outstanding results of Rabbit, which is already a strong contributor. The Rabbit transaction represents the
latest step in our ongoing strategy to focus on growth product opportunities. Rabbit contributed $2.9 million in revenues,
and our other growth product lines showed significant growth year over year. These achievements, however, were offset by greater
than expected weakness from the mature product lines.
Looking into the future, Digi expects fourth fiscal quarter 2005
somewhere around $34 million to $37 million. Revenues for Rabbit are expected to rise significantly. Digi sees revenue from
Rabbit at over $7.0 million for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2005.
JULY 18th, 2005
Fairchild Revenues Decline on Strong Orders from Consumer
and Headset Markets
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (NYSE: FCS) reported
revenues for the three months ended June 26, 2005 at $346 million, down from $414.3 million for the same quarter a year ago
and also down sequentially from the $362.8 million for the three months ended March 27, 2005.
On the positive side, Mark Thompson, Fairchild's CEO noted that
the company’s handset product demand was up over 50 percent and switch bookings were up over 100 percent, "Order rates
were strongest in the consumer and handset markets," explained Thompson. "We saw particular strength for products supporting
the television end market as well as much stronger demand in the white goods segment where our Smart Power Module business
continues to win new designs. Demand for products supporting the handset market was up more than 50% over the last two quarters
in part driven by our strength in low power switches and our fast growing analog switch business, which recorded record bookings,
up more than 100% from the prior quarter. We're also seeing significant design-in activity for our new, proprietary uSerDes
products enabling handset manufacturers to better manage the signal flow in clamshell phones while reducing component count
and costs. Our most significant design win to date came this quarter when one of our largest customers selected our uSerDes
solution for use in their latest generation of handsets."
JULY 15th, 2005
AMD (NYSE:AMD) with its financial report for the second quarter
of its 2005 year reported that its microprocessor sales reached record levels. According to Robert J. Rivet, CFO at AMD, "Our
microprocessor business delivered another record quarter driven by increased demand for AMD server and mobile processors from
our largest global OEM customers. Once again we continued to gain momentum with microprocessor sales growth increasing 38
percent compared to the second quarter of 2004. The solid overall demand was enhanced by our newer processor offerings. Strong
Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor sales contributed to an 89 percent revenue increase in our server products from the prior
quarter. This demonstrates the acceptance of the AMD64 platform by enterprise customers. Likewise, the AMD Turion64 processor
captured more than 60 design wins and drove record mobile sales in the thin-and-light mobile PC category."
He also indicated that AMD’s overall memory and MirrorBit
flash memory sales also increased, "Memory Products Group sales increased slightly in the quarter, driven by record MirrorBit
Flash memory sales and overall higher unit demand." AMD reported also that MirrorBit Flash memory sales increased to over
20 percent of total Memory Products Group sales in the second quarter, driven by demand from the wireless market and 110 nanometer
MirrorBit chips. For the year-over-year period, however, AMD’s
Memory Products Group sales decreased. For the second quarter of 2005, memory sales were $462 million, a drop of 31 percent
when compared to the second quarter of 2004, but a 3 percent increase from $447 million posted in the first quarter of 2005.
Overall, total sales for the second quarter of 2005 were $1.260
billion, compared to $1.227 billion in the first quarter of 2004 and $1.262 billion in the second quarter of 2005.
Computation Product Group sales, which include AMD’s microprocessors,
were $767 million in the second quarter of 2005 compared to $750 million in the first quarter of 2005 and $558 million in
the second quarter of 2004. AMD expects that microprocessor sales’ growth will exceed normal seasonal patterns. The
company did not reflect on prospects for memory chips sales due to the SEC filing of Spansion, a joint venture of AMD and
Fujitsu.
JULY 15th, 2005
Rambus Reports Record Revenue
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) reported record revenues with the announcement of its latest financial
report. For its second quarter ended June 30, 2005, the company had total revenues of $39.99 million compared to $34.97 million
for the same quarter a year ago. For the six months ended June 30, 2005, total revenues were $79.60 million compared to $67.51
million for the same period a year ago. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2005, total revenue was $39.61 million.
Although total revenue rose from the first to the second quarter
in 2005, contract revenue declined from $6.60 million to $5.39 million. Royalty revenues however increased to $34.60 million
from $33.01 million over the same period.
Harold Hughes, Chief Executive Officer at Rambus commented on the
level of interest in the company’s products, "We have taken important and necessary actions to protect our intellectual
property while we work on patent license renewals. We are very encouraged by the growing interest we are seeing in our advanced
high-speed interface designs, particularly in our XDR memory interface as well as the momentum we are seeing with our PCI
Express solutions."
Rambus reported $471 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable
securities for the end of its latest second quarter.
JULY 11th, 2005
Superconductor technology has been in the wings a long time as a
potential way to reduce energy consumption, improve the speed of electronic circuits and enhance the quality of telecommunications
systems. Early signs from superconductive companies, which have come in slowly but surely, indicate that the technology may
soon become a mainstream commercial reality.
Superconductor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:SCON) ("STI"), recent preliminary
financials are another sign that superconductors may be closer to an acceptable price point with an acceptable return on investment.
