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September 12th, 2005
Sensory’s voice recognition and speech synthesis technology
chips are expected to be incorporated into most interactive toys given during the holidays this year. One of the reasons is
that Hasbro’s Tiger Electronics division has based its new FURBY toy on Sensory’s RSC-4128 microcontroller. According
to Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory, "The newly-released FURBY creature uses the RSC-4128 as a complete single-chip solution providing
all hearing, talking and CPU functions." The original FURBY toy since its introduction has sold over 40 million units.
The new FURBY design is expected to be much more advanced than the
last version, which might give it even more market pull. The new toy has six times more memory and with its advanced processor
also is more agile and expressive. The motor controls turn the toy into a dancing doll that has both moving ears and eyes.
The sensors inside also give the toy the ability to respond to feeding time and tickling. It also has advanced multilingual
listening and speech capabilities.
According to Leif Askeland, Vice President of Engineering and Technology
Development at Hasbro, "Because of advances in technology, we have been able to make the new FURBY with many of the features
that we had wanted to put in the original but could not because of cost. Thanks to Sensory's cutting-edge ICs and speech technologies,
the new FURBY creature can actually listen to what you say and respond in a very vibrant fashion."
The new FURBY design is expected to retail for less than $40.00.
Besides, American and British FURBYs, there will be Dutch, French German, Spanish, Japanese and Italian FURBYs to meet the
global demand for the doll.
Sensory lists its other customers as JVC, Kenwood, Mitsubishi, Toshiba,
Uniden and Sony.
Hasbro is world known for an expansive line of toy brands, which
include PLAYSKOOL, TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, TIGER, and WIZARDS OF THE COAST.
September 12th, 2005
Global Silicon Raises $10 Million in Digital Audio Chip Effort
Global Silicon, a fabless semiconductor company with boombox audio chips, has raised $10 million
in additional funding. The funding was led by Quester, but also included funding from Celtic House and MTI Partners. The funds
are expected to add to the company’s product line and operation expansion efforts in the United Kingdom and China. According
to Bill Jeffrey, Chairman of Global Silicon, “This is a very important step for the company. This new capital will be
used to recruit new engineers and further develop our software and chip design resources in Cambridge, application engineers
in Fenggang, China and strengthen our management team with the appointment of a CEO. Our lead product, Xin is currently being
sold in audio systems in the UK and Europe and we will introduce further audio products during 2006. I am very pleased to
have gained the support of three leading venture capital houses.”
Global Silicon, which was founded in 2000, has developed a solution
for CD digital audio players, the Xin chip. Global reports that its chip sales to audio companies based in China have been
growing rapidly. The company also indicated that it would utilize its Intellectual Property to expand into other consumer
markets. Global Silicon’s Xin chip entered production in late 2004.
September 9th, 2005
SRS Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRSL), one of the most popular sources of
audio technology for chip companies, has entered the automotive market through an agreement with Philips. As part of that
agreement, Philips will incorporate SRS Circle Surround Automotive, also referred to as CS Auto, into the Philips’ SAF7730
series of automotive radio chips. Lenka Koloma, director strategic IC partners and sales at SRS Labs indicated that Philips’
DSP based chip was a way to immediately reach the tier one automotive market, "By working with Philips to offer CS Auto in
the leading automotive DSP chip, we are able to immediately reach and support major OEMs, tier one and aftermarket manufacturers
to enable them to bring the home theater experience to the car."
The technology SRS Labs offers is said permit more flexibility in
the placement of speakers in the automobile and reduce speaker hardware requirements, but at the same time maintain or even
improve high quality surround sound.
August 29th, 2005
Victory Labs and Sonarics Labs to Demonstrate DAB Solution at IFA 2005
Victory Labs, a wireless audio company and Sonarics Labs, a company that offers digital audio
broadcasting solutions for DSP based designs will demonstrate their joint digital audio broadcasting (DAB) solution at one
of the largest consumer trade shows of the year, IFA 2005 in Berlin, Germany. The DAB radio receiver from Victory Concept
Industries features DAB and FM reception and includes both MP3 playback, real time recording along with a live rewind feature.
