August 2015 Electronics Industry Digest

SEMICONDUCTORS

Cypress Semiconductor and Uphill Investment continue to evolve their respective offers to acquire Integrated Silicon Solutions (ISSI). As a result of the last amendment, the merger consideration with Uphill was further increased to $ 22.00 per share in cash. ISSI and Uphill amended the Uphill agreement after Cypress announced that it had submitted a revised offer of $21.25 per share. 

Acsiel, the French components association, reports that Q1 2015 semiconductor sales in France were up 21 percent on a euro basis compared to Q114 and up 15.5 percent sequentially, at € 531.6 M. Sales to the OEMs were up 14 percent, representing  
72.5 percent of the total. Sales to distribution were up 19 percent, at € 146.2 M. 

The European Commission is launching three new research projects aimed at mak-ing electromobility cheaper, more efficient and more reliable in order to facilitate more environmentally-friendly vehicles on Europe’s roads. Europe will be the site for the continued development and production of electric vehicles under these projects, which will run until 2018 and are headed by Infineon Technologies.  

70 partners with a total of 120 researchers from 15 countries, and representatives of ECSEL Joint Undertaking, the European Union, the European Commission and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will participate to the three research initiatives, with total funding of about € 67 M. The entire automotive value chain is contributing to this effort, from chip producers to car manufacturers. In electric vehicles, on average about 50 percent more electronic components and semiconductors are installed compared to vehicles featuring combustion engines. 

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich confirmed recent reports of layoffs in a company-wide email sent out last week, The Oregonian reported. “Yes, we are implementing headcount reductions,” he wrote in the internal memo. Krzanich didn’t specify the exact number of layoffs.
Crocus Technology, a French supplier of magnetic sensors and embedded memory solutions designed with Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU) technology, a disruptive CMOS-based rugged magnetic technology, has secured € 19 M in funding. 

Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached $ 9.52 billion in the first quarter of 2015, so SEMI. The billings figure is 7 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2014 and 6 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago. 

OPTOELECTRONICS 

Aledia, a French developer and manufacturer of next generation 3D LEDs based on its Gallium-Nitride-on-Silicon platform, announced the closing of its Series B financing round and the execution of development and supply contracts with major LED buyers. The round, totalling up to € 28.4 M, includes new investments from Valeo, the world’s second-largest supplier of car lighting systems and IKEA. Based in Grenoble, Aledia is a pioneering developer of next-generation LEDs based on its disruptive WireLED nanowire technology, which allows manufacturing of 3D LEDs on 200mm or larger wafers in existing CMOS foundries, and their straight-forward integration with electronics. 

Samsung Display unveiled the industry’s first mirror and transparent OLED display panels. Samsung Display’s advanced OLED display panels will open up new possibilities for optimizing the potential for visually interactive computing technology. 

PASSIVE COMPONENTS 

Emilio Ghilardi will join Kemet as Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, effective July 1st, reporting to Per Loof, Chief Executive Officer. He will be based in Silicon Valley. 

German PCB manufacturers’ revenues for April were up by 1.2 percent year-on-year, so the Zvei. Total revenues for the first four months of the year were down by 1 percent compared to the same period last year. While medium sized companies fared well during the period, smaller manufacturers had to cope with single-digit percentage declines. New orders in April were 3.1 percent higher than last year. 

OTHER COMPONENTS 

Keysight Technologies announced a recommended cash acquisition of Anite, a U.K.-based supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market. At 126 pence per share, the acquisition values Anite at approximately £ 388 M ($ 606 M). This cash acquisition has been unanimously recommended by the board of directors of Anite.

Synopsys, a global supplier in electronic design automation (EDA), semiconductor IP and in software quality and security testing, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atrenta, a provider of SoC realization solutions for the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries. By integrating Atrenta’s complementary static verification and implementation technology with its verification and design platforms, Synopsys can offer a more comprehensive, robust portfolio of silicon to software solutions for today’s complex electronic systems. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed. 

DISTRIBUTION 

Mouser Electronics has received more than 20 Top Performance Awards from its manufacturer partners for 2014. 

Digi-Key Electronics announced a global distribution agreement with FLIR Systems. 

3ctest, a Chinese supplier in EMC instrumentation, appointed AR Europe as their exclusive distribution partner in Europe for their pulsed EMI products. 

This is the comprehensive power related extract from the «Electronics Industry Digest», the successor of The Lennox Report. For a full subscription of the report contact: [email protected], or by fax 44/1494 563503.