For the second quarter of 2005, which ended July 2, STI has estimated revenue to be about $8.5 million, compared to $4.4 million
in the first quarter of 2005 and $6.3 million in the second quarter of 2004. Net commercial product revenues show a slightly
higher increase. For the second quarter of 2005, the company estimates $7.6 million, which is a 100 percent increase over
the first quarter of 2005, which came in at $3.8 million and a 65 percent increase over the $4.6 million of the second quarter
in 2004.
Jeff Quiram, STI’s CEO expects positive results in the upcoming
quarters and in 2006, "I am very encouraged by the significant sequential increase in revenue over the first quarter. STI
is continuing to gain market acceptance for our solutions, especially in the next generation network deployments. We have
strengthened our sales team to better position STI as an exceptional business partner. We are proud of our progress selling
additional solutions to our existing customers and diversifying our customer base. The cumulative effect of these measures
is expected to have a continuing positive impact on our business for the second half of 2005 and into 2006."
STI’s SuperLink product is a cryogenic receiver front-end
that is intended to lower operation costs and improve performance of telecommunications networks.
JULY 5th, 2005
Oki Semiconductor Moves to Capture India’s Semiconductor
Market
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) announced plans to increase
its semiconductor sales three fold in the fiscal year ending March 2008. As part of that plan the company announced the opening
of Oki Semiconductor Singapore’s branch office in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
The company reports that
sales of its LSIs for network equipment, LCD driver LSIs, in-vehicle LSIs and mobile phone tone ringer LSIs have grown rapidly
in India.
JULY 1st, 2005
Despite a 30 percent drop in memory prices from Micron’s second
quarter to its third, Micron Technology has reported year-over-year gains in its latest report. For the nine months ended
June 3, 2005, revenues were $3,622.4 million compared to $3,215.0 million over the nine months ended June 3, 2004. However,
for Micron’s third quarter ended June 2, 2005 it reported a significant sequential drop in revenue to $1,054.2 million
compared to $1,307.9 million for its second quarter ended March 3, 2005. For Micron’s third quarter ended June 3, 2004,
revenues were $1,116.8 million.
Micron indicated in its report that demand for memory for PC applications
was one of the primary reasons for the drop in revenue. However, the company also indicated that significant revenue gains
were seen in image sensors and specialty DRAMs, such as pseudo-static RAMs (PSRAMS). The company said that in the third quarter
DDR and DDR2 DRAMs represented about 60 percent of total sales.
JULY 1st, 2005
SigmaTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SGTL), a primary provider of integrated circuits
for music players, forecasts that its revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 would be in the range of $68 million to
$72 million – approximately 86 percent to 97 percent above the second quarter of 2004 and down 28 percent to 32 percent
sequentially from its first quarter in 2005.
In explaining the lowered guidance, the company noted the 30 percent
drop in pricing for NAND flash chips. According to Ron Edgerton, CEO at SigmaTel, "While we anticipated a reduction in revenues
from the first quarter, as previously guided, the pricing disruptions in the NAND flash market have had an unexpected impact
on our second quarter revenues. However, lower NAND flash pricing bodes well for market growth in the second half of 2005,
with the expectation that 1 GB flash players will retail for less than $100. SigmaTel continues to execute on its long-term
business strategy through market-leading products that have resulted in strong gross margins of greater than 55%. In an ongoing
effort to maintain our market-leading position, in the third quarter we expect to sample an FM tuner product which is uniquely
designed to offer the most cost-effective solution for the portable digital audio market. We expect to gain design wins in
the second half of 2005 that would positively impact our market position and revenues in 2006."
The company indicated that over the last three to four weeks
that NAND flash prices have dropped over 30% and projected that prices are expected to drop another 40 percent over the
next several months, which the company says impacted order patterns of customers.
MOSAID Technologies Incorporated (TSX:MSD), a company with operations
in memory cores for the design of integrated circuits and memory test equipment, reported that revenues for its fourth quarter
ended April 30, 2005 were $16.5 million compared to $8.8 million for the same quarter a year ago. For its entire fiscal year,
MOSAID reported revenue of $49.7 million compared to $28.4 million for its previous fiscal year.
George Cwynar,
President and Chief Executive Officer of MOSAID attributed the revenue increase to patent license agreements related to its
memory IP cores, "Fiscal year 2005 was a pivotal year for MOSAID. As a result of signing patent licenses with Samsung and
Hynix we have recorded our highest annual revenues in three years, and we expect to have a growing and highly profitable IP
business for the foreseeable future. With this change in our financial position we are investing again to grow MOSAID's businesses,
through both internal development and acquisition." MOSAID also announced that it will begin dividend payments to its stockholders.
The company indicated that its cash balance and short-term marketable securities at the end of fiscal 2005 were $65.9 million.
MOSAID also projected that for its first quarter of fiscal year 2006, revenues would be in the range of $14.3 million
to $14.7 million. For the year, the company has forecast that revenues would be between $58 million and $62 million. Of the
total 2006 revenue, the company anticipates that about 80 percent would be from its Intellectual Property Division.
