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September 13th, 2005
SMART Interconnects Wins K-Micro’s Praise
– Incorporates in ASIC IP Library
K-Micro, also known as Kawasaki Microelectronics, has selected Sonics’
Smart Interconnect IP core technology for inclusion into its ASIC cell library for the design of low-power, mobile and consumer
based SoCs. . Sunil Baliga, vice president of marketing and business development at K-Micro indicated that Sonics MX technology
would enable its ASIC customers to lower power consumption and reduce silicon area needs, "The low-power, high performance,
and small silicon area breakthroughs achieved in SonicsMX are impressive. "We have already successfully executed designs using
Sonics SMART Interconnects and are very comfortable with the technology. Therefore, adding Sonics' MX to our SoC IP portfolio
was a natural choice for us as we look to satisfy the needs of customers designing low-power applications."
August 30th, 2005
Wi-LAN Reports Financials - Reports on Chip IP
License Business
Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX:WIN) with the release of its financials for
the three and nine months ended July 31, 2005, reported that its intellectual property business is expected to contribute
meaningful results in 2006. The WiMAX system-on-chip (SoC) introduced in April, which was co-developed with Fujitsu Microelectronics
America, according to the company, has opened up opportunities for license, technology and engineering service revenue.
Wi-LAN said that for the recent quarter total revenue was $7.73
million Canadian dollars compared to $6.14 million Canadian dollars for the same quarter last year and $7.58 million Canadian
dollars for the prior quarter, ended April 30, 2005. However no revenue was recorded for its license, technology and engineering
services revenue for the quarter ended July 31, 2005. For the quarter ended July 31, 2005, all revenue was from product revenue.
August 30th, 2005
Oki Licenses Sarnoff’s ESD Technology –
Incorporates in 0.5, 0.35 and 0.25 Micron Chips
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) through a license agreement with Sarnoff Europe has produced a number of
chips that incorporate Sarnoff’s TakeCharge electrostatic discharge (ESD) IO cores. Oki reports that it has used the
silicon-area optimized cores in the production of a wide range of chips based on high-voltage process technologies, which
range from 16.5 Volts to 43 Volts. According to Mr. Shiratori, Deputy General Manager, Display Driver Division of Oki's Silicon
Solution Company, "Under a technology transfer agreement, Oki has licensed silicon-proven TakeCharge devices customized specifically
for our high-voltage processes. Our goal is to ensure that we can consistently manufacture chips that perform at high voltages
with full electrostatic discharge (ESD) and latch-up protection. We have implemented these TakeCharge devices in our various
high volume products, such as LCD and OLED driver devices, where they deliver substantial added value for Oki and its customers."
Koen Verhaege, Managing Director of Sarnoff's Integrated Circuit Systems & Services business unit confirmed the use
of the area-optimized IOs, "We're very pleased that an industry leader like Oki has chosen TakeCharge for its new line of
high-voltage ICs. Our technology is optimized for ESD protection and latch-up immunity in high-voltage applications, and we
are proud of its consistently successful implementation in Oki's ICs. We look forward to working with Oki to ensure yet more
successful implementations in a broad range of IC's."
The TakeCharge ESD IOs offer reduced design time and are reported to reduce the area required for IOs. Because IOs contribute
significantly to the area of the silicon die, the use of area-optimized ESD IO often results in much smaller chip area, which
can save millions of dollars in chip production costs. The companies also noted that the TakeCharge design technique also
can reduce the costs of additional mask steps, further lowering a chip company’s cost of manufacturing.
The TakeCharge technology has been licensed to a number of leading chip companies, particularly in Japan. These Japanese
chip companies include Toshiba, Sony, Oki, JRC, Hynix, Epson, Matsushita, Renesas and Ricoh. In Europe, Infineon, one of the
top semiconductor companies in the world has licensed the technology. Fabless chip companies such as Altera, PMC-Sierra, and
Scintera have also licensed the technology. TakeCharge has been incorporated into designs that are based on the latest CMOS
and SOI technology such as 65 nanometer based designs.
August 29th, 2005
MOSAID Technologies Incorporated (TSX:MSD) has reported revenue
of $14,233,000 for its first quarter of fiscal 2006, ended July 31, 2005, a 54 percent increase over last year’s first
quarter of $9,255,000. George Cwynar, President, offered his comments on the company’s financials, new hiring and acquisition
plans, "We are pleased with our results and operational achievements in the first quarter. Net income was higher than planned,
primarily due to reduced litigation activity in the quarter, resulting in lower legal expenses than expected. Organizationally,
we increased headcount to further bolster the breadth and strength of our patent licensing team. On the development side,
our Systems and Semiconductor IP businesses made significant progress towards release of new products in the second half of
this fiscal year. Finally, we continue to be active in selectively investigating acquisition opportunities that would contribute
to our strategic plans to grow MOSAID."
