JDS Uniphase Tightens Belt Further With Plant Consolidations
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 21, 2005...In a move all too common to the optoelectronic industry, JDS Uniphase is tightening its belt with another round of plant consolidations. JDS Uniphase Corporation of San Jose, California USA, explained its current manufacturing consolidation strategy. According to the company this strategy includes: consolidating its Ewing, New Jersey and Melbourne, Florida manufacturing to its Shenzhen, China facility and to the facilities of two manufacturing partners; transferring its Ewing and Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, manufacturing facilities to Fabrinet, a key manufacturing partner; Reduce manufacturing in Santa Rosa, California, associated with the phasing out of certain display products including high-volume consumer light engines and coated micro display windows.
In this round of consolidation, the company expects to reduce the manufacturing positions by more than 15 percent (approximately 700 people plus 150 people in support positions) by the end of the calendar year. Research and development will continue at all sites, except Mountain Lakes.“These initiatives are part of a multi-quarter business transformation strategy for JDS Uniphase to achieve profitability by reducing cost structure and improving corporate agility,” said President and CEO Kevin Kennedy. “We firmly believe that our ability to restructure major operations and rationalize our current portfolio, while investing in next-generation products, positions JDS Uniphase for success and differentiates us from the competition.” April 21, 2005...Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan says its open to a discussion about new DVD disk standards. This will hopefully head off a war among the large companies vying to create and control the market with their new standard. "From the point of view to provide the best service to the consumer one format is better than two. We're open to discussions," Yukinori Kawauchi, general manager in charge of the next DVD format at Sony's Video Group, said in an interview. He said that specific proposals had yet to be tabled.A number of major companies have chosen sides supporting each the two competing formats, HD DVD, and Blu-ray which both offer higher capacity than current DVD’s. Japan's TDK Corp., Sony and Philips Electronics are part of a large consortium promoting Blu-ray against a group led by Toshiba Corp. and its HD DVD technology. Apple, Dell, and Hewlett Packard have also joined the push for the Blu-ray format.
The first players and recorders with the new formats are expected to reach the market by the end of this year. Technology specialists are already drawing comparisons between the current technology conflict and the battle between VHS and Beta for video recording. At stake in the conflict is a $10 million DVD recorder/player market. Industry analysts project the total value of all DVD products on the market will rise about 18 percent per year to $77 billion in 2009 from the current $33 billion. Blue lasers are at the core of the new technologies. They have shorter wavelengths than current DVD players which use red lasers and therefore can store and retrieve data in higher densities needed for high-definition movies and television. Hollywood studios are also divided on the issue. Raytheon and Cree Confirm $26.9 Million DARPA Contract for GaN RF Components
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 18, 2005...Raytheon Company's Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) of Tweksbury,
Massachusetts USA and Cree Inc. of Durham, North Carolina USA and have confirmed
that they are the third and final team to be awarded contracts totaling $26.9
million over three years under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) WideBandgap Semiconductor (WBS) Technology Initiative. According to
Raytheon, the news was originally announced Feb. 11th by the Defense Department
but only now appeared over the wires. CompoundSem News covered the original
two awards March 14th (ref: our editorial titled The
Long Awaited DARPA GaN Awards) when the TriQuint team, and then Northrop
Grumman team formally announced their awards.
The DARPA initiative aims to accelerate development of Gallium Nitride (GaN)
RF products for military and commercial applications. Like the other two teams,
the Raytheon-Cree effort will focus on X-band transmit/receive modules based
on GaN-on-SiC technology to improve efficiency of radar applications. The effort
is being likened to the early "MIMIC Program" (monolithic microwave-milimeterwave
ICs) that yielded over $500 million in revenue for the GaAs epitaxy field
and sparked the monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) industry.
Raytheon will be the primary contractor for their WBS team, and Cree will be
a subcontractor. Cree is expected to get $11 million of the $26.9 million. If
all options are exercised, the gains for both companies could total $56.9 million
with an estimated $24.5 million going to Cree. Cree has been developing GaN-on-silicon
carbide (SiC) RF devices since 1996. The semiconductor work will be conducted
at Raytheon RF components (Raytheon's MMIC foundry) in Andover, Massachusetts;
and Cree’s Durham, North Carolina Wide Bandgap MMIC foundry and Santa Barbara
Technology Center in Goleta, California. University of California, Santa Barbara,
as well as researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and the University
of California, San Diego will be working with Cree and Raytheon on the project.
The award is being billed as The Raytheon-Cree team by Raytheon and the Cree-Raytheon
team by Cree. "The Raytheon-Cree team has the systems knowledge, technical
leadership, and semiconductor infrastructure to assure program success and transition
into systems," said Mark Russell, IDS's vice president of Engineering.