JUNE 30th, 2005
SMSC (NASDAQ: SMSC), as a result of increased sales and its acquisition
of OASIS SiliconSystems Holding AG, reported a 30 percent revenue increase for its first quarter ended May 31, 2005 over the
same quarter last year. Revenues increased to $68.8 million from $53.1 million. The company attributed an 18 percent increase
due to acquisition of OASIS and 12 percent from SMSC’s product lines.
Steven J. Bilodeau, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer gave a
more detailed analysis of the financial results, "Revenues for the first quarter were robust, driven by the addition of revenues
from OASIS and strong sales of our mobile PC, EMC and USB connectivity products. We realized higher profitability than anticipated
due to product mix coupled with lower operating expenses than previously projected. As sales increased, we also benefited
from positive leverage in our operating expenses, which improved operating profit margins by nearly 4% of sales." He also
noted OASIS place in the company, “This was also the first quarter of sales contribution from our recent OASIS acquisition,
which is now our new Automotive Infotainment Systems group, and we are pleased with the progress of the integration of this
business into SMSC."
SMSC also gave guidance on a pro forma basis for the second quarter.
The company estimated that revenues would be in the range of $73 million to $77 million, an increase of about 50 percent year-over-year.
JUNE 29th, 2005
OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVTI), considered one of the
largest providers of CMOS image sensors for the cellular digital camera market, reported increased revenues for its latest
fourth quarter and fiscal year. For its fiscal fourth quarter ended April 30, 2005, it reported revenues of $103.0 million
compared to $99.7 million for the same quarter a year ago. For its fiscal year ended April 30, 2005, it reported revenue of
$388.1 million compared to $318.1 million compared to the year ended April 30, 2004, a 22 percent increase.
Commenting on the financial report and events of the year was Shaw
Hong, OmniVision's President and CEO, "The company made significant progress in fiscal 2005, and we are optimistic about our
future. We are pleased to have successfully completed the transition of our product line to the new OmniPixel technology platform
and to have completed the acquisition of CDM Optics. We are also pleased to have been informed by the SEC staff that their
informal inquiry has been terminated without any recommendation for any enforcement action.”
Mr. Hong also gave a forecast for the company’s first quarter,
and prospects for the second quarter, "We currently expect that revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2006, which ends
on July 31, will be in the range of $90 million to $100 million. However, design wins in recent months give us confidence
that we will see a resumption of top-line growth beginning in the second quarter of the new fiscal year.
He also noted the company’s cash position, "The strength of
our business is reflected in the fact that we ended the year with cash and short-term investments totaling almost $300 million.
Our confidence is underscored by the Board's decision authorizing the repurchase of up to an aggregate of $100 million of
our common stock."
JUNE 24th, 2005
Chipcon Passes 1 Million ZigBee
Shipments, 67% Growth
Chipcon AS, a fabless RF chipset companies, has shipped over 1 million ZigBee-ready,
IEEE 802.15.4 RF chips. With the shipment milestone, the company also reported that over 1,000 companies have ordered its
CC2420 evaluation kits. Geir Fore, President and CEO of Chipcon AS commented on the possibility of increased levels of shipments,
"The fact that we have already reached 1 million units is a significant milestone not only for Chipcon, but for the entire
ZigBee 802.15.4 market. Our success has been based on our ability to reach the market early with a working and compliant platform,
and our ability to anticipate our end customers' systems needs. We expect even further market traction in the second half
of 2005, and it is now evident that the ZigBee standard is the clear winner in the wireless controls market. " The company also noted in its 2004 Annual Report that it had 67 percent compound annual growth rate over the last four
years.
Chipcon, which has focused its attention on the building automation,
automated meter reading, industrial monitoring and healthcare markets, also recently announced in cooperation with Amron Technologies,
Inc. and Figure 8 Wireless, the Amron M5 advanced metering platform. That platform is based on Chipcon's CC2420 802.15.4 RF
semiconductor and Figure 8 Wireless Z-Stack ZigBee-compliant wireless device networking stack. The platform permits wide area
meter coverage - over 2000 meters.
Mark Leach, CTO at Amron, discussed the role of utility communications
options in the platform selection process , "In order to maximize a utility's communications options within its advanced metering
infrastructure, flexibility has always been a top priority for our development team. That's why we decided to accelerate our
ZigBee plans and chose the 2.4GHz frequency band which provides for the largest number of selectable channels and provides
worldwide operability. Each M5 platform network based on the ZigBee-compliant network platform operates autonomously, supports
up to 2,048 client meters, and transfers data to our meter management software housed in a secure data center. This represents
a significant competitive advantage over less scalable solutions."
JUNE 22nd, 2005
SEMTECH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:SMTC) has entered into a definitive
agreement to acquire XEMICS SA, a fabless semiconductor based in Switzerland. The acquisition of XEMICS is expected to broaden
Semtech’s product line to include higher margin products. According to Jason Carlson, Semtech's President and Chief
Executive Officer, "We have established several expectations to come out of the XEMICS acquisition. First, we expect to generate
and promote 2 or 3 new product lines from their technology over the next three or so years. Second, these products should
contribute nicely to top line sales and net income growth, with gross margin forecasted above 55 percent. Third, XEMICS is
expected to give us immediate access to relatively new end-markets, such as automotive, home security, industrial and medical.
