December 15. 2000:
ISSI [Integrated Silicon Solutions] will sell its interest in Wafertech to Taiwan Semiconductors Manufacturing Company [TSMC]. WaferTech is a joint-venture between TSMC, Altera, Analog Devices and ISSI.December 15. 2000:
Pixelworks acquires Panstera Inc., a fabless semiconductor company based in San Jose. Panstera was founded in February 1999 by Optoma of Taiwan, formerly known as CTX Opto, a manufacturer of monitors and LCD-related products.December 6. 2000:
Simtek acquires Q-Dot. Inc based in Colorado Spring, Colo. . Q-Dot specializes in the research and development of chip technologies for use in data acquisition, signal processing, imaging, and data communications.December 5. 2000:
Silicon Storage Technology acquires Agate Semiconductor. Agate has developed and patented circuit-design techniques for multi-level memory cells. The Santa Clara startup has also been working with SST to apply its technology to 256-megabit products. Agate was launched in 1996 with a capital infusion primarily from SST.December 5. 2000:
International Rectifier acquires Unisem. Based in Irvine, Calif., Unisem is a supplier of analog ICs for power-management applications in portable equipment, networking systems, and other products. It has foundry relationships with two Taiwanese concerns, Episil Technologies Inc. and United Microelectronics Corp.December 5. 2000:
Lucent Technology Inc. announces that its Microelectronics Group will be renamed to Agere Systems, taking the name of a company Lucent acquired earlier this year.November 30. 2000:
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands and LG Electronics of South Korea, announced the signing of a Letter of Intent through which the companies will merge their respective cathode ray tube (CRT) businesses into a new joint venture company. The 50-50 joint venture in display technology concerns all CRT activities, and key components. Both companies have agreed to include their glass activities in the final agreement, and also aim to include their Plasma technology (PDP) activities, following valuations. With expected annual sales of nearly US$ 6 billion and approximately 36,000 employees, the new company will ensure a global leadership position in the CRT market. LG.Philips LCD Co., the existing 50-50 joint venture between Philips and LG in Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display (AMLCD), remains unaffected by the announced transaction.November 29. 2000:
Broadcom acquires VisionTech, an Israeli supplier of digital video/audio compression and depression chipsNovember 29. 2000:
Elpida Memory Inc., a DRAM joint venture between NEC Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., announced plans to build a 300-mm wafer fab for volume production of 256-megabit memories using a 0.13-micron process.November 23. 2000:
ITT Industries (ITT Cannon) acquires C&K Components, Inc. With the acquisition of C&K, ITT Industries becomes the largest switch manufacturer in the world.November 22. 2000:
Shanghai Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a high-profile silicon foundry venture based in China, broke ground on its initial wafer fab. Located in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai's Pudong development zone, the $1.6 billion fab is an 8-inch, sub-micron plant scheduled to move into production in 2002. The venture is led by the sons of China President Jiang Zemin and Taiwanese plastics tycoon Y.C. Wang. Winston Wang, the son of Y.C. Wang, will serve as the president of Shanghai Grace Semiconductor. Shanghai Grace Semiconductor has licensed its sub-micron IC technology from Japan's Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd.November 22. 2000:
Cree acquires the UltraRF division of Spectrian for $113 in cash and stock. The move gives Cree a quick entry into the silicon radio-frequency chip business.
November 21. 2000:
Analog Devices acquires ChipLogic, a fabeless-IC design house headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with a Research & Development Center in Hyderabad, India. ChipLogic is known for its innovative technology solutions for Next Generation Networks in the telecommunications and convergence space.
November 21. 2000:
Philips Semiconductor
has made a minority investment of $9 million in Improv Systems known for its configurable DSP platforms for
communications and media applications.
November 16. 2000:
Lucent Technologies sells its Power Systems business line to Tyco.
November 16. 2000:
Actel acquires Gatefield, a supplier of ASIC-like, flash-based FPGAs.
November 16. 2000:
inSilicon buys Xentec, a designer of IP cores and Japan based Hd Lab, a supplier of bluetooth chips.
