DIGITIMES: IT news from Asia

Provided courtesy of:
http://www.digitimes.com/

DIGITIMES English version providing daily news about Asia's IT industry

Mobile WiMAX chipset shipments boom in 2009, but overall market stays flat, says Maravedis

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:31:13 GMT - Shipments of mobile WiMAX chipsets reached five million in 2009, up from 1.3 million in 2008, according to research report from Maravedis. However despite the surge of mobile WiMAX device and chipset shipments, notably in the fourth quarter of 2009, the total WiMAX equipment market remained flat last year at US$1.36 billion, compared to US$1.34 billion in 2008, said Maravedis research director Adlane Fellah.

Foxconn denies promises to invest in Kaohsiung Harbor

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:30:45 GMT - Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has issued a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) commenting on recent reports stating that the company has backed out of promises to the Kaohsiung City government to establish a global shipping hub at Kaohsiung Harbor in the southern port city of Taiwan. Foxconn stated that the company never made any firm agreement to invest in Kaohsiung Harbor.

Young Fast 2009 profits almost NT$3 billion

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:07:28 GMT - Taiwan-based touch panel maker Young Fast Optoelectronics generated a net profit of NT$2.97 billion (US$90.4 million) for 2009, equivalent to net EPS of NT$22.75, and will deal out a cash dividend per share of NT$10, the company said at a March 9 investors conference.

Sony to ship 20-25 million LCD TVs in 2010, says Sony Taiwan

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:07:08 GMT - Sony aims to ship 20-25 million LCD TVs in 2010 worldwide of which six million will be LED-backlit models, and 3D LCD TV shipments are expected to reach 10% of its total shipments in 2010, according to Sony Taiwan.

Coretronic reports 6% sequential drop for February revenues

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:58:05 GMT - Backlight unit (BLU) and projector maker Coretronic has posted consolidated revenues of NT$6.7 billion (US$210.99 million) for February, down 6.08% on month but up 50.67% on year, according to the company.

IC Insights raises chip market forecast for 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:41:09 GMT - The worldwide IC market is now expected to jump 27% in 2010 to US$253 billion, and another 15% in 2011 to US$290 billion, according to IC Insights. At US$253 billion, the 2010 market would exceed, by 8%, the previous high of US$234 billion reached in 2007.

Motherboard makers see on-month drops in February 2010 revenues

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:38:56 GMT - First-tier motherboard makers Asustek Computer, Pegatron Technology, Gigabyte Technology and Micro-Star International (MSI) have all seen on-month drops in their February 2010 revenues.

Compal sees on-month revenue drop in February 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:28:32 GMT - Compal Electronics has posted consolidated revenues of NT$68.86 billion (US$2.15 billion) for February 2010, down 6.2% on month, but up 77% on year, while the company's combined consolidated revenues for the first two months for 2010 reached 142.27 billion, up 112% on year.

Raydium February 2010 revenues drop 16%

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:26:37 GMT - LCD driver IC maker Raydium Semiconductor reported revenues of NT$688 million (US$21.64 million) in February, down 16% on month. The company has increased its wafer starts with foundries to meet increasing demand.

Optical disc makers CMC, Ritek see mixed on-year growth in February 2010 revenues

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:23:31 GMT - CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the two largest Taiwan-based makers of blank optical discs, saw February revenues drop 29.86% and rise 11.14%, respectively, on year.

Elan denies US$70 million settlement with Apple

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:56:45 GMT - Elan Microelectronics has denied reports saying it has settled its patent lawsuit with Apple for US$70 million. The company indicated the suit is still under deliberation by the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

Kenmec board of directors approves EMS business spin-off

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:55:56 GMT - Kenmec Mechanical Engineering, which specializes in industrial automation equipment, has announced plans to spin off its EMS unit have been approved by its board of directors.