Finally, we should be able to double the content Semtech offers to existing portable and communications customers."
Semtech presently offers analog and mixed signal semiconductors,
where XEMICS is focused on low-power analog, radio frequency and digital chips. Its products include sensor interfaces, RISC
microcontrollers, RF transceivers and audio codecs. XEMICS has 77 employees. It was founded in 1997.
JUNE 21st, 2005
Siemens through a signed agreement with Sensant Corporation
to acquire the company, will have available Sensant’s micromaching technology to develop Capacitive Microfabricated
Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUT) for use in medical imaging applications. These types of transducers are expected to enable what
Siemens calls 3D / 4D volumetric imaging systems.
Klaus Hambuechen, President and CEO of Siemens Medical Solutions
Ultrasound Division, mentioned that, "Not only should this technology enable higher frequency imaging, which will allow clinicians
to view the smallest details within the body, but the integrated circuit technology should also deliver superior quality control
and manufacturing processes. Additionally, it will be easier to tightly integrate the electronics of the transducer and the
ultrasound system. This improved integration is where the greatest possibilities for ultrasound imaging and manufacturing
advancements can be realized, especially in the area of volumetric (4D) imaging."
To discuss the capability of silicon ultrasound technology
to enable a better understanding of disease and lower medical care costs was Igal Ladabaum, CEO of Sensant Corporation, "We
believe the combination of technologies from Sensant Corp. and Siemens Ultrasound will position the company to streamline
advanced transducer development through the power of silicon ultrasound technology and allow the realization of cost-effective
two dimensional (2D) matrix array transducers capable of volumetric 4D imaging. As a result, complete detailed volume images
will enable a better understanding of disease in 3D and will simplify image acquisition and interpretation. By enabling clinicians
to reach a confident diagnosis faster and more easily, volumetric 4D imaging will improve patient care and reduce overall
costs to patients and the healthcare system."
The CMUT ultrasonic transducers look and operate like miniature
drums. Seven of the tiny drums, fit into the width of a hair will transmit and receive sounds. In order to develop complete
ultrasound subsystems, hundreds or even thousands of the drums are integrated into a chip or tiny ultrasound catheters –
to take precise ultrasonic pictures of very small internal forms.
Hambuechen emphasized the critical size, "The size of catheter transducers
is critical in diagnostic imaging and the CMUT technology should further enable the development of miniaturized catheter transducers,
enabling clinicians to better visualize functionality within the heart, for example, where plaque or obstructions could be
more easily detected."
Hambuechen also commented on the breaking of a new medical imaging
cost-performance barrier, "As a result, we anticipate quality to be increased and costs to be reduced, which would improve
access for clinicians and patients to advanced diagnostic technologies like the AcuNav catheter."
The technology however is not expected to be available for two to
three years. Plans are to integrate the technology into a complete line of ultrasound imaging systems.
JUNE 13th, 2005
Bay Microsystems, with an announcement that it has reached profitability
on record revenue growth, also reported that it entered into a definitive agreement to purchase another fabless semiconductor
company, Parama Networks. In order to acquire the company, Bay Microsystems also reported it has raised $8.4 million in a
Series D funding round.
Bay and Parama chip technology is expected to result in expanded
product offering for its customers. Bay offers its Internetworking Processor line of chips for voice, video and data packet
processing applications and Parama offers its ADM-on-a-Chip for telecommunications applications.
Bay Microsystems, which has a partnering agreement with the United
States Government and several OEM customers, expects its high revenue growth to continue
JUNE 8th, 2005
Wearable Electronics Out-of-Fashion at Infineon - Market Pegged at $1 Billion
Infineon Technologies AG has divested its wearable electronics unit through a management buy-out
to a company called Interactive Wear. As part of the agreement, rights to the wearable technology's patents and licenses have
all been assigned to Interactive Wear.
Andreas Roepert, Interactive Wear's CEO, spoke positively about
the company's prospects, "We are delighted that the acquisition of Infineon's wearable electronics activities went so smoothly.
We will now concentrate our consulting, development, production, and sales efforts fully on one business - wearable electronics.
Thanks to the technological head start and network of partners that we acquired from Infineon, and to the extremely positive
market appraisal from various analysts, who anticipate a market volume of up to one billion US dollars for technical textiles
in 2008, we see excellent market opportunities and developmental potential for our company."
Interactive Wear, apparently already dressed for its bright future,
can be seen between June 7th and 9th, 2005 at the "Avantex 2005 - International Forum for Innovative Apparel Textiles."
JUNE 8th, 2005
Cygnus Communications, Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, has
completed the acquisition of SiWorks, Inc. SiWorks, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, provides Wireless Semiconductor Intellectual
Property for a number of wireless standards. These include the IEEE-802.16d standard or the WiMAX standard, UWB-MBOA or the
Multiband-OFDM Alliance standard, and the IEEE-802.11a/b/g standard, otherwise known as the WiFi standard.
