THT Research - Weekly OEM/ODM Newsletter

The Latest News on Global IT Contract Manufacturing from www.THTresearch.com 

BRING ON THE ORDERS
 
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing 65nm prdn for Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments has disclosed that is has signed up Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing as a third foundry for 65nm node production.
 
Dell 20-in LCD orders
Dell has placed orders for 20-inch widescreen monitor panels with AUO, CPT and LG.Philips, with total montly shipments anticipated to be more than 100K units.
 
Sharp LCD TV panels
AUO and CMO are both expecting more large-sized LCD TV panel orders from Sharp. Sharp plans to increase the over-37-inch LCD TVs from 14% to 26% of production.
 
AverMedia TV orders form Dell
AverMedia Technologies has just received orders for three TV card products from Dell. T he first shipment is expected to occur in May, the second in September and the third in December.
 
Unity Opto Technology's US$1.25M contract
Unity Opto Technology has secured contracts for 7-in LCD-use LED backlights amounting to US$1.25M. The products are expected to ship end of May to China for use in portable DVDs.
 
nVidia chips in HP notebooks
nVidia announces that its Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 IGP and Nvidia nForce Go 430 MCP are now embedded in the HP Pavilion dv2000 series and Compaq Presario V3000 series of notebooks.
 
AUO LCD-TV panel orders from Philips
AUO has just received 42-in LCD TV panel orders from Royal Philips Electronics, which usually reserves such orders for LG Philips. AUO is expected to start prodn at its 6G facility in May, with shipments scheduled for 3Q06. 
 
Zyxel IAD orders from SeedNet
Zyxel Communication has just received orders for IAD equipment for use in SeedNet's 'Wagaly Talk' VoIP services. Shipments are expected to commence in May06.
 
Lite-On loader orders for Xbox 360
Lite-On has just received loader orders from Microsoft for its Xbox 360 game console. Actually, Lite-On 'inherited' the orders as a result of its purchase of BenQ's ODD business, which just received Microsoft validation.
 
 
CHINA
 
Taiwan, China to produce over US$104M iPods and accessories
A study shows that Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers will be responsible for producing over US$104M of iPods and related accessories in 2006.
 
Toppoly Optoelectronics free to invest in Philips LCM plant
Toppoly Optoelectronics is said to receive approval anytime soon from Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs regarding its intended investment in Royal Philips Electronics' LCM facility in China.
 
 
COMPANY NEWS AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
 
Dbtel to reduce shares for better financial status
Taiwanes mobile phone provider Dbtel states that it will decrease shares to increase financial status. After the said reduction, its capital will be about NT$1.25B (US$39.3M), a sharp decline from its current NT$8.32 billion.
 
HannStar Display to use Honeywell patents
HannStar Display has just received the rights to use Honeywell International's patents for making panels, which is said to increase the brightness of images and decrease interference of moire effects (i.e., circular interference lines).
 
Sanyang sells Vietnam subsidiary
Taiwan scooter maker Sanyang Industry Co. is selling a 10% stake of its Vietnam subsidiary, the Vietnam Manufacturing and Export Processing Co. Ltd. (VMEP )to Merrill Lynch for US$22M. VMEP is scheduled to go public in Hong Kong in the 4Q07.

Mosel tries to get on the right track
Mosel is trying to make a comeback by phasing out its DRAM sales business, concentrating on foundry services for power discrete component and driver IC, and setting its sight on solar cell and RFID as new markets. Industry observ ers, however, while welcoming Mosel’s concentration on IC manufacturing, are skeptical towards its plans to set up new businesses due to the fact that initial contributions will only start trickling in by at least mid-2007.
 
 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES
 
Motorola settles with KBT Mobile over RAZR copying
Motorola has just reached a settlement with KBT Mobile, which it sued for 'copying' its highly popular RAZR mobile phone. Called the V500, the RAZR look alikes were being sold in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.
 
 
M & A
 
EMC acquires Kashya for US$153M
EMC has just acquired Israeli firm Kashya for US$153M in cash. Kashya (Arabic for 'a problem difficult to solve') creates data replication and protection applications for disaster recovery and business continuity.
 
IBM to acquire Sphera?
There are talks that IBM may be purcfhasing Israeli-based Sphera Corporation, which creates solutions for hosting applications on server farms. It has developed a platform that speeds up the automation of applications for clients.
 
Investnments in Unity Opto
Unity Opto Technology is expected to increase its capital by NT$250M with help from panel manufacturers such as AUO, CPT and Innolux Display. AUO and Innolux have yet to confirm these reports.
 
GigaMedia sells ADSL business for US$17.9 million
Online TV provider Webs-TV has just acquired the ADSL unit of GigaMedia for US$17.9 million. GigaMedia currently has a subscriber base of 62K, which translates to a 2.5% market share in the ADSL market.
 
Is Yageo planning to acquire Ta-I Technology?
Yageo is said to be in the process of trying to acquire resistor-chip manufacturer Ta-I Technology. Although it is said that Yageo has already bought a 20% stake in Ta-I on the open market, Yageo is denying this.
 
Compal to buy Arcadyan for US$31.42M
Compal Electronics is scheduled to announce the acquisition of Accton's 52%-owned subsidiary Arcadyan Technology for US$31.42M in June. The acquisition is said to enable Compal to enter the SOHO network market.
 
Siemens acquires Photonic Bridges
Siemens has just bought Photonic Bridges, an optics specialist situated in Shanghai, China. The acquisition will enable Siemens to strengthen its position in the next-gen optical networks market, which is expected to rise to 3.1B euros by 2010.
 
Unity Opto 2% stake in Formosa Epitaxy
Unity Opto Technology has just acquired a 2% stake in Formosa Epitaxy via the purchase of stock and convertible bonds.
 
AudioCodes acquires Nuera Communications for US$85M
AudioCodes plans to purchase Nuera Communications for US$85M in cash in 2Q06 or 3Q06. This amount can increase to US$90M if the latter achieves certain pre-defined revenue milestones.
 
Bank Leumi acquires 5% of Cellcom for US$72M
Bank Leumi has just purchased 5% of wireless telephony operator Cellcom from DISI for US$72M. The deal is expected to be finalized in June06.
 
Onset Technology acquires MessageVine
Onset Technology has announced that it intends to purchase MessageVine. The deal is expected to enable users of Onset's METAmessage Emergency Communications to "blast emergency messages across many platforms".
 
Microsoft acquires Whale Communications for US$75M
Microsoft has just acquired Israel-based Whale Communications for US$75M. The latter develops secure VPN services utilizing SSL encryption.