Richard Boadway, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,
with the financial report emphasized the company’s quarterly dividend and cash position, "During the quarter, we made
our first, ever, quarterly dividend payment to shareholders, totaling approximately $1.4 million," said "Our cash balance
has continued to grow, to stand at $66.9 million in cash and marketable securities at the end of the quarter. The Company
remains committed to our previously announced intent to buy shares under a normal course issuer bid but we have been precluded
from doing so, to date."
MOSAID also reported that The Intellectual Property Division was
highly profitable, recording revenues of $9,288,000 for the first quarter with a segment profit of $5,936,000. For the second
quarter, Mosaid projects higher revenues of $15.5 to $16.5 million and net earnings of $3.7 to $4.2 million. For all of fiscal
year 2006 the forecast is $58 to $62 million in revenues and $13 to $15 million in earnings. Intellectual Property revenue
is expected to come in at about 70 percent of total revenue. Mosaid also has major operations in the memory segment of the
semiconductor test equipment market.
During the first quarter, MOSAID's has been working on a
DDR/DDR2 SDRAM memory controller solution based on UMC's 90nm and 130nm processes. UMC, one of Taiwan’s largest foundries,
has indicated that its customers have stated a need for such a memory controller. A 0.13 nanometer memory controller chip
is expected to be available in early 2006, followed by a 90 nanometer version in the fall of 2006. The controller design is
a result of an earlier agreement between UMC and MOSAID.
August 17th, 2005
Intel Corporation, through its $200 million Intel Capital China
Technology Fund, has made investments into two chip companies based in China. They include Chipsbrand Microelectronics (H.K.)
Co. Ltd. and VeriSilicon Holdings Co. Ltd.
Chipsbank Technologies (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., the operating unit of
Chipsbrand, a holding company, is focused on system level chip design for the mobile storage and multimedia consumer markers.
The company presently offers USB flash controller chips. VeriSilicon is an ASIC design house, which offers IP cores,
chip design services and complete outsource contract management services from design, through manufacturing to delivery.
August 16th, 2005
Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX:WIN) in an effort to promote its intellectual property
(IP) portfolio has established its IP Division. John Seliga, Wi-LAN's Sr. VP & General Manager at the newly formed IP
Division indicated that integrated circuit companies were a specific target market, "The WiMAX marketplace is expected to
grow significantly in the coming years and Wi-LAN's IP Division is uniquely positioned to assist a wide range of companies
accelerate the execution of their WiMAX related business strategies. Target customers for Wi-LAN's IP includes Integrated
Circuit (IC) companies, Original Design Manufacturers (ODM's) and Equipment Manufacturers. Wi-LAN's IP Division will provide
its customers with industry-leading products and services including key IEEE 802.16 PHY and Media Access Control core designs
and software, semiconductor design expertise, reference design kits for WiMAX subscriber and base stations, and access to
Wi-LAN's WiMAX-applicable patent portfolio. The creation of a separate IP business division provides clarity, focus and increased
independence from the product side of Wi-LAN's business, and opens up opportunities for more effective partnering in areas
such as Mobile WiMAX (802.16e)."
August 16th, 2005
Transmeta Corporation (NASDAQ:TMTA), which low-power microprocessor
and power management technology, has reported second quarter revenue of $24.7 million for its quarter ended June 30, 2005.
This compares to $6.0 million for the second quarter of 2004. The company, which recently changed its business model to an
Intellectual Property (IP) model, for the second quarter broke down its revenue. It includes $10 million in license
revenue, $7.6 million in service revenue and $7.1 million in product revenue. For the second quarter of 2004, the company
did not have any IP license revenue, but had $0.3 million in service revenue and $5.7 million in product revenue.
The company indicated that the increase in product revenue was a
reflection of end-of-life product sales. The company also reported deferred revenue of $15.5 million in the recent second
quarter, which was an increase of $1 million compared to the first quarter of 2005.
Transmeta also released numbers for the six months ended June 30,
2005 and June 30, 2004. For the latest six months revenue was $31.56 million compared to $11.2 million for the same period
in 2004. Of the $31.6 million, $10.0 million was from licenses, $8.08 million from service revenue and $13.47 million was
from product revenue. For the six months ended June 30, 2004, there wasn’t any license revenue, service revenue was
$0.52 million and product revenue was $10.68 million.
August 8th, 2005
Opulan Licenses MIPS32 Core for Broadband Chip Applications
Opulan Technologies Corporation, a fabless broadband semiconductor
company based in China, has licensed MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIPS) microprocessor core, the MIPS32 4KEc Core. Opulan
plans to use the core for the development of SoC chips for the Asia Pacific xDSL access equipment market. Dr. Jian Liu, vice
president, engineering at Opulan indicated that the MIPs core offered a better solution for broadband applications, "The MIPS
architecture is proven and respected throughout the Asia Pacific region, so it made good business sense to select MIPS Technologies
for our current and future product development. Leveraging the user-defined- instructions, performance and low power consumption
of the MIPS cores allows us to deliver superior solutions to market quickly and cost-effectively."
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