A pick of the main stories crossing the ElectronicsWeekly.com news index, from Ion breezes and Gbit MRAM to Scottish WiMAX test facilities and Digi-Key global distribution deals
Friday 31 August 2007
EC approves Solectron/Flextronics merger
The European Commission approves the proposed acquisition of Solectron by Flextronics International.
Distribution market slowing down, says Afdec
Distributor association Afdec peggs back its growth forecast for the UK component distribution market from 2 per cent growth to a decline in the range of 1 to 3 per cent this year.
ARM chip firm Luminary Micro wins $25m for market push
ARM microcontroller firm Luminary Micro pulls in $25m of funding towards its bid to take market share from the big players such as NXP, STMicroelectronics, Atmel and OKI.
Thursday 30 August 2007
Scottish WiMAX test system facility gets $33m investment
Agilent Technologies is investing $33m in a modernisation of its Scottish test system development and manufacturing facility, which will spearhead the company's WiMAX wireless test business.
Digi-Key signs global distribution deal with RF Micro Devices
Another day, another Digi-Key deal. The Thief River Falls-based component distributor signs a global distribution deal with RF Micro Devices just a day after announcing a similar agreement with Catalyst Semiconductor.
Wednesday 29 August 2005
MRAM at Gbit levels will help flash substitute bid
The search for an alternative non-volatile memory technology to traditional floating gate flash has been boosted by an attempt to raise MRAM to the Gbit level. But the timescales for achieving it are tight.
IPR and patents key to Infineon's Agere buy-out - analysts
Access to intellectual property rights (IPR) and patents is the biggest asset gained by Infineon Technologies with its acquisition of the former Agere Systems mobility products business from LSI Corporation, according to analyst firm Forward Concepts.
Mobile phones outstrip landlines - Ofcom
Mobile phones are now used more than twice as often as landlines for calls in the UK according to Ofcom's Communications Market Report 2007.
Tuesday 28 August 2007
Ion breeze set to improve fan cooling in chips by 50 per cent
Ion wind could boost heat extraction in fan-cooled chips by 50 per cent, claims Purdue University in Indiana.
China is biggest market for RFID technology
For the first time, China has become the world's largest market for RFID by value. In 2007, the spend on RFID in East Asia will be $2.7 billion of $4.96 billion spent globally. The majority of this - $1.9 billion - is just in China.
MIPS buys analogue IP firm Chipidea
Processor architecture and core provider MIPS Technologies announces plans to acquire Lisbon-based analogue and mixed signal intellectual property provider Chipidea Microelectronica S.A. for a $147m cash payment.