Novatek expects sales to hit bottom in 1Q12

Feb 10, 01:20

LCD-related driver and controller IC design house Novatek Microelectronics expects sales to register sequential growth starting the second quarter after hitting bottom in the first.

Vendors to adopt LTE/3G seamless connectivity chips for dual-mode smartphones

Feb 9, 01:05

Chip design houses including Qualcomm have adopted CSFB (circuit-switch fallback) and SRVCC (single radio voice call continuity) technologies to develop single chips which enable automatic switching between LTE and 3G for voice and data communications, and vendors are expected to adopt such single...

MStar breaks into Nokia supply chain, says report

Newswatch - Feb 8, 14:55

IC design house MStar Semiconductor reportedly has entered the supply chain of Nokia with its 2G baseband chips, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Shipments are expected to kick off as early as mid-2012, said the report, without citing its sources.

Fairchild, Infineon expand partnership

Feb 8, 10:12

Fairchild Semiconductor and Infineon Technologies have announced the extension of their compatibility partnership to encompass Fairchild's 5x6mm power stage asymmetric dual MOSFET package.

Rambus buys Unity Semi for US$35 million

Feb 7, 15:46

Rambus has acquired privately-held Unity Semiconductor, which develops NAND flash successor technologies, for US$35 million in cash, according to the technology licensing company.

Realtek EPS declines in 2011

Newswatch - Feb 7, 15:38

Networking IC vendor Realtek Semiconductor has posted net profits of NT$1.59 billion (US$53.72 million) or an EPS of NT$3.24 for 2011, according to a company financial statement. In 2010, the EPS was NT$3.46.

Samsung cuts LTE chip cost by half, ABI Research teardown reveals

Feb 7, 14:46

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus made a big impact on the market in December 2011, thanks to its sleek design, new Android OS (Ice Cream Sandwich) and NFC capability. The smartphone has another notable hidden feature that makes it more cost-competitive.

Semiconductor industry posts record-breaking revenues in 2011, says SIA

Feb 7, 14:16

Worldwide semiconductor sales for 2011 reached a record US$299.5 billion, up 0.4% from US$298.3 billion in 2010, according to SIA.

Alltek looks to wireless and LED products for 2012 revenue growth

Feb 7, 12:18

IC distributor Alltek Technology expects products used for wireless and LED applications to drive its revenue growth in 2012. Overall, the company is more optimistic about its sales performance in the second half of the year than that in the first half.

MediaTek posts over 30% sales drop in January

Feb 6, 10:59

Fabless IC firm MediaTek has announced consolidated revenues of NT$5.16 billion (US$174 million) for January 2012, down 30.9% on month and 31.5% on year. The figure also hit the lowest monthly level since February 2011.

Silicon Motion 3-bit per cell controller sales receive boost in 4Q11

Feb 4, 15:25

Silicon Motion Technology saw sales of 3-bit per cell (TLC) NAND flash controllers grow substantially to account for almost 50% of its overall controller revenues in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the company.

Intel promotes two executives to senior vice president

Feb 3, 14:28

Intel has announced that its board of directors has promoted Mooly Eden and Richard Taylor to the position of senior vice president.

Chip demand picking up, say Taiwan IC designers

Feb 3, 13:59

Taiwan-based fabless IC firms have recently landed an influx of short lead-time orders from clients that had been keeping inventory lean due to the uncertain market outlook, according to industry sources.

Taiwan analog IC firms gearing up for switch to 8-inch wafers

Feb 3, 01:10

Taiwan-based fabless analog IC firms are all expected to carry out their transition to 8-inch wafers in 2012, according to industry sources. The move will help improve their cost structures and narrow the gap with their larger peers such as Texas Instruments (TI), which now makes products using 12-inch...

Innostor breaks into supply chain of Lenovo with USB 3.0 device controllers

Feb 2, 15:49

Innostor Technology has cut into the supply chain of Lenovo with its USB 3.0 flash drive controllers, according to industry sources, adding that shipments will start in March.

Renesas to terminate large-size LCD driver IC business

Feb 2, 14:44

Renesas Electronics has unveiled plans to withdraw from the large-size display driver IC business, citing the slowdown of the flat panel display market and falls in prices.

