Cree Names Interim CFOApril 26, 2006...Cree Inc. located in Durham, North Carolina USA, has named Michael McDevitt,
interim CFO and treasurer, effective May 5, according to the an Associated Press
article.
Michael McDevitt currently serves as the company’s director of financial
planning. Cynthia B. Merrel, the current CFO initially announced her resignation
in August 2005. The company reported a solid quarter with revenues up 2 percent
sequentially, but failed to meet expectations. The company also announced it
would not meet revenue expectations for the next quarter. Cree indicated it will
continue to search for a permanent replacement. Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... TriQuint Announces Q1 Revenue Increase and Bright Outlook for 2006
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 25, 2006...TriQuint Semiconductor headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon USA, reported
that its revenues for the first quarter of 2006 ended March 31, totaled $87.9
million. This represents an increase of 31 percent higher than the same period
a year ago and a 4 percent increase over the previous quarter. Commenting on
the results for the quarter, Ralph Quinsey, president and CEO, stated, “In
the first quarter of 2006, we reached the high end of our revenue guidance and
exceeded our earnings guidance.” He added, “Due to our
new product success our revenue outlook for 2006 is improving.” The
company predicts an overall annual increase in revenue of 34 to 37 percent for
2006.
Quinsey announced that TriQuint won the Preferred Supplier Platinum Award from
Lockheed Martin. “This prestigious award is made only to Lockheed
Martin suppliers who distinguish themselves by meeting some of the most stringent
performance criteria in the aerospace industry.” TriQuint predicts
an 8 to 10 percent sequential increase in revenues for the second quarter of
2006 due to increased sales of wireless phones and broadband products. Triquint
expanded on its bright outlook when it predicted that increased capacity utilization
and yields will likely improve gross margins despite a predicted increase in
operating expenses. Aviza Ships Deposition System to Freescale
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 26, 2006...Aviza Technology of Scotts Valley, California USA, announced the shipment of
a metal deposition system to Freescale Semiconductor. Freescale, an Austin,
Texas-based company, plans to use Aviza’s Sigma fxP system to deposit
thick layers of aluminum alloys for its next generation devices. According to
Aviza, the Sigma system is a single-wafer cluster tool designed for high-volume
physical vapor deposition (PVD) processing. The company says that various process
chambers are available for a large variety of specific functions. Key applications
for the Sigma include: power applications, interconnect; compound semiconductor,
and compound metal applications. Company
News Release
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April 26, 2006...LED Lighting Fixtures, Inc., located in Morrisville, North Carolina USA, has achieved
an independently verified 73 lumens per watt with its new prototype. What makes
it even more astonishing is the fact that the company achieved a 35 percent
gain in efficiency in merely two months. According to the company the latest
prototype operates at 15 percent of the power of standard 65-Watt incandescent
bulbs. The company used LEDs supplied by Cree, Inc.
Content continues for LIGHTimes SecondPage members... APT Breaks Ground on SiC Wafer Fab
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 24, 2006...Advanced Power Technology, a company soon to be acquired by Microsemi Corp.,
has reportedly begun construction of its silicon carbide (SiC) wafer fab in Bend,
Oregon USA. The groundbreaking ceremony featured a keynote address by Senator
Gordon Smith, a republican from Oregon. The event follows a licensing agreement
the company made with Northrop Grumman for silicon carbide manufacturing technology.
(Ref: Coverage).
According to the company, other local dignitaries and senior company management
were present including: James J. Peterson, chairman and CEO of Microsemi, which
is in the final stages of acquiring APT. (Ref: Coverage).
The company says that the impetus for the adoption of SiC technology is the
need to reduce weight in power control and management systems and support equipment
such as cooling systems and heat dispersing packaging. Some of the possible
military applications include radar, electric and hybrid power systems, electronic
jamming, and wideband communications systems. APT
News Release Anadigics Sees Strong Growth for QuarterApril 24, 2006...Anadigics, a developer of gallium arsenide (GaAs) ICs, has reported impressive
growth for the first quarter of 2006. The company experienced a 63 percent increase
in its revenue over the same period one year ago. The company announced that
their revenue grew about 7 percent over the previous quarter despite the fact that the first quarter is a seasonally bad quarter industry-wide. This is significantly
greater than the flat to 5 percent increase the company previously projected.