Acer ascends, as PC market defies expectations in 2009, says iSuppli

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:49:28 GMT - Acer in 2009 came within a hair's breadth of supplanting Dell as the world's number two PC maker, as the Taiwan-based computer maker achieved leading growth among the world's top-five brands for the year, according to iSuppli. For the global PC market, in a surprisingly strong result, shipments managed to eke out marginal growth in 2009. Despite severe economic turmoil in 2009, PC shipments defied expectations to reach 302.3 million units, up 1% from 299.2 million in 2008.

Taiwan-based passive component makers report double-digit decline in February 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:49:03 GMT - Taiwan-based passive component suppliers Yageo, Cyntec and Mag.Layers Scientific-Technics all have reported more than 10% revenues declines for February 2010.

Ericsson to expand purchases of 3.5G, LTE and IPTV products in Taiwan, says paper

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:35:39 GMT - Ericsson plans to expand its purchases from Taiwan to include CPE products supporting HSPA and LTE standards as well as IPTV products in addition to current 2G and 3G products, the Chinese-language

Chip resistor maker Ta-I enters ceramic heat sink substrate market

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:30:04 GMT - Taiwan-based Chip resistor maker Ta-I Technology has stepped into the ceramic heat sink substrate segment and is sampling related products, which are mainly used in LED applications, to customers, according to the company.

Polytronics posts growth in February 2010 thanks to shipments of heat sink substrates

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:58:36 GMT - Protective component maker Polytronics Technology saw sales generated from heat sink substrates exceed the NT$10 million mark (US$313 million) in February 2010, compared to NT$5 million in the past, giving a boost to the company's total revenues for the month. Polytronics posted consolidated revenues of NT$86 million in February, up 2.4% on month.

TSMC reports revenue growth for February 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:44:07 GMT - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) saw revenues for February 2010 grow just 0.1% on month to NT$29.2 billion (US$919 million). The February results show a 153.8% jump from one year ago.

Taiwan market: Canon aims at 15% growth in 2010 sales revenues

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:09:44 GMT - Canon hit record sales revenues of nearly NT$4 billion (US$122 million) in the Taiwan market in 2009, rising over 35% from 2008, and expects 2010 sales revenues to increase by 15% from 2009, according to Canon Marketing (Taiwan) president Atsushi Kamata at a March 9 press conference.

SMIC to cut 10% of employees

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:07:03 GMT - Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC), China's top foundry chipmaker, plans to downsize 10% of its workforce in a move to accelerate its progress towards profitability, according to the Chinese-language

PQI sees February 2010 sales drop on month, expects rebound in March

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:05:17 GMT - Power Quotient International (PQI) has reported consolidated revenues of NT$2.19 billion (US$68.78 million) for February, a sequential decline of 15%. The memory module house expects revenues to pick up in March.

IMEC and Synopsys collaborate on 3D stacked IC development

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:03:30 GMT - Synopsys and Belgium-based Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) have entered into a collaboration to use Synopsys' technology computer-aided design (TCAD) finite-element method tools for characterizing and optimizing the reliability and electrical performance of through-silicon vias (TSVs). The collaboration will accelerate the development of 3D stacked IC technologies.

Navigation application providers turn to social networking, says iSuppli

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:34:11 GMT - Desperately seeking new revenue opportunities amid intensifying competition from free alternatives, providers of navigation applications are turning to social networking sites to make their products more appealing to consumers, according to iSuppli.

Taiwan market: WiMAX operator Vmax sets 2010 capex at NT$1.5 billion

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:33:18 GMT - Taiwan-based WiMAX operator Vmax Telecom plans to invest NT$1.5 billion (US$47 million) to expand its infrastructure in the Taipei metropolitan area in 2010, according to the company. The company's capex reached NT$1 billion in 2009.

Nokia not keeping up with smartphone performance leaps, says Ovum

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:31:57 GMT - Smartphone manufacturers are embracing more powerful hardware capable of handling advanced graphics and video processing, with the transition from ARM11-based processors to ARM Cortex A8 and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets now seriously under way. However, Nokia appears to be lagging behind the performance curve, Ovum stated.