Kenneth Stanwood, Cygnus Communications' CEO commented on the acquisition,
"SiWorks IEEE-802.16d compliant SDR is a perfect complement to the Cygnus Communications ASIC development effort in support
of WiMAX compliant Fixed and Mobile Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks. The acquisition of SiWorks accelerates our entry
into the huge IEEE-802.16e market, and we're leveraging the success of the IEEE-802.16d development to be the first to introduce
802.16e compliant ASIC products."
JUNE 7th, 2005
SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRF) announced that it has
acquired Motorola's existing GPS chipset products and GPS chip products under development. As part of the $20 million cash
buyout, already approved by SiRF's board, SiRF also will supply Motorola with its GPS chipset needs and provide technical
assistance for future product integration.
With the acquisition, SiRF projects that revenues for the second
half of 2005 will increase about ten percent.
JUNE 7th, 2005
Integration Associates Moves into Zigbee Market with CompXs
Acquisition
Integration Associates, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company noted for its mixed signal and
analog expertise, has acquired CompXs Inc. CompXs developed low-power, mesh network solutions for Zigbee platforms used in
the consumer and industrial markets.
The technology from the acquisition gives Integration Associates
the missing piece to the Zigbee platform market puzzle, which is addressed through Integration's EZRadio family of radio frequency
chips. According to Jean-Luc Nauleau, Integration Associate's CEO, "The dramatic reduction in cost and complexity represented
by the combination of these technologies convinces me that the large market potential projected by the ZigBee Alliance is
fully within the range of possibility. With the acquisition of CompXs, and the forthcoming release of Integration's 802.15.4
transceiver which supports the 868 MHz and 915 MHz bands, Integration becomes the only player with the technology to offer
full spectrum coverage for ZigBee device customers (868 MHz, 915 MHz, and 2.4 GHz). This full spectrum support, along with
Integration's top-performing radio layer and CompXs system-level expertise, makes Integration the clear 'total platform provider'
as we move into the market adoption phase of ZigBee networked devices."
JUNE 7th, 2005
California Micro Devices Exits Medical Chip Market - Sells
Fab to Microchip
As an indication that its other products have better market potential and a fabless model is
more in line with the company's business, California Micro Devices(NASDAQ:CAMD has sold its wafer fabrication facility to
Microchip Technology for $1.9 million.
CAMD previously announced it would close its thin film medical business
by March of 2005. The company’s medical business had experienced a decline in medical sales, which dropped from
$3.1 million in the company’s quarterly period ended December 31, 2003 to $2.1 million in the quarterly period ended
December 31, 2004. On the other hand, for the same two periods the company’s mobile chip products increased from
$6.2 million to $11.5 million. Part of reason for the drop in medical product sales was due lto lower sales to Guidant Corp.,
one of its main medical customers. That customer had previously indicated to CAMD that future orders would diminish.
CAMD also indicated in its quarterly report for the period ending December 31, 2004, that its potential to stay
profitable would be affected by its exit from the medical business, where margins and average selling prices have been high.
For other high volume markets, CAMD recently introduced its
family of PhotonIC devices intended for the 600 million unit cellular phone market. As well, the company has entered the HDMI
receiver market with its CM2021 HDMI MediaGuard port protector. HDMI is the standard used for multimedia communication between
most electronic consumer devices on the market today.
JUNE 7th, 2005
Ample Communications, a fabless semiconductor company that pegs
its market as the wire line network systems market, has now shipped over 100,000 1GE MAC (Gigabite Ethernet Media Access Controller)
ports. The accomplished was attributed to the markets acceptance of the company's line of Harrier chips.
Marek Tlalka, Vice President of Marketing for Ample Communications,
in step with the announcement, noted return customers and numerous design wins, "Our shipment numbers show that customers
are continually relying on our product for their 1GE MAC needs. Many of the shipments are to repeat customers. We are proud
of Harrier's capabilities and are committed to continuing our growth in this market. In addition to the 100,000 ports shipped
we also have over 40 design wins, many of which are expected to ramp to production this year." The company's lists its chip
applications as Ethernet switches, security appliances, routers and access devices for the enterprise and metro network base.
JUNE 1st, 2005
SMIC Obtains $600 Million through China Development
Bank
After political problems with a loan application in the United States,
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC") (NYSE:SMI)(SEHK:0981) has announced that it has entered into
a $600 million 5 year loan agreement with a group of banks in China. China Development Bank and China Construction Bank were
credited with the arrangement of the loan, which involved a number of other banks. The loan is expected to be used for the
construction of three 12 inch wafer fabs to be built in Beijing.
JUNE 1st, 2005
Fast moving Rabbit Semiconductor and its catch of microcontroller
chips has finally been caught. Digi International Inc. (NASDAQ: DGII), which is a broad based electronic system product company,
acquired the company in a transaction valued at $49 million in cash. Rabbit, which employs 142, had sales of $27.3 million
with a net income of $1.4 million for its last fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2004.
Joe Dunsmore, Chairman, President and CEO of Digi, was optimistic
about the future effect of sales the merge would have, "The combination of Digi and Rabbit is very exciting because there
is such a tight strategic and cultural fit. The product lines are complementary and the product and channel synergies will
provide tremendous growth potential for the future. Conservatively, we believe the acquisition brings an incremental $100
million of addressable market that we believe will roughly double in four to five years."
