News
SAN DIEGO – Pulse, an electronics component and subassembly designer and manufacturer, announced its Sonion Division will operate under the Pulse name, effective today. Sonion will undergo a name and legal entity change over the coming months.
The Technitrol Co. subsidiary’s activities related to hearing instrument components, pro-audio and medical device components will continue as a new group called MedTech. The mobile terminal components and MEMS microphone activities will become part of Pulse’s existing Wireless group.
Technitrol acquired Sonion on Feb. 28 and became part of the firm’s Electronic Components Segment.
Sonion is based in Roskilde, Denmark and has facilities in Poland, China, Vietnam, the US, and the Netherlands.
The Technitrol Co. subsidiary’s activities related to hearing instrument components, pro-audio and medical device components will continue as a new group called MedTech. The mobile terminal components and MEMS microphone activities will become part of Pulse’s existing Wireless group.
Technitrol acquired Sonion on Feb. 28 and became part of the firm’s Electronic Components Segment.
Sonion is based in Roskilde, Denmark and has facilities in Poland, China, Vietnam, the US, and the Netherlands.
COPENHAGEN -- Lego Group is taking its toys and going home. Europe's largest toy maker will end its outsourcing deal with Flextronics next year and bring manufacturing back in-house, the company said today.
"During the past year it has become increasingly obvious to the two parties that it would be more optimal for the Lego Group to manage its global manufacturing set up," Lego said in a statement.
"During the past year it has become increasingly obvious to the two parties that it would be more optimal for the Lego Group to manage its global manufacturing set up," Lego said in a statement.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PCB shipments rose 5.1% year-over-year in May, but orders fell 4.2%.
Through May, shipments are up 6.2%, while bookings are 7.5% higher. Compared to April, shipments were down 0.7% and bookings were down 5.2%. The book-to-bill ratio fell to 0.96.
PORTSMOUTH, UK – Despite signs of an economic slowdown in the wake of the global credit crunch, Semicast says revenues for semiconductors in industrial and medical applications will continue to grow around 8% in 2008.
“One of the defining characteristics of the industrial sector is that it does not exhibit the ‘boom-and-bust’ cycle so typical of the semiconductor industry as a whole. While in good times this means opportunities are often overlooked, during more uncertain times, the sector represents a safe bet for steady and dependable revenues. Accordingly, many semiconductor vendors are now taking a much closer look at the opportunities,” said Colin Barnden, Semicast’s principal analyst for semiconductor research.
The market for semiconductors in industrial and medical applications is estimated to have been $20 billion in 2007, up 20% compared to 2005. Demand is forecast to rise further, to more than $33 billion in 2013, a CAGR approaching 9%, totaling $183 billion during the period between 2007 and 2013, says the research firm.
In 2007, analog ICs and discretes represented the two largest product categories, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP, according to Semicast. Over the medium term, highest revenue growth is forecast for analog ICs, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP.
Demand is forecast to continue to be led by standard linear devices, with strong revenue growth also for application specific analog ICs. The need for high-precision or high-speed products is growing strongly, driving up overall ASPs and supporting continued growth, says the firm.
The vast majority of revenues in the discretes category are for power discretes, which are used widely in applications such as lighting ballast, motor drives and power supplies.
While industrial is often thought of as a sector requiring low processing performance, more than two-thirds of growth in the MCU/MPU/DSP category is forecast for 32-bit devices. x86 MPUs had the highest revenues in 2007, but ARM MCUs are forecast to see highest growth.
Revenues for PLDs/FPGAs are forecast to grow strongly in industrial applications, while revenue growth for gate array/standard cell-based devices is forecast to slow. Growth is forecast to increase with replacement of incandescent bulbs with LEDs in lighting applications and across the industrial sector as a whole.
Strong demand for image sensors is also forecast in machine vision and video surveillance, while optocouplers continue to find strong demand in the automation sector, says Semicast.
“One of the defining characteristics of the industrial sector is that it does not exhibit the ‘boom-and-bust’ cycle so typical of the semiconductor industry as a whole. While in good times this means opportunities are often overlooked, during more uncertain times, the sector represents a safe bet for steady and dependable revenues. Accordingly, many semiconductor vendors are now taking a much closer look at the opportunities,” said Colin Barnden, Semicast’s principal analyst for semiconductor research.