November 16. 2000:
Motorola Semiconductor Products takes an equity stake in Aura Communications Inc., a supplier of wireless chip sets based on magnetic induction technology. Aura Communications Inc. is based in Wilmington Massachusetts (187 Ballardvale St
). It seems that Aura Communications Inc.do not have a Webpage.
November 16. 2000:
SIWARD Taiwan aquires the quartz business line of MEIDENSHA CORPORATION Japan. Meiden's factories are located in Singapore and Malaysia.
A few month ago we heard that H.C. Jauch of Germany will buy Meiden Quartz. We keep you posted if there is a connection between the companies.
November 13. 2000:
Cisco acquires Radiata, an Australian-based supplier of chip sets for wireless local area networks. It is not unusual for Cisco to buy a chip company: In 1997 Cisco acquired Skystone Systems, in 1999 Cisco bought StratumOne Communications. Both companies are supplier of SONET/SDH chips. Industry observers noted that in some cases Cisco acquires a company to prevent its competitors from using its technology.
November 9. 2000:
VIA Technology acquires IC Ensemble, a consumer-chip maker based in Santa Clara, California.
November 7. 2000:
Broadcom acquires SiByte, a designer of network processors, based on programmable 64-bit MIPS architecture.
October 27. 2000:
MicroChip acquires TelCom, a supplier of analog and mixed signal products. The acquisition helps MicroChip to offer stand-alone analog ICs and add functionality to embedded-control devices.
October 25. 2000:
Micronas acquires consumer electronics IC business unit from Infineon. The move will enable Infineon to focus more efforts on its core business, the communication market. For Micronas it is a key step forward in its video, multimedia and entertainment business.
October 17. 2000:
Micron acquires KMT Semiconductor (Japan). Micron already owened a 25 percent stack in KMT (in its former life KTI Semiconductor, a joint venture between Kobe Steel and Texas Instruments). The transaction will close by end of March 2001, at wich time Micron will own 100 percent of KMT. Micron is a spin-off of Texas Instruments. KMT employs about 900 people and is Japans largest manufacturer of DRAMs.
October 17. 2000:
Broadcom announce agreement to buy Allayer Communications, a WAN chip designer, based in San Jose.
October 17. 2000:
Marvell Technology announce its plan to acquire Galileo Technology, one of the pioneers in the switch-chip business.
October 5. 2000:
Centillium Communications, Inc. acquires start-up vEngines, a Silicon Valley based developer of voice-data-networks.
October 5. 2000:
Infineon Technologies takes majority stake in Sican (now: Sci-Worx), a Hannover (Germany) based developer of IP modules and SOC technologies.
October 4. 2000:
Broadcom buys again, this time a small fabless IC-design house called Element 14 based in Cambridge, England.
October 4. 2000:
Silicon Labs acquires SNR Semiconductor. a small IC-design company.
October 4. 2000:
Kymata (now: Alcatel Optronics) acquires TMP a company supplying products based on micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies.
October 3. 2000:
3M entered into a merger agreement with Robinson Nugent. Robinson Nugent will become a wholly owned subsidiary of 3M
October 3. 2000:
Xilinx Inc. acquires local- and wide-area network chip maker RocketChips
October 3. 2000:
Infineon acquires two-year-old startup Ardent Technologies, a fabless supplier of chips for local-area network applications located in Sunnyvale, Calif.
September 27. 2000:
PMC-Sierra announced plans to buy SwitchOn Networks, a packet content processor supplier located in Milpitas, Calif.
September 6. 2000:
Fairchild Semiconductor acquires the Power Management Business Division from Microlinear as well as the two-year-old Kota Microcircuits, a manufacturer of OpAmps.
September 5. 2000:
Intersil Corp. acquires SiCOM, Inc., a fabless semiconductor manufacturer of broadband modem applications.
August 31. 2000:
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. acquires Spectrol Electronics Corp., a manufacturer of sensing transducer-type potentiometers.
August 31. 2000:
Tundra Semiconductor Corp. acquires Quadic Systems, a chip layout and design company specialized in analog circuitry.