JUNE 1st, 2005
Imagination Technologies Group PLC reported that its revenue for
the year ended March 31, 2005 reached 31.5 million pounds, down slightly from 31.2 million reached the year before. The company
indicated that royalty revenues increased to 1.3 million pounds in fiscal 2005 up from 0.9 million pounds in 2004. The company
stated that 2.5 million chips now incorporate its technology.
Other items that the company noted in the second half were an increase
in PURE Digital revenues of 50 percent over the first half to 9.8 million pounds. The company attributed the Christmas season
to the increase in PURE Digital revenue. PURE Digital is the company’s product line that addresses the Digital Audio
Broadcasting (DAB) radio market. With over 80 products shipping with Imagination’s DAB technology, which includes products
from companies such as Philips, Sharp and Sony, Imagination estimates it has over 70 percent market share.
Elaborating on its DAB product revenue, Imagination noted that Frontier
Silicon’s Chorus processor chip is based on its META technology, and that chip has been shipped in over 1 million DAB
based products – or 70 percent of the installed base. Projecting out into the future, the company indicated that for
the United Kingdom, 1.2 million DAB units are expected to ship in the 2004 / 2005 financial year and that number is
expected to increase to somewhere between 5 and 6 million units in 2008.
MAY 31st, 2005
Magnum Semiconductor to Acquire Cirrus Logic's Video Product
Line
Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS) has signed a definitive agreement to sell its digital video
product line to Magnum Semiconductor Inc., a company formed Magnum by two investment companies, Investcorp and August Capital.
Cirrus indicates that the divesture was a move to focus its operations more on its high margin analog product lines. According
to David D. French, CEO at Cirrus Logic, "Cirrus Logic's core strength is high-margin analog and mixed-signal products for
the diverse, expanding markets where we have more than 600 products serving nearly 3,000 end customers globally. When the
transaction is completed, Cirrus Logic will be better positioned for consistent and profitable growth."
The digital video lines sold were for applications that related
to DVD recorders, disk based camcorders and network media adaptors. The video products accounted for $3.7 million in sales
in Cirrus' fourth quarter of its fiscal 2005 year. In comparison, the company's analog, mixed signal and embedded product
line accounted for $36.7 million in revenue in the same period.
Savio Tung, Managing Director at Investcorp, besides assuring support
for existing customers, LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony, emphasized Magnum's growth plans, "The new company plans to grow
its market position for digital video ICs and to achieve product leadership in applications that are at the heart of the digital
living room and home media center. In particular it will ensure a seamless transition of key customer accounts."
MAY 31st, 2005
Ansoft Corporation Fourth Quarter Revenues Increase 22%
Ansoft Corporation (NASDAQ:ANST), a broad based EDA company with design tools for the development
of integrated circuits, automotive systems, cellular phones, printed circuit boards and power electronics reported that its
revenue rose 22 percent in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, which ended April 30, 2005. The company reported revenues of
$21.7 million compared to $17.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. For the entire year, the company reported revenues
of $67.7 million, compared to $54.7 million reported in its last fiscal year.
Nicholas Csendes, Ansoft's President and CEO sees continued growth
and profitability in Ansoft's next fiscal year, "For the next fiscal year, we anticipate revenue growth of around 15% as well
as increasing profitability of around 25%."
MAY 27th, 2005
IXYS Reports 37 Percent Gain in Fiscal Year Revenues
IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:SYXI) for its fiscal year ended March 31,
2005 has reported that its yearly revenue was $256.6 million, 36.9 percent over its last year revenue of $187.4 million. Dr.
Nathan Zommer, CEO of IXYS, detailed the year’s results, "We are pleased to report our thirteenth consecutive quarter
of increased revenues, and our eleventh consecutive quarter of record revenues, with record net quarterly income of $5.8 million
and record net yearly income of $16.2 million for our FY05 that just concluded on March 31, 2005. This clearly demonstrated
our strong business model that we believe sets us apart from our competition and the majority of the companies in the semiconductor
industry, which still faces the challenge of growth with profitability. We have executed our plan of product diversification
with power semiconductors and proprietary mixed signal integrated circuits in our traditional industrial, medical and telecommunication
markets, combined with an aggressive growth in the consumer market. We ended the March quarter with $78.9 million in backlog,
which is our third highest quarterly backlog. Net income for FY05 increased by about $20.7 million over the prior fiscal year."
Offering a glimpse into the future was Uzi Sasson, Chief Financial
Officer of IXYS, "We have seen steady and reasonable growth in our revenues. We expect that the June quarter revenues will
be flat as compared to those of the March quarter."
MAY 24th, 2005
Marvell Reports Revenue Increase of 35%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), an integrated circuit company focused on the
broadband and data storage markets, reported record revenues of $364.8 million for its first fiscal quarter of 2006, ended
April 30, 2005. This represented a 35 percent gain over the same quarter a year ago, and a 7 percent sequential gain over
its fourth quarter of its fiscal 2005 year.
Among the major events in the quarter, Marvell noted, was the
introduction of its 88W8385, a 802.11 a/b/g WLAN processor chip intended for use in a variety of phones: digital cordless
phones, VoIP phones and video phones. The introduction of the chip was also complemented with an agreement between Marvell
and Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. The two companies have made plans to offer joint WLAN solutions for a variety of consumer
electronic devices.