The company said that wireless and broadband sales were up 82 percent and 47
percent up year over year respectively. "Our growth was driven by strong demand
for our GSM/EDGE/WCDMA PAs, WLAN and Tuner ICs," said Dr. Bami Bastani,
president and CEO Anadigics. "Our market share
expansion and increased content in these key growth markets represent a powerful
combination which we expect will allow us to continue our positive revenue and
gross margin trajectory in 2006." Company
New Release. Dr. Bastani said that Edge and WCDMA PAs will make the greatest contribution to revenues in 2006. He added that FTTx products will likely contribute significantly more revenue in 2007 than in 2006. Frost & Sullivan Releases Thermal Management Report
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 24, 2006...For the engineers and designers that have ever thought that thermal management
optimization for a particular application takes too long, you apparently
are not alone. Frost and Sullivan has come out with a report explaining that
although there is a proliferation of thermal management technology, modeling
and developing heat dispersion technology specific to an application is still
time consuming. The report also states that despite an increasing number of
computation fluid dynamics packages, the designers still have a lot of work
to do. "The use of computational fluid dynamics software for thermal modeling
reduces the complexities a little, but the optimization process is still a long-drawn-out
process. It has to be improved considerably if thermal management [design] is
to become more efficient in ICs," the study said. Company
News Release SMI Appoints Operations ManagerApril 24, 2006...MOCVD technology company, Structured Materials Industries Inc. of Piscataway, New Jersey USA, has reportedly appointed Dan Mentel as operations manager. According to the company, he began his career at Emcore, and stayed at the Turbo Disk division when it was acquired by Veeco. He held the positions of field operations manager and production manager. Company News Release
Fujitsu and Mitsui Launch QD Laser Inc.April 21, 2006...Fujitsu Limited and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. have established a new optical device
venture, QD Laser, according to Japan’s Corporate News Network. The venture,
which will utilize Fujitsu’s quantum dot laser technology, will reportedly
leverage venture capital funding from both companies. Quantom dot-based lasers
reportedly offer temperature-independent operation, low power consumption, long-distance
transmission, and high speed. Fujitsu indicated the new venture will utilize
quantum dot semiconductor crystallization leading-edge technology developed
thus far by Fujitsu. In addition QD Laser will offer laser design and process
technologies. The venture’s main markets will be in optical telecommunication
and lighting. Fujitsu
News Release. Mitsui & Co. is a trader of industrial materials such
as steel, non-ferrous metals and chemicals as well as in machinery, electronic
and industrial products and lifestyle-related products, including foodstuffs,
textiles and general merchandise. Cree Reports Strong Quarter Despite Slow SiC Wafer Sales
CompoundSemi News StaffApril 21, 2006...Cree Inc. president/CEO Chuck Swoboda said in his recent report to financial analysts that Cree’s earnings for the quarter were in line with
the target range. Swoboda said that Cree’s XLamp production capacity limits
in the third quarter dampened revenues and gross margins. He also said the company
hopes to grow XLamp sales to 10% of the company’s overall LED revenues,
and the company remains on track to have a TV or monitor to be released that
will use Colorwave Backlighting technology by the end of the year. The company
further indicated in their earnings release that it is moving its advanced device
wafer fab from its Durham, North Carolina USA headquarters campus to its Research Triangle Park (RTP) campus. Swoboda said that this will
in the short term increase expenses. Overall, the XLamp product revenue grew,
while silicon carbide chip sales were down for the quarter.
Swoboda sited lower than expected pachinko demand, slower progress in winning
new white LED designs, and the impact of the lower dollar against the yen for
the slow growth. He predicted that Q4 would would allow only marginal revenue
improvements as the capacity for XLamp production is increased and the fabrication
facility is moved. "The fourth quarter will be a transition quarter for
Cree as we start production of our high power products in our new Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina fab, which will add some additional operational expenses
as well as one-time costs associated with the move. The combination of these
investments and those we are making in R&D should put Cree in a strong position
to grow our new products businesses." Company
Earnings Release Our news features are reported
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