August 31. 2000:
Philips completes acquisition of the remaining 20 percent share of its former joint venture with Hosiden. The HAPD (Hosiden And Philips Display Corp.), a producer of 15-inch active matrix LCDs, is now fully owned by Royal Philips Electronics.
August 29. 2000:
MMC Networks merges with AMCC, Applied Micro Circuits Corporation. MMC, a fabless semiconductor company, is the pioneer and market leader in providing network processors. AMCC is a manufacturer of silicon solutions for optical networks.
August 25. 2000:
Zoran continues its attemps to bring its target market into an ever sharper focus and merge with Nogatech, an IC compression Chipmaker.
August 24. 2000:
Newspapers report today that Microsoft Corp. will manufacture its own chips. Microsoft has been working closely with its subsidiary, the Mountain View, Calif.-based WebTV Networks, to develop a communications chip for use in a forthcoming version of WebTV´s interactive television hardware.
The chip will debut in the fall inside WebTV´s set-top boxes for its new Ultimate TV service.This indicates a diversifying from software into hardware, a substantial shift in Microsoft´s business strategy. Microsoft hopes the chip will go on to power other next-generation devices and other Web services, and reportedly plans to use the chip in a number of devices and services it will be developing in coming years. The chip is targeted for TV applications, but it could be used anywhere designers want to integrate graphics and video. Toshiba Corp. will fab the chip in Japan.
August 23. 2000:
Virata acquires EXCESS Bandwidth Corp., a Cupertino, California based mixed-signal semiconductor developer for DSL applications.
August 21. 2000:
Simtek a supplier of nonvolatile memory and logic ICs acquires MacroTech Semiconductor (MTS). Coupled with its acquisition of Integrated Logic Systems (ILSI) in May, Simtek is in a comfortable position to penetrate the $3 billion programmable logic device market.
August 16. 2000:
CP Clare (now doing business as CLARE) acquires Teltone Technology. The acquisition is expected to close August 25. 2000.
August 16. 2000:
Atmel acquires FS Chip Design GmbH an independent radio frequency design center based near Dusseldorf, Germany. The design center will be named Atmel Duisburg GmbH.
August 16. 2000:
StarGen, a privately held fabless semiconductor company based in Marlborough, Mass., has struck a manufacturing deal with Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group.
August 15. 2000:
National Semiconductors revamps global distribution.
In a move that the company will save it up to 20 percent of its distribution costs, National Semiconductor Corp. has signed a five-year, $150 million deal with Singapore-based UPS Logistics Group to handle National´s global supply chain.
UPS, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service Inc., is using a Global Distribution Center in Singapore that will ship National´s chips from manufacturing plants in Malaysia and Singapore to the chip maker´s customers dotted around 4,000 locations.
National formerly relied on Federal Express for some of its European deliveries, but FedEx could not guarantee 48-hour delivery. The upgrade is strategically critical for National, which wants to be able to guarantee delivery of its products to 765 customers within 48 hours.
August 11. 2000:
Intel buys DataKinetics Ltd. based in Frodingbridge, England. DataKinetics is a supplier of Signal Systems 7 (SS7) hardware and software products.
August 10. 2000:
Vishay acquires CeraMite, a manufacturer of ceramic disk capacitors and PTCs.
August 10. 2000:
Mosaid Technologies Inc. expands the current DRAM memory agreement with Atmos and takes a 19.9% equity stake in Atmos.
August 09. 2000:
Philips Semiconductors sells parts of its WAN product line to Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation.
August 07. 2000:
AMD Advanced Micro Devices completed the sale of 90 percent of its communications division to Francisco Partners. Francisco´s investments include the purchase of ON Semiconductor (from Motorola), GlobeSpan and Paradyne (from Lucent Technology) among others. Legerity Inc. is set up as an independent entity based in Austin, Texas and makes integrated circuits for voice and data communications.
July 28. 2000:
STMicroelectronics (former SGS Thomson) aquires Waferscale (WSI). WSI is a leading producer of configurable memory systems.
