Finance

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) have revised upwards their forecasts for growth this year. The SIA is now predicting 20 per cent growth and WSTS 25 per cent. Both organisations were encouraged by March 2004 sales of semiconductors which were 32.3 per cent up on March 2003. The $16.28bn worldwide sales for March 2004 ...

The principal motivation for going to a larger wafer size is more bang for the buck; in the case of 300mm vs. 200mm wafers, 2.5 times the bang for the buck. At least that is the theoretical rationale. With the industry scrambling to add capacity and a number of new fabs coming online, this begs the question: Will the move ...

Europe’s two largest semiconductor companies, STMicroelectronics and Infineon Technologies, are expecting an excellent year with the market growing, prices increasing and margins improving. ST’s CEO, Pasquale Pistorio, is expecting second quarter revenues to increase by between six and twelve per cent compared to Q1, and this would translate into a year-on-year growth of between 26 per cent and 33 per ...

Recently liberated from the big company environment, Japan’s independent semiconductor manufacturers are taking on a new management style. During the Japanese semiconductor industry’s re-organisation in the first years of this decade, three independent semiconductor manufacturers have been established in Japan: Elpida, the amalgamation of the DRAM-making operations of Hitachi and NEC; Renesas Technology, the amalgamation of the semiconductor businesses of ...

While many market indicators show the semiconductor industry returning to health, NEC Electronics saw sales drop for its financial year, even though net income increased, showing strong internal management. Net sales for the year ending March 31 fell to $6.5bn (711.9bn yen) which was a drop of 1.8 per cent from last year’s $6.6bn (725bn yen). However, net income for ...

After suffering from a huge net loss in its financial 2002, Fujitsu announced impressive earnings of $452.9m (49.7bn Yen) in net income for its financial year 2003, which ended March 31. The number represents a significant improvement from the $1.11bn (122.1bn yen) net loss just one year ago. Net sales were up 3.2 per cent to $43.5bn (4.77 trillion yen) ...

The Government is considering asking for the return of a £3.75m regional selective assistance (RSA) grant from struggling PCB manufacturer Circatex. The Tyneside-based firm went into administration last month and has been put up for sale as a “going concern” by the administrators, Tenon Recovery. “The DTI is a secured creditor of Circatex in respect of the RSA paid, and ...

The Japanese are back. After the ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s when the Japanese semiconductor industry lost market share, under-invested and retrenched, the companies are now cock-a-hoop. Japan’s domestic market is booming, the local companies have cash to invest in new capacity, they have cutting edge process technology delivered by industry consortia and the electronics industry’s macro trends are moving ...

The government, Scottish Enterprise and Cadence Design Systems have announced the creation of an advanced chip design centre in Livingston, Scotland (EW, December 10). But the project, dubbed Alba, goes much further, with the setting up of degree courses at local universities and an intellectual property (IP) exchange centre. The design centre will create between 1,800 and 1,900 jobs, giving ...