Because the design is based on software decoder technology, a low-cost solution has been obtained. According to Jenny Wong,
CEO of Victory Concept, "The DAB market is expected to see strong growth in 2005 as we continue to push the price points down
to affordable levels while providing the consumer with an exceptional value. Our partnership with Sonarics has allowed us
to deliver high performance DAB radio receivers for the retail market at remarkably affordable costs."
Fundamental to the new DAB receiver is Sonaric’s ClearSignal
technology. ClearSignal software decoder technology offers a number of features to build low-cost, versatile DAB receivers.
Specifically ClearSignal includes a Eureka 147 DAB based decoder, real-time recording of DAB programs to SD card, sound processing
engine for bass, treble equalizer and effects, a digital decoder for analog FM and audio decoders for MPEG2, MP3, WMA and
WVA audio and music standards. The software decoders also have graphic and video options. These include JPEG, photo album
and DAB MOT slide show decoders, graphic and database engines. Finally there are a number of general features for peripheral
controllers such as tuners, and removable storage.
The two companies will demonstrate the new DAB receiver at Hall
4.1 Booth 659 at IFA 2005 between September 2 and September 7, 2005. IFA 2005 is expected to have an attendance of over
300,000 with over 1,000 exhibitors.
August 26th, 2005
Akustica, Inc., a company that has popularized the microphone-on-a
chip has aligned with SigmaTel, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGTL), known for its market leadership in the MP3 music machine chip market.
The two have collaborated on a high definition PC based VoIP solution for the voice communications market. That design solution
incorporates Akustica’s CMOS-MEMS silicon microphone and SigmaTel’s audio codec chip, used in the conversion of
voice-to-data and data-to-voice.
The two companies already have come a long way to simplify the design
process for system engineers. As Akustica and SigmaTel have now have in their hands a digital microphone array reference design
for PC notebook implementation. Furthermore, SigmaTel has released new high definition audio codecs that have been specifically
designed to interface directly with Akustica’s microphone on-a-chip.
The market for such a solution is expanding, according to James
Rock, CEO of Akustica, "As seen in Real-Time-Communication programs like MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and Skype,
speech enabled applications are clearly gaining momentum and, together with SigmaTel, we will enable consumers to experience
superior voice quality. Consistent with their reputation for innovation and creativity, SigmaTel is the first company to demonstrate
a fully integrated and cost-effective digital microphone array solution for notebook computers."
The new solution is also expected to improve Internet based voice
communications according to Phil Pompa, VP at the Integrated Components Group, SigmaTel, "The relationship with Akustica
reinforces our commitment to innovation and providing customers with advanced technology to overcome the design obstacles
many system developers face. In addition, the simplicity and flexibility of Akustica's CMOS-MEMS technology combined with
SigmaTel's new HD Audio codecs enables next generation platforms to support greatly improved voice communications."
August 9th, 2005
Tripath Obtains $6 Million Credit Line – Expects to Increase
Revenue 15 to 20 Percent
Tripath Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:TRPH), a company involved in
the 1-bit digital amplifier chip market, has executed an asset based revolving credit facility for $6 million with Bridge
Bank, N.A. (NASDAQ:BBNK). The term of the credit facility is for one year and is secured by Tripath’s assets.
Commenting on the benefits of the credit, specifically in regards
to assisting the company achieve its high sales growth goals, was Jeffrey L. Garon, CFO of Tripath, "We are extremely pleased
to announce this credit facility which should enhance the Company's liquidity and working capital while also enhancing the
Company's ability to achieve the fourth fiscal quarter of 2005's guidance for revenue growth of 15% to 20% as compared to
the third fiscal quarter to $3.3 to $3.5 million with gross margin of 45% to 55% and support our growth as we continue to
work toward bringing the Company to profitability. Bridge Bank is an ideal financial partner with a significant presence in
Silicon Valley."