July 25. 2000:
As a shoe-in to optical network technology, Cypress Semiconductor Corp.´s Robert Corrigan believes his company´s purchase of Silicon Light Machines, announced today, couldn´t be sweeter. Silicon Light Machines is the developer of the Grating Light Valve (GLV) technology, a new silicon chip-based display architecture targeted at high-performance imaging applications which include HDTV (High Definition Television) and Electronic Cinema.
July 25. 2000:
Wireless technology company Qualcomm, Inc. said it plans to spin off its semiconductor and systems software business, Qualcomm Spinco, which will file for an initial public offering. Qualcomm's integrated circuits and system software businesses would be transferred to the new company, to be named at a later date, and its shares would be distributed to Qualcomm stockholders in the form of a tax-free dividend, the company said.
July 19. 2000:
Connexant buys (again!) two networking companies: Novanet Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Novacom Technologies and Netplane, a software designer.
July 17. 2000:
LSI Logic aquires DataPath Systems, a fab-less supplier of ADSL products as well as ICs for the Mass Storage and Broadband Communication markets.
July 17. 2000:
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, an industry leader among semiconductor foundry service providers, and Conexant
announced an expansion of their nine-year relationship with a new manufacturing alliance.
July 13. 2000:
UMC and Conexant disclosed today that they have inked a long-term deal that provides Conexant with quaranteed foundry capacity.
July 13. 2000:
Zoran Corp. signed on June 28. an agreement to acquire PixelCam, a designer of CMOS image sensors.
July 12. 2000:
Siliconix and On Semiconductors inked a cross-licensing agreement for power management technologies.
July 03. 2000:
Analog Devices announce it will buy BCO Technologies. The deal is expected to be completed in August 2000.
June 29. 2000:
Conexant acquires HotRail, a designer of multi-Gigabit CMOS transceivers.
June 29. 2000:
PMC-Sierra acquires Datum Telegraphic, a start-up wireless semiconductor company founded in 1998. Datum-Telegraphic has no working WEB site.
June 29. 2000:
Texas Instruments acquires Dot Wireless, a leader in CDMA wireless technology.
June 23. 2000:
Texas Instruments acquires Alantro Communications, a leading provider of wireless local area networking semiconductor technology.
June 21. 2000:
Texas Instruments acquires Burr-Brown, a leading supplier of high performance data converters.
June 15. 2000:
PMC-Sierra acquires Malleable Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company designing DSPs.
June 14. 2000:
Broadcom Corp. said today it plans to acquire Innovent Systems, Inc., a supplier of RF ICs such as Bluetooth devices.
June 14. 2000:
Korean multinational firm Young Poong Corp. said today it has acquired Signetics Korea Ltd. and plans to immediately invest $40 million in the IC assembly and test company.
May 23. 2000:
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and Fujitsu announce a joint venture
to construct a plant to manufacture flash memory chips. Fujitsu AMD Semiconductor Ltd. (FASL) plant's production capacity is expected to be around 13 million 16MB chips per month, growing to 52 million chips per month in 2002.
May 22. 2000:
AMD Advanced Micro Devices sells 90 percent of its communications division to Francisco Partners. Francisco's investments include the purchase of ON Semiconductor (from Motorola), GlobeSpan and Paradyne (from Lucent Technology) among others.
May 16. 2000:
GlobeSpan aquires iCompression, a leading developer of DSP applications.
May 16. 2000:
GlobeSpan aquires T.sqware, a leading provider of network processors.
Mai 12. 2000:
TYCO (AMP, Raychem, Macom) aquires Thomas+Betts and gets the world largest manufacturer of connectors
Mai 12. 2000:
STMicroelectronics (SGS Thomson) aquires Nortel
Mai 12. 2000:
Toshiba in a Joint Venture with SanDisk invest US$ 700 in a new company called FlashVision LCC
SanDisk already has connections with Hitachi and Matsushita.
Mai 3. 2000:
Yageo aquires Philips Ceramic Components Business Line!
Yageo now the world largest manufacturer of resistors and no. 4 in ceramic capacitors.
|
