ATMI Awarded USA Government Contract for 4" Bulk GaNSeptember 20, 2002...Word hasn't made it through the corporate side of the compound semi street
yet, but insiders in the USA's DoD are starting to realize that one of the biggest
GaN contracts of the season was quietly awarded to ATMI of Danbury Connecticut
in July. According to FedBizOpps Daily
(which replaced the old Commerce Business Daily as the USA's official listing
of all Federal government contracting opportunities and awards over $25,000,
and is mandated by the Federal Acquisition Regulation) ATMI scored an impressive
$9,463,955.00 for "Highly Uniform, Robust, AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on Four Inch
GaN & SiC Substrates." A few more details are in the FBO
Notice, and more will likely be forthcoming from ATMI corporate, but in
the meantime, this seems an excellent time to remind people (especially those
getting excited over the many smaller GaN DoD awards and substrate sizes that
have recently been publicized) that ATMI's GaN record may appear low-key,
but it's long and strong. They began their bulk GaN work back in 1993, reported
the largest freestanding GaN in '99, shipped samples in '00, began their GaN
wafer sales in '01, and their HVPE boule process was demonstrated earlier this
year. ATMI's GaN work is centered in Danbury, under the direction of notable
compound semi industry pioneer, George Brandes. Their long-standing compound
semi epi operation, which includes silicon and III-V epitaxy, is in Phoenix,
Arizona where a new boss has just been appointed. Taking over the helm in Phoenix
as Sr. VP/GM is Bob Chaney, who was formerly President and CEO of Nanovation
Technologies. Bob's take on the state of the III-V industry is candid and helpful,
and reminds us that a new breed of senior managers is now coming online and
having to make some tough, smart decisions. "The sector is feeling the impact
of the painful downturn in the wireless and telecommunications marketplaces.
We need to rethink our entire strategy around silicon and gallium arsenide epitaxial
outsourcing. ATMI made significant investments in our III-Vs epi business,
but the depths of the slump in the wireless marketplace prevents us from enjoying
the return we expected. Part of my role is to take an objective look at this
business and determine what's best for ATMI." Company news
release. September 20, 2002...According to a Dow
Jones news report today, Anaren Microwave Inc. of Syracuse, New York USA,
has offered the compound semi industry device foundry, Celeritek Inc., of Santa
Clara, California USA $8.75 a share to acquire the rest of Celeritek's outstanding
common shares. Anaren already owns approximately 6.35% of Celeritek, which supplies
Anaren with compound semi devices. The offer came to light via an amended Schedule
13D filed Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to
the report, "the offer is contingent upon successful completion of Anaren's
due diligence review of Celeritek, which may result in an adjustment in Anaren's
offer price, and the negotiation and execution of a definitive acquisition agreement,
the filing said. Anaren said it believes it can reasonably accomplish its due
diligence within a two- to three-week time period, and that it is willing to
sign a customary confidentiality agreement over the due diligence. Anaren said
its proposed offer has an Oct. 1 deadline." In news direct from Celeritek
this week, the company continues to make its mark on the industry with two news
items. One announces that Advanced Interconnect Technologies Inc. (AIT) has
qualified Celeritek's InGaP HBT IC power amplifier modules (PAMs) in AIT's laminate-based
system-in-package (SIP) plastic land grid array (PLGA) (Company news
release) and the other came direct from Celeritek announcing the opening
of a new Celeritek sales and technical support office located in Seoul, Korea
where the company has experienced recent success in securing production orders
from key Korean handset OEM's. Company news
release WJ Communications Courted by Fox PaineSeptember 20, 2002...A fine old name in compound semi MMICs, which spawned a number of SiValley
startups over the years, is WJ Communications. WJ now specializes in multichip
modules (MCMs) and MCMs, which have been touted in silicon circles for some
time, are now hitting the compound circuit. WJ Communications, which is based
in San Jose, California USA, is being courted by Fox Paine & Company, LLC.
The offer from Paine is to acquire all of the shares held by "unaffiliated"
stockholders. Fox Paine and its affiliates currently own approximately 66% of
the outstanding shares of WJ Communications, or approximately 37.0 million shares
of a total of approximately 56.5 million shares outstanding. Fox Paine has proposed
to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of WJ Communications not
already owned by Fox Paine and its affiliates (other than shares to be
rolled over in the proposed transaction by certain members of WJ Communications'
present and former management and employees) for $1.10 per share in cash.