Tripath Technology Inc. sells it chip products into the Flat Panel
Television, Home Theatre, Automotive and Consumer and PC Convergence markets.
August 8th, 2005
Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: SIMO), a fabless
semiconductor company based in Taiwan, reported revenues of NT$ 552 million, equivalent to $17.6 million U.S. for its latest
quarter ended June 30, 2005. The company reported that the revenue level represented a 37 percent year-over-year gain and
a 7 percent sequential quarterly gain. Specifically strong in the quarter were shipments of mobile storage products and multimedia
System-on-Chip (SoC) products. Mobile Storage product shipments grew 187 percent to 14 million units year-over-year, and 29
percent sequentially. Multimedia SoC products grew 196 percent year-over-year and 107 percent sequentially to 337,000 units.
Silicon Motion’s CEO, Wallace Kou, with the announcement discussed
the improvement in inventory turnover, demand for specific types of chips used in flash storage applications and the company’s
recent IPO, which raised US $41 million, ''We are pleased with our performance in the second quarter. Financially, we were
able to reduce our inventory turnover days from 136 days in Q1 to 87 days in Q2 and to shorten our accounts receivable turnover
days from 61 days to 45 days. In the product area, we experienced increasing demand for our newer products, especially in
flash card controllers and USB 2.0 flash disk controllers, and we had a number of design wins for our MP3 controllers. Additionally,
we capped the quarter with an Initial Public Offering on June 30, 2005. The IPO helped us raise approximately US$41 million
which will mainly be used to fund our needs for additional working capital, additional R&D projects, and general corporate
purposes. Going into the third quarter, with the proceeds we raised in the IPO and the momentum that we built in the second
quarter, we believe that we are well positioned to capture the growth opportunities in the mobile consumer electronics market
in the seasonally strong second half of the year.''
In terms of revenue, Silicon Motion reported that mobile storage
products accounted for 80 percent of total revenues for the second quarter, while multimedia SoCs accounted for 19 percent,
relatively unchanged from the second quarter of 2004. Revenues from mobile storage products were $US 14.1 million for the
second quarter and flat compared to the first quarter of 2005. The sequential increase in mobile storage shipments did not
result in a sequential increase in revenues as a result of a 23 percent decline in average selling price. Mobile storage products
include the company’s flash card controllers and USB 2.0 controllers.
On the other hand, revenues from multimedia SOCs grew 60 percent
from the first quarter of 2005 to U.S. 3.4 million although the average selling price also declined 23 percent sequentially.
Multimedia SoCs include the company’s multimedia display processors and portable audio SoCs.
Among Silicon Motion’s top customers in its latest quarter
were A-Data Technology, a memory module company, All American Semiconductor, ATP Electronics Taiwan, Dynacard, Lexar Media,
Macrotron Systems, Microtek, Power Digital Cards, Siltrontech Electronics, and Sunix Technology.
Silicon Motion like most fabless semiconductor companies, is dependant
of just a few customers for the majority of its sales. For the quarter, Silicon Motion’s top five customers accounted
for 38% of revenues in the quarter. The company has made efforts to decrease its dependency on just a few customers, which
does seem to be working. For the first quarter of 2005, the company’s top five customers accounted for 45 percent of
its total revenue.
August 4th, 2005
Power Analog Microelectronics (PAM), a fabless semiconductor company based in China, has introduced
what it claims are the world’s smallest 1.2 Watt Class-D audio amplifiers. The two amplifiers include the PAM8101 mono
Class-D and the PAM8201 stereo Class-D amplifier. The mono version is packaged in a 5-pin SOT23 and the stereo version comes
in an 8 pin SOP.
The devices, intended for a range of high volume consumer applications such as cellular phones,
DVD players, MPS music machines, PMP, and USB speakers, are rated to deliver 1.2 Watts into an 8 ohm load with a THD+Noise
specification of less than 10 percent with efficiencies of over 85 percent.
PAM was originally founded in Santa Clara, California. The company moved its headquarters to
Shanghai in January 2005 and has continued to expand in the greater China region.
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