THT Research - Weekly OEM/ODM Newsletter
Jan 08, 2007
The Latest News on Global IT Contract Manufacturing from www.THTresearch.com AUTOMOTIVE
Toyota to make cars for Fuji Heavy Industries for Europe market
Toyota will soon be producing small passenger cars (Passo) for Fuji Heavy Industries that will be sold under the Subaru brand in Europe. Toyota has an 8.7% stake in Subaru.
China auto exports surge!
In 2006, China exported 340K automobiles, with sedans accounting for over 90K. China's auto exports are rising rapidly -- 2006s numbers were twice 2005s, and the total exports for 2004 were just 78K automobiles. In 2007, China expects to surpass Germany as the world's #1 auto exporter.
BRING ON THE ORDERS
Philips LED backlit TV orders
Ya Hsin Industrial (Taiwan) has received orders from Philips for LED-backlit TVs. Shipments to begin 1Q07.
Sharp LCD TVs
Wistron has received orders for 20-inch LCD TVs from Sharp, with orders expected to reach 300-500K in 2007. Wistron also ships LCD TVs to HP.
LG PDP order
China-based TV maker Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronics has ordered PDP TVs from LGE.
Samsung backlight module orders
Samsung has recently ordered backlight modules from Taiwan, most likely from Radiant Opto-Electronics Corp., which shipped 32-inch TV panel backlight modules to Samsung in Nov 06.
Wistron receives HP LCD TV orders
Wistron has received orders for 26-, 32-, 42-, and 47-inch LCD TVs from HP. CMO will supply the 26- and 32-inch panels, and LPL the LPL 42- and 47-inch panels. Wistron expects to ship close to 1M LCD TVs in 2007.
COMPANY NEWS AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
CPT and Sharp patent licensing
Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Sharp have agreed to cross license LCD patents, with the deal to remain in effect through 2011.
BenQ to build LCD factory in Czech Republic
BenQ plans to build an LCD monitor factory in the Czech Republic (Brno) together with local partner CTP Invest. The factoy is expected to have 8 assembly lines. Let's hope for BenQ's partners that the company has enough money to run its other businesses after all the money its lost on its handset business.
Huawei lands India order
Huawei has begun supplying STM-64 next gen optical networking gear to India telecom BSNL.
Luxpro rebounds from Apple IP suit
Taiwan's Luxpro has won its patent infringement case against Apple and has begun shipping its MP3 players again. Luxpro has filed for US$100M compensation charges against Apple. The company expects to ship 100K MP3 players/month in 2007. Apple had accused the company of copying its iPOD Shuffle design.
USI - Holux dispute
USI has requested that the Taiwan government seize up to NT$13.85 million worth of assets of Holux Technology. USI produced GPS devices for Holux in 2003, but Holux refused to accept some of the shipments that it deemed defective.
M & A
Cirrus Logic acquires IC design house Caretta
Cirrus Logic Inc. has bought all outstanding stock of fabless IC design company Caretta Integrated Circuits Inc. (Shanghai) for US$10.5M in cash, and has agreed to additional payments in the future to employee stock holders.
SI acquires sci-worx
Silicon Image Inc. has acquired sci-worx GmbH from Infineon for US$13.5M in cash. sci-worx is a German design service and IP provide.
Foxconn requires Altus
Foxconn has acquired 64.59% of Altus Technology, a maker of compact camera modules, for US$36.6M.
PC on Wheels
Lite-On car use disc drive moves
Lite-On IT plans to buy Royal Philips' Automotive Playback Modules business for US$56M, as well as buy out BenQ's share of Philips BenQ Digital Storage (PBDS). APM has a 40% maret share in the car-use disc drive market in Europe, counting Siemens, Mercedes and BMW among its clients. Globally, it's CD drive market share is 19% and its car use DVD drive share is 13%.
|
