Press Releases

Cloud computing figures prominently in this latest edition of the roadmap, and has the potential to create the most significant paradigm shifts, bringing about major changes to business models in the next four to five years. Similarly, the increased use of MEMS and sensors in a growing number of applications (cell phones, medical electronics, automotive) has repercussions across multiple product sectors. Concerns about sustainability are still at the forefront while companies continue to grapple with the lack of industry-wide assessment methodologies to evaluate alternative materials and the need for data to assess and quantify environmental impact of products in a consistent way. Faster rates of change in miniaturization, driven by the explosion of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices, are resulting in increased use of complex, 3D assemblies and solutions, such as system-in-package (SiP). These solutions, however, come with their own sets of challenges. Lack of test access, pick and place of 3D thin chips or bare 3D stacked chips with irregular shapes, rework processes and heat sink attachment all become more difficult.

The iNEMI Roadmap is recognized within the electronics manufacturing industry as an important tool for defining the "state of the art" in the electronics industry and for identifying emerging and disruptive technologies. The roadmap also pinpoints critical technology gaps and areas where R&D efforts should be focused. Companies, government agencies and universities often use the roadmap to help prioritize their investments in R&D and technology deployment.

Later this month, IC Insights’ May Update to The 2013 McClean Report will show a ranking of the top 25 semiconductor suppliers in 1Q13.  A preview of the top 20 companies is listed in Figure 1.  The top 20 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O S D—optoelectronic, discrete, and sensor) sales leaders for 1Q13 include nine suppliers headquartered in the U.S., four in Japan, three in Europe, and two each in South Korea and Taiwan, a relatively broad representation of geographic regions.  The top-20 ranking also includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and four fabless companies.

According to the latest financial results disclosed by BOE and ChinaStar, the Chinese panel makers moved from losses in 2012 to profitability in Q1'13. BOE's Q1'13 revenues reached RMB 8,059 million ($1.3 Billion), with RMB 400 million ($64 million) operating margin and net profit margin of 5%. The TCL group revealed that they made profit from their investment in ChinaStar, which had Q1'13 gross margin of 14%. According to TCL's statement, ChinaStar's Q1'13 revenues reached RMB 3,362 (US$542 million) and operating profits were RMB 352 million (US$57 million).

After a setback in 2009 and very slight growth in 2010, the global market has been inching back to a more solid recovery since 2011, growing by a modest 2.7% in 2012. This translates into telecom services revenue of €1,115 billion for the year. Now in a recovery phase, telecom markets in advanced countries are proving somewhat resilient, whereas in fast developing markets the increase in volume is so steady that the ripple effect far outweighs any structural obstacles. This phenomenon is telling of a mature industry now driven more by demographics than economics. In Africa/the Middle East, for instance, the drop in regional GDP in 2009 (-6%) and its rebound in 2010 (+16%) had very little impact on telecom services growth rates which remained very high both years: 8% and 9%, respectively.

Detailed analysis to serve the electronic chemicals industry: IDTechEX research group has been taking a close look at the elements and compounds used in the new electronics and electrics - components just entering a phase of very rapid growth in sales. These components vary from Nano Electro-mechanical Circuits NEMS to fuel cells that many leading automotive manufacturers will put into on-road vehicles in 2015.   We do this for 37 families of newly popular or imminently popular component. 26 families of most popular and imminently most popular element and compound are charted against these criteria with a plethora of actual examples of formulation to give unique and fascinating maps of where the chemicals and materials industries should concentrate to create the business of 100 billion dollars in fine chemicals that is emerging. research group has been taking a close look at the elements and compounds used in the new electronics and electrics - components just entering a phase of very rapid growth in sales. These components vary from Nano Electro-mechanical Circuits NEMS to fuel cells that many leading automotive manufacturers will put into on-road vehicles in 2015. 

Global automotive lighting market is expected to grow from $19.47 billion in 2013 to $25.36 billion by 2018, with a CAGR of 5.43%. In this, halogen technology is expected to occupy the major share, when compared to xenon/HID and LED for the next five years. Asia-Pacific has been the largest automotive lighting market since 2011 followed by Europe, North America, and ROW. The major automotive lighting markets in the Asia-Pacific regions are China, Japan, South Korea, and India. The automotive lighting market revenue in these countries is high mainly due to the high vehicle production levels, increasing economic development, rising population, and changing consumer life style. The revenue trend is estimated to change by 2018, where North America would be capturing Europes position mainly due to its increasing light commercial vehicles production.

A new joint innovation by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the University of Cambridge could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. The world's first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in Nature Nanotechnology, provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge.

The high-flying acceleration and yaw sensor product category was brought back to earth in 2012 when price erosion pulled down annual sales growth to 7%—the lowest percentage increase for motion-sensing semiconductors since 2005, according to the 2013 O-S-D Report—A Market Analysis and Forecast for Optoelectronics, Sensors/Actuators, and Discretes.  Despite slower growth, acceleration/yaw sensors—which are accelerometers and gyroscope devices primarily made with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology—reached record-high sales of $2.54 billion in 2012, surpassing the previous peak of $2.37 billion in 2011, when market revenues rose 27%.

Researchers from IMDEA-Nanociencia Institute and from Autonoma and Complutense Universities of Madrid (Spain) have managed to give graphene magnetic properties. The breakthrough, published in the journal 'Nature Physics', opens the door to the development of graphene-based spintronic devices, that is, devices based on the spin or rotation of the electron, and could transform the electronics industry.  Scientists were already aware that graphene, an incredible material formed of a mesh of hexagonal carbon atoms, has extraordinary conductivity, mechanical and optical properties. Now it is possible to give it yet one more property: magnetism, implying a breakthrough in electronics.