Wireless displaces PC as top semiconductor spending area for OEMs in 2011, says IHS

Feb 2, 11:20

Propelled by the red-hot appeal of items like Apple's iPhone and iPad, the wireless communications sphere surpassed computers to lead all segments in semiconductor-related spending among the world's leading OEMs in 2011, according to IHS iSuppli.

Phison posts 2011 pre-tax EPS of NT$16.69

Feb 2, 01:00

Phison Electronics has announced it made solid earnings in 2011 thanks to its cost advantage over fellow flash memory controller firms. The company is migrating to 55nm processing with mass production scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.

LTE infrastructure spending booming, says IHS

Feb 1, 16:14

Global capital spending on LTE technology is projected to reach US$24.3 billion in 2013, nearly triple the US$8.7 billion of 2012, according to IHS iSuppli. LTE infrastructure spending in 2015 will rise to US$36.1 billion, compared to just US$9.0 billion for 3.5G.

China market: Chip demand for 2.5G/2.75G handsets falling

Feb 1, 12:24

Demand for 2.5G and 2.75G handset solutions is falling in China due to growth in the penetration rates for 3G and smartphones in the region, according to sources at white-box handset companies. Thanks to subsidies offered by local telecom carriers, sales of 3G models in China have grown substantially,...

Semiconductor industry revenues to endure slow growth in 2012, IHS says

Feb 1, 10:51

With global economic prospects remaining uncertain and semiconductor inventory not moving quickly enough to stimulate new production, the worldwide chip market is expected to suffer a slow year in 2012 marked by sluggish growth, according to IHS iSuppli.

MediaTek 1Q12 sales likely to fall more than 10%

Jan 31, 01:20

Sales at MediaTek are expected to register a sequential decline of more than 10% in the first quarter of 2012, due mainly to falling sales generated from its 2.5G and 2.75G chip lineup as a result of weak demand for feature phones, according to industry observers.

NFC chips to buoy MStar 2012 revenues

Jan 31, 01:10

MStar Semiconductor expects new orders for chips used in near field communication (NFC) enabled phones to buoy its sales performance in 2012. Company chairman Wayne Liang has forecast that the company will see positive growth this year.

Holtek reports EPS of NT$2.36 for 2011

Newswatch - Jan 30, 15:38

IC design house Holtek Semiconductor saw net profits decrease 33% on year to NT$527 million (US$17.57 million) in 2011, translating into an EPS of NT$2.36 for the year, according to a company press release.

VIA Telecom ships 18 million CDMA handset solutions in 2011, says paper

Newswatch - Jan 30, 14:00

VIA Telecom shipped 18 million units of CDMA chipset solutions in 2011, including 10 million units for entry-level CMDA handsets, the Chinese-language Commercial Times quoted company CEO Ker Zhang as saying.

Samsung to boost spending for logic ICs, says IC Insights

Jan 30, 10:52

Approximately US$6.5 billion of Samsung Electronics' 2012 capex budget is dedicated to logic ICs, according to IC Insights. The remaining US$5.7 billion of Samsung's capex budget will be applied to the production of memory ICs, with a good portion of the funding likely to be used to boost capacity...

ARM not worried about Intel foray into handheld device platforms, says ARM executive

Jan 20, 12:13

ARM is not under competitive pressure from Intel's move into processor platforms for handheld devices, because Intel does not let clients know the value of adopting its platforms while ARM has provided different application platforms for different partners for market segmentation, according to director...

Intel reports record US$54 billion in annual revenues

Jan 20, 12:10

Intel has reported full-year revenues of US$54 billion, operating income of US$17.5 billion, net income of US$12.9 billion and EPS of US$2.39, all company records. The company generated approximately US$21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of US$4.1 billion and used US$14.1 billion to...

KLA-Tencor intros flagship wafer inspection solution suite

Jan 20, 10:16

KLA-Tencor has announced three new wafer defect inspection systems for leading-edge chip manufacturers: the 2900, Puma 9650 and eS800 systems. Designed to address a wide range of defect issues that new materials, structures and design rules have imposed on manufacturers of advanced chips, the trio...

