THT Research - Weekly OEM/ODM Newsletter

The Latest News on Global IT Contract Manufacturing from www.THTresearch.com 
 
ACCOUNTABILITY CORNER
 
Asia Optical DSC shipment
Asia Optical had set its DSC shipment forecast at 6M units - it's only March and the company has downgraded to 3.9M units. Following its decision to withdraw from low-mid-end models, that number sounds high too and we expect further downgrades. Premier, on the other hand, expects to ship 15M units in 2006, a 15% global market share.

BRING ON THE ORDERS
 
Transmeta licenses to Toshiba
Transmeta Corp has closed a deal with Toshiba for licensing its LongRun2 technology for reducing power consumption. Toshiba can use the technologies in 90-nm to 22-nm CMOS process generations.
 
Skywirth adopts Philips' LCD TV chip
Skyworth is using Philips' TDA15500 single-chip solution with TV505 reference design in its new 8T84 series LCD TVs. The solution, according to Philips, shortens development time and lowers manufacturing costs. The chip offers IF decoding, audio/video decoding, picture quality improvement, de-interlacing, scaling and sound processing in a single package. Using a single chip also lowers production costs.
 
Sipix closes China deal
Sipex, a Milpitas, CA based analog IC supplier, has signed a foundry services agreement with Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics Co. Ltd. and Hangzhou Silan Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. The agreement includes manufacturing, product licenses, process technology transfers and fab equipment sales. With the deal, Sipex will completely stop manufacturing in Milpitas.
 
Microsoft should be happy
Lenovo Group has announced that it will purchase RMB1.2B worth of OS's from Microsoft for the China market and RMB10B world-wide in 2006. Lenovo began pre-installing OEM copies of Windows in its PCs in November 2005.
 
ProMOS ion implanter orders
Advanced Ion Beam Technology (AIBT) (US) has received orders from ProMOS for iStar ion implanters for its 12-inch wafer fab. In the past ProMOS bought ion implanters from Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates.
 
 
CHINA
 
Mitsubishi out of China phone market
Japanese companies just can't seem to take the heat in China. Mitsubishi recently became the third Japanese company to exit the China mobile phone market, following Toshiba and Panasonic.
 
 
COMPANY NEWS AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
 
Lenovo
Lenovo, according to iSuppli, is now the #3 PC company world-wide, having shipped 13.9M units in 2005 for a global market share of 6.4%.
 
CPT denies merger rumors
CPT is denying reports that it plans to merge with another panel maker, although it isn't ruling out "cooperation."
 
CMO - Thomson deal
CMO and Thomson Licensing Inc. (France) have signed a deal under which C MO will license all of Thomson's LCD monitor-related patents. In 2005, Thomson filed patent-infringement litigation against BenQ and AUO. CMO has signed similar agreements with Sharp, Hitachi, Fujitsu and others.
 
Adlink - Knotron alliance
IPC manufacturer Adlink Technology Inc. (Taiwan) and industrial PC vendor Knotron (Germany) to promote small-sized module computers. Adlink aims to promote branded products in Europe, especially the microETXexpress module computer developed by Kontron.
 
Formosa NBA capacity expansion
Formosa Plastics, which is invested in both FIC and HTC, plans to build a new N-Butanol (NBA) plant with a 250M ton capacit y to be completed by 2008.
 
Funai - CMO panel supply deal
Funai Electric Co (Japan) and CMO (Taiwan) have signed a cooperation agreement for supply of LCD TV panels. Funai plans to launch a series of new products in 2Q06 boasting the world's best picture quality. According to the agreement, Funai will provide US$400M financing to CMO. Funai sells its products world-wide under the Emerson, Sylvania, and Symphonic brands.

 
M & A
 
M&As in the LCD driver backend sector
Gold bumping company Fupo is looking to merge with a larger LCD driver backend service company in order to keep pace with the trend of providing turnkey services - a challenge for small companies like Fupo.
 
KLA-Tencor to acquire ADE
KLA-Tencor Corp. plans to acquire ADE Corp. for US$488M in stock. The acquisition will help KLA-Tencor expand its silicon wafer inspection business. Last month KLA-Tencor withdrew its offer to acquire August Technology Corp.
 
Motorola completes acquisition of Kreatel
Motorola has completed acquisition of Kreatel Communications AB (Sweden), a developer of IP based digital STBs. Kreatel's flexible STB platform will be integrat ed into Motorola's end-to-end digital video solutions. Kreatel will maintain its Sweden operations and the company will be integrated into Motorola's Connected Home Solutions business.
 
Genius goes to Japan
Phone camera lens kit maker Genius Electronic Optical (Taiwan) has announced that it plans a JV with a Japanese company in order to supply the Japanese market. Genius can currently produce 40M plastic lenses/month and expects to expand production to 60M by 1Q07.
 
 
PC ON WHEELS
 
Sinbond's autoelectronics market debut
Auotomotive electronics accounts for 1% of Sinbond's sales. It has recently received first orders from Denso (Japan), a major supplier to Toyota. Sinbond is making its entry in the automotive space with a cable for the oxygen sensor. The entry barrier for this product is higher than that required for, for example, audio, reverse sensors, etc. Sinbond is also in talks with other Japanese and some Taiwan auto makers and expects to earn NT$60-90B from the business in 2006.