The stock price represents a 22% premium to the average 30-day trading period
ended September 18, 2002. The proposed transaction would be in the form of a
cash merger with an affiliate of Fox Paine and would not be subject to any financing
conditions. See WJ's news
release for more information. Asian Outlook Envisions Increased InnovationSeptember 20, 2002...Gorham's first foray to Asia with their innovative Compound Semiconductor
Outlook conference series proved a smash success, according to those who
attended. As one can see by our editorial this issue, although the original
theme asked the question: Has the Era of Asian Manufacturing Arrived,
the 135 attendees and 26 speakers (22 of whom were CEOs or their equivalent)
decided to give a new twist to the theme which was best-stated by Frank Chien
from Formosa Epitaxy (ForEpi) who brought
to the attention of his peers... "It's not 'has Asian manufacturing
arrived,' but 'has Asian innovation arrived.' " Attendance
was 50% from Taiwan and 50% rest of world, which made the meet well balanced
as well as interesting and timely. An unexpected highlight and kicking things
off on an excellent high caliber note was the appearance of Taiwan's Deputy
Minister for Economic Affairs, Mr. Yen Shian Shi, who delivered a keynote welcome.
Kuddos and industry-wide thanks, especially, go to Gorham Advanced Materials
who dreamed up and carried out this pivotal event in their usual professional
manner, and to Bob Walker, Managing Director of the Silicon Valley Offices of
one of the premier good-guy Venture Capital firms representing the Pacific Rim,
Vincera Ventures, and Peter Shih,
Executive Director of Taiwan's esteemed National
Science Council who co-chaired this high level international get-together.
Gorham's next compound semi industry Outlook
Conference is slated for its usual USA venue, San Diego California in February.
Be there. Latest Market Numbers Out of ChinaSeptember 20, 2002...Everyone always wants solid market numbers, and while sometimes that's an oxymoron,
here's the latest we've found from China, thanks to the Xinhua News Agency.
The first is in an article
saying, "China Information Industry Booming, Despite Global Slowdown". Included
in that set of numbers are statistics that "showed that the added industrial
value of China's electronic products manufacturing was RMB91.9 billion (US$11.1
billion) for the first six months of 2002, a 10.3-percent increase year-on-year.
According to statistics released from a recent forum on the development of the
information industry held in Tianjin, a port city in northern China, electronic
products sales totaled RMB441.3 billion for the six-month period, a year-on-year
increase of 16.7 percent, and export volume was US$38.59 billion, a 33.3 percent
year-on-year increase accounting for 27.2 percent of China's total exports."
Further, "software exports reached US$600 million during the six-month
period, a 41-percent, year-on-year increase. By the end of June, communication
services income totaled RMB218.94 billion, up 15.6 percent from the same period
in 2001. The number of telephone subscribers was 375 million, with the number
of new subscribers increasing by 8.54 million per month on average. There were
30.2 telephones per 100 people, and 85.3 percent of China's administrative villages
had access to telephones. The number of persons with access to the Internet
was 39.76 million by the end of June." In a separate article
from Bejing, the growth of fixed asset investments is evidently continuing
to accelerate in China. In August of this year, investments reached an "accumulated
annual rate of 24.2 percent over the first eight months of 2002. Figures released
by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed the growth rate was 5.3 percentage
points higher than in the corresponding period of 2001. Fixed asset investment
totaled RMB1,653 billion (US$200 billion) for the period from January to August,
according to the NBS. NBS figures showed investment in infrastructure construction
surged 23.9 percent during the period, while investment in technical innovation
and upgrading increased by 16.4 percent. The growth rate of investment in both
areas rose significantly. According to the NBS, fixed asset investment in western
and eastern areas of the country grew faster than in the previous seven months,
however, investment in central China slowed slightly." Taiwan Launches Broadband Industry AssociationSeptember 20, 2002...Taiwan's broadband operators have set up their own association, called the
Taiwan Cable TV and Broadband Industry Association, which has the mission to
"attempt to help improve the development of Taiwan's digital broadband
industry and integrate the private sector's efforts to deal with the government
to ensure an environment of fair competition," according to a recent Commercial
Times, Taiwan article.
Included in the establishing members are: Eastern Multimedia Technology Co.
(EMT), Taiwan Broadband Communications Co. (TBC) and China Network System Co.
(CNS). Also, according to the article,
the association is aimed to help the industry cope with the government's Digital
Taiwan project, under the Cabinet's six-year national development plan and
will concentrate on consolidating the resources of the local cable TV system,
digital content, software, and networking system developers to "create
a promising business environment." Finland's Modulight Awarded Government Contracts to Develop Next Gen Opto Components
September 20, 2002...Modulight, Inc. of Tempere, Finland,
has been awarded contracts by their government to develop next generation optical
components for high performance telecommunication systems. Part of the funding
comes from National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes). "We have a number
of promising young companies in the field of optical communications, and Modulight
certainly excels in MBE processing of high-end quality components. Tekes wishes
to share the risks associated with Modulight's challenging projects, because
we believe in the strong and inevitable growth of optical communications despite
the recent global decline", says Dr. Knuuttila, Programme Manager in Tekes.
