Endwave Acquires Assets from Signal's Wireless Group for $3.4 MillionSeptember 30, 2002...A shift in affiliation is underway at Signal Technology's Wireless Group as
Endwave Corporation completes the acquisition of "certain wireless infrastructure
assets" from Signal. The move is expected to strengthen Endwave's commercial
posture and product offerings, which are targeted to buyers of RF subsystems
for carrier-class, cellular backhaul and broadband wireless access networks.
Included in the acquisition are customer contracts, equipment, inventory, product
designs and other intellectual property, plus key personnel needed for the ongoing
operation of the business unit. Endwave will pay approximately $3.4 million
in cash for these assets, and expects this business operation to result in revenues
of approximately $1.5 to $2.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2002. In conjunction
with the acquisition, Endwave will assume operations in the Boston area. Mark
Hebeisen, Vice President of Technology and Business Development for the Signal
Wireless Group, will join Endwave to head the group as Vice President and General
Manager for Northeast Operations. In addition to Mr. Hebeisen, approximately
12 full-time employees will also join Endwave in support of the ongoing business.
Endwave will maintain existing relationships with Signal Technology's offshore
manufacturing partners in South East Asia, integrating their offshore operation
with Endwave's offshore manufacturing in the same facility. Further details
will be provided in Endwave's upcoming Q-3 news release and conference call.
News
release. ATMI Positioning GaAs Epi Business for Partnership or SaleSeptember 30, 2002...ATMI of Danbury, Connecticut USA issued their Q-3 outlook which included an
announcement that ATMI is actively looking to either sell or entertain partners
in the GaAs-related portion of their epi business, which is located in Arizona. ATMI's silicon epi output is at about 50% and there has been very little going through their GaAs epi lines. It's important to remember that ATMI is a highly diversified company and the GaAs epiwafer business represents a relatively small portion of the company's overall business. ATMI acquired the III-V Arizona facility, which was originally known as Epitronics, many years ago. ATMI CEO, Gene Banucci said,
"Obviously, we are concerned about the nature of this marketplace setback.
We made very good financial progress during the first half of 2002, and continue
to make excellent progress on new products. Nonetheless, it is not our nature
to sit idly by waiting for the marketplace to fully recover. Our options are
to further reduce our infrastructure - as many other companies in our market
are now doing - or to take strategic action that will reposition ATMI to be
even stronger when the marketplace fully recovers. Although we continue to take
actions to trim infrastructure wherever possible, we primarily favor the latter
course. As our Gallium Arsenide epi business has continued to deteriorate, we
intend to withdraw from that business by virtue of a sale or partnership. Although
we have not made a determination of the specific amount, it is anticipated that
a write-down of most of the estimated $40 million invested in the business will
be required." Company news
release Picogiga Crafts Short-Term Restructure Program Involving Infusion from UmicoreSeptember 30, 2002...Like almost everyone else in compound semi manufacturing right now, epiwafer
manufacturer Picogiga of France is facing significant challenges. The broadband
industry downturn, which is reaching even further down into recession levels,
has necessitated an innovative restructure plan at Picogiga that involves a
Belgium substrate supplier, Umicore, which has been active in the compound semi
industry for some time now and is best known by its former name, Union Miniere.
As our readers may recall, Umicore made an unsuccessful bid for Uniroyal Tech's
Sterling Semiconductor earlier this summer, and as you can also see, Umicore
remains committed to expanding their wide bandgap (GaN and SiC) material development
and offerings. According to Picogiga, they have entered into a short-term re-capitalization
and cash infusion strategy with Umicore. After completion of this restructuring,
Umicore would hold between 40 and 47% of the outstanding shares of Picogiga
and three out of six seats on the Board of Directors. The management is confident
that after restructuring, Picogiga would have a sufficient level of equity and
enough cash to meet its R&D and operating commitments. Included in the news
release from Picogiga, is the stipulation that, should the plan fail by not
obtaining the required 80 % of threshold, this would prevent the capital increase
by Umicore to take place. According to Picogiga's President, Linh Nuyen, "All
the Picogiga team is enthusiastic towards the prospect of Umicore's entry into
the capital of the company. Firstly for reasons related to the financial situation
on a short-term basis but especially for longer-term prospects." More
details are included in Picogiga's news
release. Kopin Teams to Equip Formula One Drivers with HMDsSeptember 30, 2002...Kopin of Taunton, Massachusetts USA, the compound semi industry pioneering
company that has been the leader for many years in the development of small,
especially powerful helmet-mounted displays, has announced that it is teaming
with BMW and Schuberth Helmets to make race car driving faster and safer. The
development group has unveiled a Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) which is part
of an advanced telemetry system approved for installation by the Formula One
racing committee and is to be used by BMW/Williams F1 racing team potentially
as early as next year. What the system does is communicate to the driver wirelessly
from the heart of the race pit. The HMD system uses Kopin's CyberDisplay imaging
system which enables drivers traveling at speeds exceeding 200 mph to communicate
visually with the race crew and monitor all of their critical race data while
continuing to focus on the road. Kopin teamed with the BMW Technology Office
in Silicon Valley, DesignWorks USA which is the BMW Group's design firm in Los
Angeles, and Schuberth Helmets in Braunschweig, Germany, to develop and certify
the HMD. For more details, we refer you to this issue's McDonald Report
editorial. Company news release Umicore Expands Involvement with European Space Agency to GaN on SiCSeptember 30, 2002...Umicore is expanding its current and ongoing involvement with the European
Space Agency beyond its current work in Ge for solar cells to also include the
development of GaN on SiC for high power electronic devices. Umicore recently
signed a EUR 3.7 million co-funded research contract with ESTEC, the research
and technology center of the European Space Agency. Primary target of the new
research program is the development of SiC substrates with a high crystalline
perfection and a minimum of surface defects. According to Umicore, this project
prepares a technological platform for the future presence of Umicore Advanced
Materials (UAM) in SiC. The company stated that, in the longer term, UAM intends
to become an important player in the production and commercialization of SiC
substrates for a variety of electronic and optoelectronic applications. Soitec and LETI Push SOI Smart Cut Technology Into Compound Semi TerritorySeptember 30, 2002...Soitec, the French firm noted for its innovative silicon on insulator (SOI)
wafer technology, and the Laboratoire d’Electronique de Technologies et d’Instrumentation
(LETI), one of Europe’s largest applied research laboratories in electronics,
located in Grenoble, France are joining forces in an R&D partnership soon
to include the use of "Smart Cut" technology by compound semi developers.