The market for semiconductors in industrial and medical applications is estimated to have been $20 billion in 2007, up 20% compared to 2005. Demand is forecast to rise further, to more than $33 billion in 2013, a CAGR approaching 9%, totaling $183 billion during the period between 2007 and 2013, says the research firm.
In 2007, analog ICs and discretes represented the two largest product categories, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP, according to Semicast. Over the medium term, highest revenue growth is forecast for analog ICs, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP.
Demand is forecast to continue to be led by standard linear devices, with strong revenue growth also for application specific analog ICs. The need for high-precision or high-speed products is growing strongly, driving up overall ASPs and supporting continued growth, says the firm.
The vast majority of revenues in the discretes category are for power discretes, which are used widely in applications such as lighting ballast, motor drives and power supplies.
While industrial is often thought of as a sector requiring low processing performance, more than two-thirds of growth in the MCU/MPU/DSP category is forecast for 32-bit devices. x86 MPUs had the highest revenues in 2007, but ARM MCUs are forecast to see highest growth.
Revenues for PLDs/FPGAs are forecast to grow strongly in industrial applications, while revenue growth for gate array/standard cell-based devices is forecast to slow. Growth is forecast to increase with replacement of incandescent bulbs with LEDs in lighting applications and across the industrial sector as a whole.
Strong demand for image sensors is also forecast in machine vision and video surveillance, while optocouplers continue to find strong demand in the automation sector, says Semicast.
SAN JOSE – Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 7.5% in May, year-over-year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Sales were up 2.8% sequentially. Excluding memory sales, ICs are up 12.3% through May.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Despite challenging economic conditions, worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter rose in accordance with normal seasonal patterns, increasing by a double-digit percentage compared to the same period in 2007, according to iSuppli Corp.
Global PC unit shipments rose to 69.9 million units, up 12.1% year-over-year. Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Acer Inc. retained the top-three rankings with no change from the previous quarter.
“The first quarter of 2008 was better than hoped for, due to continued strong demand growth for mobile PCs,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli. “However, the financial markets are still adjusting to the effects of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States, as are the consumers and businesses who have had their financial positions impacted.”
During the last five years, first-quarter PC shipments have grown by an average of 12% year-over-year, putting the beginning of 2008 on par with the norm, the research firm says.
Leading PC brand H-P started the year on a high note, boosting its first-quarter global PC shipments 23% compared to the same period last year, to reach 13.2 million units. This was the strongest percentage growth among the Top-10 PC makers and allowed the company to retain its No.-1 worldwide ranking with a market share of 18.9%.
Dell expanded its market share position half a percentage point sequentially, at 15.4%, with worldwide shipments of 10.8 million units. Company shipments were up 20% year-over-year.
Acer rounded out the Top-3 with unit shipments of 6.8 million units – a figure that includes shipments of recently acquired Gateway and Packard Bell – giving it a global market share of 9.7%.
Fellow Asian OEMs Lenovo and Toshiba rounded out the Top-5 rankings with market shares of 6.9% and 4.4% respectively.
As a result of its recent acquisitions, Acer’s worldwide PC market share now stands at less than a half a percentage point lower than the magical 10% mark, says iSuppli. Only two brands now hold worldwide PC market shares of greater than 10%: Dell and H-P.
Acer now has distanced itself from its once close rival in market-share terms: Lenovo. In the first quarter of 2007, the two companies were separated by a 0.4 percentage point of market share; however, in the first quarter of 2008, the delta grew to 2.8%.
Overall, the first quarter performance of the PC market was slightly better than expected. Nonetheless, many of the challenges identified in the first quarter still remain.
“iSuppli continues to see a higher value proposition in notebook PCs relative to desktops, and the growth in this segment bears witness to this,” Wilkins said.
iSuppli believes that despite challenging conditions, the outlook for the PC market in 2008 remains healthy.
“We now forecast global PC unit shipment growth in the range of 10% to 11% this year,” said Wilkins. “Exciting new developments in the area of low-cost PCs will help stimulate PC demand, along with bringing them to a wider audience.”
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