Apple becomes largest consumer of MEMS microphones in 2011, says IHS

Jan 19, 16:47

Apple surpassed Samsung Electronics to become the world's largest purchaser of MEMS microphones in 2011, according to IHS iSuppli.

TSMC reports EPS of NT$5.18 for 2011

Jan 18, 16:22

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reported NT$134.2 billion (US$4.58 billion) in net profits for 2011, down 17.1% on year but staying at a high level as compared to 2009 and before. EPS came to NT$5.18.

ASMedia expects fast growth in shipments of USB 3.0 controller ICs to begin in 2Q12

Jan 18, 01:15

ASMedia Technology expects its shipments of USB 3.0 controller ICs to rapidly increase beginning the second quarter of 2012, according to company president Lin Che-wei.

Some Taiwan LCD driver IC designers release orders to South Korea-, Japan-based packaging/testing firms

Jan 18, 01:05

Some Taiwan-based LCD driver IC design houses, in order to spread risks, have placed orders for 8-inch bumping packaging and testing services with South Korea- and Japan-based providers, according to industry sources.

Taiwan IC testing houses to post single-digit sales drop in 1Q12

Jan 17, 01:05

Taiwan-based IC testing specialists including King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) and Ardentec are likely to see their first-quarter revenues decrease 5-10% sequentially affected by clients' cautious attitude toward placing orders and ongoing inventory adjustments, according to industry sources.

China market: Chip vendor competition heating up for 1GHz processors used in inexpensive smartphones

Jan 17, 01:00

As China Mobile, China Telecom and China United Network Communications will procure large volumes of inexpensive smartphones equipped with 1GHz processors, there is increasing competition among handset chip vendors Qualcomm, Taiwan-based MedaTek, Broadcom and China-based Spreadtrum Communications,...

Taiwan takes lead in wafer capacity in 2011, says IC Insights

Jan 16, 10:19

Taiwan captured the distinction of being the country/region with the largest share of installed wafer capacity in 2011, according to IC Insights.

USB 3.0 bridge controller makers vying for orders from HDD vendors

Jan 12, 01:40

USB 3.0 bridge controller chipmakers ASMedia Technology, JMicron Technology, Genesys Logic and Initio are competing fiercely for orders to be released by Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba in 2012, according to industry sources.

USB 3.0 controller chipmaker ASMedia to debut on emerging stock market

Jan 12, 01:15

USB 3.0 controller chipmaker ASMedia Technology will debut on Taiwan's emerging securities market with an initial price of NT$60 (US$2) on January 12. ASMedia posted revenues of NT$1.5 billion in 2011 with an EPS likely surpassing NT$5.

VIA, SiS achieve results from non-PC industry

Jan 12, 01:05

Taiwan-base chipset makers VIA Technologies and Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), although already phasing out of the PC chipset market, have both entered different markets and achieved results in those industries.

SuperSpeed USB-enabled device shipments to top one billion in 2014, says In-Stat

Jan 11, 15:02

SuperSpeed USB-enabled device shipments are on a fast track and will surpass one billion in 2014, up from 70 million in 2011, according to In-Stat.

Hua Hong NEC adopts SpringSoft tools for PDK development and chip verification

Jan 11, 14:31

EDA software developer SpringSoft has had its Laker and Verdi platforms adopted by China-based foundry Hua Hong NEC Electronics as part of its PDK (process design kit), and therefore expects its EDA market share in China to increase in 2012, according to the company.

Spreadtrum intros TD-LTE baseband modem for China market

Jan 11, 10:56

Spreadtrum Communications has introduced its first TD-LTE baseband modem, the SC9610. Designed with 40nm CMOS silicon, the SC9610 integrates multiple communication standards into a single-chip design, including multiband TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM.

GaAs IC market stagnant in 2011, says Information Network

Jan 11, 10:15

The market for GaAs ICs grew 1% in 2011 following a 36% in 2010, as a result of weak demand in wireless - cell phones and WiFi, according to The Information Network. This represents the smallest growth since a 1.7% gain in 2009.