Press Releases

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.

Global market for 3D Printing is projected to reach US$4.5 billion by 2018, driven by the development of innovative printing techniques, expanding application areas and declining cost of systems and consumables. 3D printing is a transformative technology used in the manufacture of a wide range of tools, parts, and appliances through the simple use of a digital model. Creating prototypes of new products represents the major commercial application of 3D printing, while direct digital manufacturing using the technique is limited to short production runs in few industry verticals. Market outlook in the 3D printing market is bullish with technology advances expected to drive market growth. Expanding application areas and funding support from government agencies are also expected to spur demand for 3D printing systems and services. Rising use of 3D models, ability to create customized products and declining cost of 3D printing systems and materials are encouraging the adoption of 3D printing as a replacement for conventional prototyping and manufacturing processes in consumer and professional markets.

Developers who want to gain the benefits in size and performance of embedded components need to understand some critical points before joining in this new trend. The complexity of printed boards is poised for a significant change as embedded components become more common. A growing number of OEMs and printed board suppliers are burying passives and actives in printed boards as a way to trim both costs and size. Vendors are seeing increasing interest. Embedded components are gaining more interest from our customer base, since it is one way to miniaturize electronics. We see requests from medical, industrial sensors, mobile devices and initial interest in automotive for special applications.