SHEFFIELD, UK - Jennic, a fabless semiconductor company, has purchased an Agilent RF IC tester. The equipment will be installed at its Sheffield headquarters.
Jennic is expected to use the 93000 SoC series tester for product validation and multi-site
test development for its JN5121 IEEE802.15.4 wireless microcontroller.
The acquisition of the tester is considered to be a first for a UK fabless semiconductor company.
In a statement, Paul Wells, VP of
manufacturing at Jennic, said, "In order to meet volume delivery requirements for
our single chip low power wireless microcontroller, we need to ensure
we have the right manufacturing infrastructure. By making major
investments in a state-of-the-art tester and establishing strong
relationships with world class suppliers, we are able to source large
volumes of high quality products for our customers."
NEW YORK -- Semiconductor customers will continue to increase consumption of
multichip devices and PLDs over the next 12 months, suggests a recent survey of purchasing managers.
Investment bank SG Cowen said today that its poll of 250 procurement specialists provides "multi-year empirical data ... and serves
as an important, independent validation."
The firm said 65% of participants expect year-over-year gains in
purchases of chipset solutions and reference designs in the next 12
months. This is an increase from each of SG Cowen's three prior
surveys, conducted in last February, October 2004 and July 2003.
Thirty-two percent of participants expect to increase purchases of PLDs within the next 12 months. This is
unchanged from February but up 10 points from the July 2003 survey.