MAY 20th, 2005
Sonics' SMART Interconnects IP technology, like many leading chips,
has been almost everywhere in the world. On May 13th, 2005 the company announced that over 100 million SoC integrated circuits
have shipped with the technology. Among the company's tier one semiconductor companies are Broadcom, Texas Instruments, Toshiba
Corp., Samsung and several unnamed Original Equipment Manufacturers. The technology, which is used in a number of different
end-market applications is believed to be specifically pervasive in the wireless and handheld markets. One reason is that
SonicsMX, one of Sonic's products, was designed for those system architectures. SonixsMX product, which has silicon area and
power reduction features, was developed with Texas Instruments for that company's OMAP processor chip.
Grant Pierce, Sonics' President indicated that the product should
reach a shipment rate higher than most others, "This milestone places Sonics among the top intellectual property (IP) suppliers
in the semiconductor industry. And, because our designs span a very wide range of served markets, and our adoption rate is
accelerating, we expect our shipments to outpace even the well established IP suppliers in the future." A new version of SonicsMX
, released in March 2005, is also expected to help sustain the momentum. The product, which incorporates 128-bit data widths
and supports AHB bus connections, is now, according to Sonics, under evaluation at nearly all the major wireless and handheld
SoC developers. Sonics other products, SiliconBackplane, SMART Interconnect, SonicsS3220 and MemMax are also reported as being
well received.
Sonics IP based design methodology has been developed to standardize
and automate the IP block interconnection process for specific chip design architectures. The process has been attributed
to the reduction of design time, layout planning time, reroute time, in addition to the reduction of silicon area, power consumption
and timing delays. Other sited benefits include easy IP core reuses - all of which add up to reduced development and manufacturing
costs.
MAY 20th, 2005
Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), has released results for its second
quarter, which ended April 30 2005. The company's revenue for the quarter increased 1 percent on a quarterly sequential basis,
but declined 17 percent on a quarterly year-over-year basis. For the second quarter of fiscal 2005, revenues were $244.3 million
compared to $294.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2004. For its latest six months, Synopsys reports that revenue
was $485.6 million compared to $579.9 million for the same period in fiscal 2004. Synopsys stated that "year-over-year comparisons
reflect the company's shift to an almost-fully ratable license model initiated in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, under
which most of the company's license revenue is recognized over time rather than upfront in the quarter shipped. As a result,
in the most recent quarter more than 90% of revenue came from backlog." A review of Synopsys numbers indicate that Synopsys
up-front license revenue declined substantially, year-over-year.
Synopsys also reported for its 2005 fiscal year a target revenue
in the range of $960 million to $990 million. These estimates include the effect of the acquisition of Nassda Corporation,
another EDA company.
MAY 19th, 2005
Driven by a market that sees SOI process technology as an answer
to high power consumption for high speed consumer electronic products, Soitec (Euronext Paris), on top of a recent $100 million
plus purchase agreement, has reported a 57% percent increase in its 2004 - 2005 annual sales. With its annual financial release,
the SOI wafer suppler also reported a 248 percent sales increase of its SOI based 300 mm wafers - indicative of the popularity
of SOI for the latest generation of chips.
Soitec, which specifically noted microprocessors and automotive
markets as two growth catalysts, reported that overall sales for its 2004 - 2005 fiscal year came in at 138.9 million Euros,
up 57 percent from last year's 88.1 Euros. 300 millimeter wafer sales reached 42.1 million Euros, or 32 percent of total sales
compared to just 14 percent of sales in the 2003 - 2004 fiscal year.
The company projects that growth rates are expected to be higher
than 40 percent. In support of that projected growth rate, Soitec points to a $100 million purchase multi-year agreement for
300 millimeter SOI wafers, which is expected to unfold between July 2005 and June 2006, and to its multi-year supply agreement
of 200 millimeter and 300 millimeter wafers to leading microprocessor provider, AMD.
Soitec's latest advanced technology also has done well. The company
noted 4.2 million Euros in Picogiga related revenues, up 16.4 percent. Picogiga International, a unit of Soitec, develops
high performance transistor technology based on new materials technology. These transistors, according to researchers at Triquint
Semiconductor, a United States based GaAs chip company, have an output power density of 7 W/mm at 10 GHz.
MAY 18th, 2005
STMicroelectronics to Downsize, 3000 to Exit - To Exclude
Asia
STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) on the heels of a disappointing earnings report, has now made
restructuring plans, which once completed, are expected to save $90 million a year. The plan as announced will eliminate 3,000
jobs by the middle of 2006. The company indicated that the layoffs will not include employees at its Asian locations.
STMicroelectronics for the first quarter of 2005 reported net revenues
of $2,083 million down 10.3 percent from $2,328 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2005, and up 2.6 percent from the
$2.029 reported in the first quarter of 2004. STMicroelectronics, however reported that year-over-year automotive and wireless
applications revenue grew at double digit rates year over year and that data storage products grew in the high single digit
rate.