The partnership is called SCEALAB, which stands for Smart Cut Enabling Application
Laboratory (SCEALAB). The partnership includes enhancing their existing
collaborative R&D efforts, plus giving Soitec exclusive rights to LETI’s intellectual
property (IP)-related Smart Cut technology. The agreement includes full sublicensing
rights to the technology. Smart Cut is a technique used to transfer ultra-thin
substrate layers onto another surface. Differing from traditional layer-transfer
techniques, which are based mainly on wafer bonding and etch-back or epitaxial
lift-off, the Smart Cut approach uses a thermal activation process as
an atomic scalpel, literally slicing the wafer horizontally, lifting
off a thin layer from the donor substrate and placing it onto a new substrate.
The process promises to offer better control, plus a single substrate can be
reused many times for further layer transfers and herein lies the newsworthiness
of this announcement to the compound semi industry. Smart Cut technology
is geared to enabling more efficient and optimized use of expensive compound
material wafers—thus helping to foster industrialization, increase overall competitiveness
and fuel further adoption of SOI-like compound material substrates and other
new materials within the industry. As a result of this new push, Soitec will
be able to offer a broad range of new materials related to silicon, silicon
carbide, silicon germanium, sapphire and III-V materials. Considerable details
and background on the partners and their work are included in Soitec's
news release. Celeritek Elects to Reject Anaren's Acquisition OfferSeptember 30, 2002...In answer to Anaren's recent offer to acquire all of Celeritek, which we reported
September 20th, the Celeritek board of directors has met and conveyed their
desire to, unanimously, reject Anaren Microwave's proposal as set forth in its
letter to Celeritek, dated September 19, 2002. The exact wording in the response
by Celeritek was... "After careful consideration, including consultation
with its independent financial and legal advisors, the Celeritek Board concluded
that Anaren's proposal is not in the best interests of Celeritek shareholders."
News
release. September 30, 2002...Cree Microwave, Inc., a subsidiary of Cree, Inc. which specializes in the manufacture
of high-power, high-performance laterally diffused metal- oxide silicon (LDMOS)
RF power semiconductors for the wireless industry, has announced that its new
LDMOS 8 process technology has completed an important qualification requirement,
which included the news that Spectrian is currently in the process of completing
their system evaluations of the qualified devices. The qual includes Cree's
30 and 60 watt devices which have been released to production. Following on
the heels of these will be Cree' 85 watt and 125 watt devices which are targeted
to be released to production in October. John Quinn, Cree Microwave VP explained,
"We've overcome initial product obstacles with our LDMOS 8 products
and now believe these devices are comparable to our competition and should provide
the customer with the required performance levels to meet their product requirements."
More details are included in Cree's news
release. AWSC Qualifies to Second Source Skyworks GaAs HBT ProcessSeptember 30, 2002...Skyworks Solutions of Woburn, Massachusetts USA has qualified Advanced Wireless
Semiconductor Co. (AWSC), which is located in Tainan Science-Based Industrial
Park in South Taiwan, as a second source to provide Skyworks with Gallium Arsenide
(GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) foundry processing services.
"After meticulous testing, we're pleased to announce that AWSC has met our
rigorous process, quality and reliability requirements and is now qualified
for production," said Kevin Barber, Sr. VP of Operations for Skyworks. "The
qualification of AWSC for HBT foundry services improves Skyworks' ability to
meet customer volume and second source demands." From AWSC's viewpoint and
adding to the mutual testimonial, Tom Chi, President of AWSI added, "Skyworks'
quality procedures and specifications are among the highest in the industry.
We are extremely proud of having achieved this milestone, and look forward to
strengthening our relationship as Skyworks' business continues to grow."
Company news release LuxNet Launches Newest ROSASeptember 30, 2002...LuxNet Corporation of Fremont, California USA has thrown a new ROSA in the
short and long wavelength optical broadband ring. It's a 5 PIN ROSA utilizing
LuxNet's 1310 nm PIN detector designed for OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48 long distance
optical communication systems. At the center of their 5-Pin ROSA is its digital
diagnostic capability that is geared to helping aid computer diagnosis to pinpoint
and resolve broken link connections in a wide variety of input optical power
ranges... a capability which LuxNet says simply wasn't before possible. According
to LuxNet's VP of Laser Technology, Andy Liao, "The 5-Pin ROSA meets the
latest system requirements which enable the module manufacturers and their customers
to monitor link performance in real time." They've accomplished the task
with proprietary packaging techniques. Heading up that effort is Ghulam Hasnain,
LuxNet's VP of Advanced Technology.Company news release Our news features are reported
by the CompoundSemi News staff writers.
For submissions or content suggestions, you can contact us using
editor -at - compoundsemi.com
For more information and to reserve promotion space contact
Info7 -at - compoundsemi.com
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