CPT, Innolux see February revenues down on month

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:18:02 GMT - Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and Innolux Display saw sequential revenue drops for February of 3.3% and 16.42%, respectively.

Delta to use AMTC 3.5G CF line for e-paper production

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:15:00 GMT - Delta Electronics on March 9 won rights to use a 3.5G color filter (CF) production line owned by Allied Material Technology (AMTC) through an open-bid, and plans to use the equipment to produce e-paper products and special CFs used in color e-paper, according to Delta.

SanDisk drops patent lawsuit against Transcend

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:12:24 GMT - Transcend Information has announced that it has received notification from the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that SanDisk has withdrawn its patent infringement complaint filed on October 2007 against it.

Supply of passive components tightens

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:10:57 GMT - The supply-demand gap of some types of multi-layer ceramic-chip capacitors (MLCCs) and specialty polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors (SP-Caps) has reached 10%, and the situation will continue into the second quarter due to limited capacities, according to Taiwan-based passive component distributors. The price of passive components remains stable on strong market demand, the sources added.

Arcadyan looks to 30% revenue growth in 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:09:55 GMT - Network equipment maker Arcadyan Technology expects its 2010 revenues to grow by 30% from NT$11.487 billion (US$360.66 million) it recorded in 2009, company president HY Lee said at its latest investor conference.

DRAM maker PSC says 2010 capex to top NT$10 billion

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:56:47 GMT - Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), Taiwan's second-largest DRAM maker in 2009 by revenues, has set a capex goal of NT$10-11 billion (US$315-346 million) for 2010, according to the company. The majority of the planned spending is to upgrade equipment for the company's shift to 45nm process production.

Solar cell maker DelSolar to expand capacity by 900MWp

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:52:22 GMT - DelSolar, a Taiwan-based maker of crystalline silicon solar cells, on March 9 announced the establishment of a new factory of solar cells and photovoltaic modules with an aggregate annual production capacity of 900MWp (megawatt-peak) during 2010-2012 at total investment of NT$9.26 billion (US$289 million), according to the company.

Pixart, Ralink both see revenues grow in February

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:48:46 GMT - IC design houses Pixart Imaging and Ralink Technology both saw a slight revenue growth in February, defying seasonal patterns. Pixart posted revenues of NT$336 million (US$10.52 million) last month, up 2% sequentially, while Ralink's February revenues grew 3% on-month to NT$556 million.

Heraeus sets up R&D center in Taiwan; PV silver paste factory to arrive in 2012

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:43:59 GMT - Germany-based Heraeus on March 9 announced the establishment of an R&D center in northern Taiwan at an initial investment of NT$60 million (US$1.88 million) to provide materials and technical service for Taiwan-based crystalline silicon solar cell makers and the company plans to set up a factory for PV (photovoltaic) silver paste in Taiwan in 2012, according to the company's PV Business Unit manager Andy London.

Advantech to acquire Germany-based industrial PC firm DLoG

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:38:03 GMT - Advantech, the largest Taiwan-based industrial PC maker, on March 9 announced the acquisition of DLoG GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based Augusta Technologie AG, at a price of 12.852 million (US$17.47 million) euros through its subsidiary Advantech Europe Holding B.V., with the sales transaction to be finished by the end of March 2010.

Winbond to raise NOR flash prices

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:30:58 GMT - Winbond Electronics is looking to raise prices for NOR flash memory by 5% to reflect tight capacity, while Macronix International Company (MXIC) may also follow suit, according to industry sources. Escalating demand from the PC and consumer electronics sectors has tightened NOR flash supply, and the tight market is expected to extend into the second quarter, indicated the sources.

MSI unveils new X-Slim X360 ultra-thin notebook

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 09:06:39 GMT - Micro-Star International (MSI) has unveiled the latest addition of its X-Slim notebook series, the X-Slim X360, with Intel's Core i5 processor and HM55 chipset.