For the first quarter of 2005, STMicroelectronics divisional sales
included $1,188 million from its Application Specific Product Groups (ASPD), $457 million form its Microcontroller, Linear
and Discrete Group (MLD), $421 million from its Memory Products Group (MPG) and $17 million from its other group. This compares
to $1,161 million for ASPD, $420 million for MLD, $431 million for MPG and $17 million for the others group in the first quarter
of 2004. For the fourth quarter of 2004, revenue for the ASPD group was $1,329 million, for MLD was $494 million, for MPG
was $486 million and for the others group, $18 million.
MAY 18th, 2005
Agilent's Reports on Chip, Test and Life Science Revenue
Agilent with the release of its quarterly earnings report for the three months ended April
30, 2005, its second quarter, reported individual results for its semiconductor, automated test equipment, and life sciences
operations.
Agilent for its most recent second quarter, reported Semiconductor
Products' orders of $464 million, up 5 percent from the same quarter a year ago, and up 22 percent sequentially. The book-to-bill
ratio for semiconductors also reached 1.12, which represented an increase from 0.97 for the year ago quarter and 1.00 in the
first quarter of its 2005 year.
Within the semiconductor group, orders for personal systems components,
which include optical mice and handset components increased 2 percent over last year levels. Networking systems components
also increased. They were up 11 percent over last year. In the network area, Agilent indicated that fiber optic and storage
components were a major component of the gains. Overall in the semiconductor group, total revenues were $414 million, down
8 percent over the year ago quarter and up 9 percent from the first quarter in 2005.
In the automated test equipment (ATE) area, where the company sells
into the semiconductor market, orders reached $171 million, up 7 percent over the first quarter in 2005 and up 25 percent
above the fourth quarter of Agilent's 2004 fiscal year. However the company reported that despite the gain, the recent quarter's
orders were down 40 percent from the same quarter a year ago. In the test area, Agilent indicated that sequentially, flash
memory and parametric test orders were down, but system on chip (SOC) and manufacturing test orders were up. ATE revenues
reached $181 million in Agilent's second quarter, up 17 percent sequentially, but down 32 percent year over year. Agilent
expects that the industry will recover in the second half. One reason is customer acceptance of its new SOC, flash and manufacturing
test products.
Life Science orders, which include Agilent's microarray chips, increased
17 percent in the latest quarter.
MAY 18th, 2005
PLD Applications'
IP Core Revenue Up 87 Percent - Record Revenues and Orders
PLD Applications (PLDA), a PCI Intellectual
Property (IP) core company, reported that its revenue for 2004 increased 87 percent. The company also reported that revenue
and bookings for its first quarter of 2005 achieved new records. Jean-Yves Brena, President of PLDA, gave reasons for the
revenue increase, "We attribute our continuing growth to two factors, a strong commitment to a loyal and growing client base
and a long-term strategy designed to meet our clients' present and future needs."
PLDA also reported that it signed PCI Express IP Core contracts
with several semiconductor companies. The company also listed a number of companies it is working with, which included many
tier one integrated circuit, EDA and electronic system companies as well as one of the worlds largest software companies.
The listed companies included Agere Systems, Agilent Technologies, Alcatel, Atmel, Cisco Systems, Freescale Semiconductor,
Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Matsushita, Mentor Graphics, Microsoft, PMC-Sierra, Quantum, Sony and Sun Microsystems.
PLDA has sold over 500 licenses.
With the report, Arnaud Schleich, Vice President of PLDA implied
that the success of the company was due to low cost and easy to use IP Core products, "The adoption cost has never been lower
in both financial terms and integration time."
MAY 17th, 2005
NVidia's Revenues Increase
24% - Net income Jumps 202 Percent
NVidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) for its first quarter ended May
1, 2005, reported record revenue of $583.8 million, a 24 percent increase over last year's first quarter of $471.9 million.
The company also announced that its net income increased 202 percent to $64.4 million, up from $21.3 million in the same quarter
last year. With the announcement, NVidia reported its nForce and Quadro product lines also had record quarters.
Jen-Hsun Huang, President and CEO of NVidia, indicated that the
company has diversified its product line and is now back in growth mode, "We have solidly returned our company to growth.
We now have four exciting growth businesses -- GPU, MCP, wireless media processor, and consumer electronics. In addition,
our gross margin initiatives continue to deliver results ahead of schedule. Our efforts over the past two years have put us
back in growth mode and have positioned us squarely at the center of the digital media revolution."
MAY 16th, 2005
Irvine Sensors Reports 151 Percent Gain In Revenue
Irvine Sensors Corporation (NASDAQ:IRSN) a company with operations in stacked chip packaging
technology, infrared camera technology, optical interconnects, mixed signal integrated circuits and image processing, reported
that its revenue for its latest 13 week period ended April 3, 2005 reached $6.1 million, up 151 percent from $2.4 million
from the 13 week period ended March 28, 2004. For the 26 week period ended April 3, 2005, revenues increased 76 percent to
$5.9 million over the corresponding period a year ago. The company said the 26 week revenue level was a record for the company.
The company did not break out specific product revenue, but the
company earlier in the year stated that it had booked over $15 million in government R&D contracts. Ro
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