THE SEMICONDUCTOR EVENING NEWS
August 16th, 2005
CSI Wireless (TSE:CSY), a producer of wireless and GPS products
and a provider of wireless and integrated GPS chip technology, through the exercise of warrants has received proceeds of about
$5.1 million. In connection with the exercise of the warrants by warrant holders, the company issued 2,556,619 common shares.
CSI Wireless markets its electronic products to the Agriculture,
Telematics and Desktop Cellular Telephone markets. The company’s Intellectual Property has been licensed to semiconductor,
GPS and cellular handset companies. In May of 2005, the company announced through its Hemisphere GPS unit an internally
designed GPS chipset.
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.
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)."
Triant Technologies Inc. (TSX: TNT), a company that provides Advanced
Process Control software solutions used to monitor the performance of semiconductor equipment so as to lower manufacturing
costs and improve productivity, announced an increase in revenue for its latest quarter ended June 30, 2005. The company reported
that revenue for the latest quarter, expressed in Canadian dollars, was $872,563 compared to the same quarter last year results
of $779,480. For its latest six month period, also expressed in Canadian dollars, the company’s revenue was $ 2,397,076
compared to $ 1,841,669 for the six month period a year ago.
One of Triant’s products is called ModelWare. That product
is defined by the company as a real time, multivariate equipment health monitoring and advanced fault detection software solution
to the semiconductor industry.
The ZigBee Alliance, a group of companies that promote the ZigBee
standard, announced the agenda for its upcoming ZigBee Developers Conference to be held in conjunction with CABA’s Connected@Home2005 in
Las Vegas from October 3 to October 5, 2005.
Companies that will lead discussions at the conference include Assa
Abloy Identification Technology Group, Cirronet, Daintree Networks, Ember; Figure 8 Wireless/Chipcon, Freescale Semiconductor,
Inc., Integration Associates, San Juan Software; TUV Rheinland Group, and ZMD.
ZigBee Compliant Platform Workshops, staffed with technical representatives
from the companies offering ZigBee compliant platforms, will give attendees a constructive opportunity to cap off their
trip to Las Vegas. The workshops have been designed to give developers hands-on training with ZigBee compliant platforms from
Ember, Figure8 Wireless/Chipcon, Figure8 Wireless/Freescale Semiconductor and Integration Associates/OKI.
Spansion LLC, the joint venture of AMD (NYSE:AMD) and Fujitsu Limited
(TSE:6702), has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM).
The agreement with Spansion will require TSMC to produce Spansion’s flash memory chips based on the company’s
110 nanometer MirrorBit technology. Chip families covered under the agreement include Spansion’s GL, PL and WS for the
wireless markets and GL chips for the embedded market.
The chips will be manufactured with Spansion’s 110 nanometer
process, which will be incorporated into Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) wafer fabrication production
lines. The 256 Mbit WS and GL-N chips were specifically referred to as chips that would be manufactured at TSMC. Those chips
are currently manufactured at Spansion’s JV-3 factory in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan. Production ramp for the flash memory
chips has been scheduled for the second quarter of 2006.
SiRF Technology’s GPS technology, specifically the SiRF SiRFStarIIe/LP
GPS chip set as part of Toyo Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. TCM-9016A2 GPS receiver module, has been selected by Kenwood
for use in its HDM-555 HDD car navigation system. Kenwood’s car navigation system displays 3D images of upcoming exit
ramps, buildings and intersections. The system also provides real time traffic information and alternate travel routes as
determined from Japan’s Vehicle Information and Communication System.
Commenting on the selection of SiRF’s chipset was Yasuhiko
Ikeda, deputy president of Toyocom, "Toyocom selected the SiRFstarIIe/LP for its first GPS receiver module product because
of its outstanding price/performance and SiRF's reputation as a leader in GPS technology. Our partnership with SiRF gives
us confidence we can continue to provide Kenwood with outstanding GPS technology solutions to meet their most demanding requirements
today and in the future."