Adding to that, Dr. Petteri Uusimaa President & CEO of Modulight said, "We
are very pleased to see that Tekes has decided to support our vision especially
now that government funds are scarce. The programs aim at supporting
our long-term research plans and ease us to proceed faster towards new interesting
applications for transmitter and receiver technologies." Tekes, Finland's
National Technology Agency, finances research and development (R&D) projects
of companies and universities in Finland. The funds are awarded from state budget
via the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The impact of Tekes activities is felt
in Finland as increasing exports, a broader industrial base, more jobs and an
improvement in the general welfare of society. Tekes also coordinates and finances
Finnish participation in international technology initiatives. Tekes and its
technology programs offer excellent channels for cooperation with Finnish key
players in R&D. Tekes has a network of Technology Counselors in USA, Japan and
Brussels whose aim is to increase technological cooperation.
Skyworks Launches Quad-Band GSM/GPRS Power Amp ModuleSeptember 20, 2002...Skyworks Solutions Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts USA has announced what they
regard as the industry's first quad-band GSM/GPRS power amplifier (PA) module
that integrates the power control function based on a current sensing method,
into a smaller, single-chip package. Power amplifiers, a critical component
in wireless handsets, determine the length of talk time and battery life available
to support emerging data services, such as Internet browsing, online shopping,
video messaging and other interactive high-bandwidth applications. Skyworks
has estimated that, by integrating the power control function into the module,
customers are able to accelerate time-to-market while saving as much as $1 per
handset. "Higher levels of RF front-end integration are key to enabling increased
handset user talk time and smaller, more compact mobile phones," said Klaus
Buehring, Skyworks' vice president of power amplifiers. "With the integration
of the power control function, we are able to further simplify the cellular
phone's architecture, eliminating excess components and board space while significantly
reducing the overall cost of the handset. More information can be found
in Skyworks' news
release. RF Micro Devices Has Shipped Over 2 Million WLAN TransceiversSeptember 20, 2002...Another major milestone has been reached by RF Micro Devices of Greensboro,
North Carolina USA. RFMD has now shipped over two million wireless local area
network (WLAN) transceivers. Whereas so many others are experiencing severe
downturn in in the communication business, RF Micro Devices expects its share
of the WLAN transceiver market will grow sequentially in the September quarter.
They believe their continued strength in WLAN is attributable to advantages
in price, performance and flexibility versus competitive WLAN solutions. In
addition to WLAN transceivers, RFMD also offers a WLAN high frequency LNA/mixer,
linear power amplifier and baseband processor. Bob Bruggeworth, president of
RF Micro Devices, said, "This milestone is significant both strategically
and financially, as it marks the continued success of our penetration into the
wireless LAN market and further diversifies our customer list and revenue base.
We're currently shipping high volumes of our WLAN transceiver to multiple leading
wireless LAN manufacturers in the U.S. and in Asia, and we are very optimistic
about our ability to offer a compelling, competitive solution. We anticipate
continued market share gains and strong order growth for all our wireless LAN
products." More information is included in RFMD's news
release. Anadigics Shipping CDMA Power Amps to AirPrime for PDA ApplicationsSeptember 20, 2002...Wireless and broadband communications supplier Anadigics Inc. of Warren, New
Jersey USA has announced they are shipping their CDMA power amplifiers to AirPrime,
a leading producer of CDMA data products for OEM customers, for use in several
new PDA (personal digital assistant) wireless modem platforms. The products
are headed to AirPrime use in the Helium embedded module platform family. In
addition, Anadigics' Korean PCS band module was chosen for AirPrime's PC5230
PCM/CIA wireless modem. "AirPrime's commitment to our range of CDMA
power amplifiers sends a clear message that Anadigics has harnessed its wireless
design, development and manufacturing strengths to provide this fast growing
sector with industry- leading products," reports Dr. Bami Bastani, President
and CEO of Anadigics. "PDAs are becoming an increasingly significant end-use
application, and our expertise in InGaP HBT technology positions us to capture
share in this exciting market," he added. More details are included in Anadigics'
news release. RSoft Solves Photonic Design Challenges with new Bandgap ToolSeptember 20, 2002...Despite a vast amount of research literature and the efforts of many labs around
the world, the number of commercialized products using photonic crystal technology
remains small. While the lack of powerful and accurate but easy-to-use design
tools has significantly hindered development, RSoft
Design Group is now stepping forward to fill this gap with BandSOLVEÔ, which
is what RSoft says is the first commercial design tool for calculating photonic
band structures. A fully integrated addition to RSoft Design's award-winning
BeamPROPÔ and FullWAVEÔ tools, BandSOLVE automates and simplifies the calculation
of photonic band structures for all photonic crystal devices using a plane-wave
expansion simulation engine. According to RSoft Design Group's CTO, Robert Scarmozzino,
"The addition of our band structure tool closes the loop and allows the connections
between finite devices and infinite crystal properties to be clearly highlighted."
BandSOLVE is pre-programmed to deal with a large range of standard crystal lattices
in one, two or three dimensions, including FCC, BCC and hexagonal lattices.
The company debuted their product this week at NFOEC. More information is contained
in RSoft's news
release. Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
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