John Palmour, Cree's Executive Vice President, Advanced Devices, stated, "The
same improvements that will make GaN components viable for military systems
insertion we believe, will also make them viable for insertion into cellular
infrastructure, as well as other burgeoning wireless applications. Combining
our efforts with Raytheon is intended to accelerate the potential deployment
of this important enabling technology." Raytheon's program manager
for the WBGS-RF (Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Radio Frequency) applications
program added, "Teaming with Cree is all about speed -- combining the
capabilities of the scientists at both companies will make this technology available
to the warfighter much sooner." Raytheon, with 2004 sales of $20.2
billion, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, now employs 80,000 people
worldwide. More details are in both Raytheon's
news release and in Cree's
news release which differ somewhat in content.
Edwards Technologies Ltd. Wins Golden Peak Award in Taiwan
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 20, 2005...Edwards Technologies Ltd.(ETL), a subsidiary of BOC Edwards of Wilmington, Massachusetts USA, known for its vacuum and electronic gases technology, was honored by the government of Taiwan with the Golden Peak Award for outstanding business achievement. The award was presented at the 9th annual Golden Peak Award Ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan. Vice President of the Legislative Yuan, one of the five major Taiwan government branches, Mr. Chung Rong Chi, presented the award.
The award is given by the Outstanding Enterprise Manager Association, ROC, an organization devoted to recognizing Taiwan's small- and medium-sized business enterprises in many industries. Achievements are measured in three categories: outstanding enterprise, outstanding products, and outstanding leaders. Edwards Technologies Ltd. was recognized in all three categories for achievements in the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. "Edwards Technologies has vigorously participated in the rapid growth of semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing sectors in the region" said Tony Chao, ETL general manager. "This achievement represents the delivery of key business strategies as well as the efforts of the entire ETL team in providing continued excellence in serving our customers.” Company News Release Goldeneye Appears on Radar With New Patent
Scott McMahanApril 20, 2005...After receiving one of 11 applied-for patents, a newcomer called Goldeneye of Carlsbad, California USA, has entered our radar screen in the LED lighting industry. The patent, 6,869,206, describes a new method for the fabrication of high intensity LED-based light sources. William (Bill) Livesay is the company’s president and CEO. He was also the founder and CEO of Electron Vision. Carl Beeson is the vice president and Scott Zimmerman is the director. Both of them come from Honeywell. All three in the experienced team have authored or co-authored numerous patents. The company has a substantial and comprehensive IP portfolio with 10 filings related to solid state lighting. One of the company's major goals is to develop a system with a brightness and efficiency that engineers of other companies can use to replace arc lamps in digital projection TV’s.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... Emcore To Consolidate Solar Cell Production in Albuquerque Facility
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 18, 2005...Emcore Corporation, headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey USA, has announced
it will consolidate its production of solar cells to its Albuquerque, New Mexico
facility, and close down its City of Industry, California plant. To date, the
City of Industry facility has been receiving the solar panels from the Albuquerque
facility and assembling them into the final solar panel product. The California
facility has also housed clerical staff and engineering support. Emcore estimates
$3 million in annual costs savings will result from the consolidation, starting
in 2006. The City of Industry plant operations are expected to be discontinued
in the fourth quarter of 2005, and the facility is expected to close in the
first quarter of the fiscal year 2006.
The City of Industry facility was initially acquired by Emcore in March 2002
when they acquired the Applied Solar Division of Tecstar Inc., a well established
solar cell maker that entered into bankruptcy. Tecstar had a long history of
supplying solar cells for satellites, along with Emcore and Spectrolab, now
a part of Boeing. The addition of Tecstar to the Emcore team left, and still
leaves, only two suppliers of high efficiency radiation hard solar cells to
satellite makers. Emcore's cells have a beginning of life efficiency of 27.5%
and feature monolithic bypass diodes for shadow protection.
According to Emcore, about 50 employees will be affected by the closure of
the California facility. The key employees among the 50 will be moved to the
Albuquerque facility, which is a showplace state-of-the-art facility near Sandia
National Laboratory. Emcore's company sources say that their production capacity
will not decline and might even increase in the long run with the consolidation.
Work has started to establish the manufacturing process and space qualifications
for solar cell assemblies and solar panels built at the Albuquerque location.
This effort is projected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of
fiscal 2006. Emcore already has secured a solar panel program to be built at
the Albuquerque facility, with hardware scheduled for delivery to their customer
in the third fiscal quarter of 2006.
"Emcore will now have the capability to provide satellite manufacturers
a more cost-effective combination of world-renowned solar cell technology and
solar panel heritage. Emcore has supplied more than 400,000 solar cells, with
many already on orbit with proven space heritage. Satellite manufacturers and
solar array integrators will continue to be able to rely on a single supply
source that meets all of their satellite power needs," added Reuben
F. Richards, Jr., President and CEO of Emcore. The company will be collaborating
with Entech on two NASA projects. Emcore also plans to broaden their photovoltaic
portfolio with the consolidation savings to be competitive in terrestrial solar
cell market.
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