Electronics Industry News & Analysis | Market Outlook & Trends

Chip Sales Grew 6.4 Percent in August

Worldwide chip sales improved in August for the sixth consecutive month on a year-over-year basis, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Flat-Panel TV Shipments Decline Again in July

For the second month in a row, the global market for flat-panel televisions fell in July compared to year-ago levels, and a slowdown overall suggests that TV shipments will contract...

Silicon Labs, MaxLinear Settle Patent Suits

Chip vendors cross license patents and agree to dismiss all legal action against one another.

U.S. Manufacturing Continues Expansion

U.S. manufacturing expanded in September for the fourth consecutive month, according to the Institute of Supply Management.

Benchmark Electronics Acquires Contract Manufacturing Business of CTS

Deal, valued at $75 million, expected to expand Benchmark's customer base in non-traditional and highly regulated markets.

Cirrus Logic Buys Acoustic Tech

Deal gives DSP vendor embedded firmware voice processing IP, including noise reduction, echo cancelation and voice enhancement.

Intel Teams with Open-Source Arduino

Chip giant announces family of Arduino-compatible development boards featuring Intel architecture.

3-D is Key to Next-Generation NAND Flash

Three-dimensional technologies will smooth the way for the next frontier in flash memory as production of 3-D NAND accelerates much more quickly than initially anticipated. Share from 3-D NAND of overall flash memory shipments is...

Broadcom Closes Acquisition of Renesas' LTE Assets

Acquisition of former Nokia engineers, IP expected to help firm penetrate LTE market early next year.

Intel to Take Back Israeli Fab Leased to Micron

Fab to continue building NOR flash for Micron for now; Intel won't comment on long term plans.

Samsung Unit Forms Partnership with Wireless Power Provider

Deal with New Zealand-based PowerbyProxi centered around consumer electronics and home appliance wireless power IP and technology.

Avnet Buys Majority Stake in European Distributor MSC

Deal billed as first step in a two-part transaction by which Avnet will ultimately acquire the remainder of the German-headquartered company.

Analog Chip Vendors Target Growing Market in Electrocardiograms

By packing the critical analog circuitry onto one (or more) ICs, analog vendors are enabling ECG monitor vendors to focus on the overall product package, user interface, connectivity and waveform-analysis algorithms.

Russian VC Funds Pinpoint U.S. Investments

Three Russian quasi-government innovation funds staged a week-long event to showcase U.S.-Russian business opportunities in nanotechnology, clean-tech, biotech, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and IT.

ARM Servers Aim Higher Despite Currrent Miniscule Market

Servers equipped with ARM processors will gradually emerge in the marketplace from a near-nonexistent base, in the process furnishing stepped-up competition to reigning kingpin Intel in...

Congress Votes to Secure Helium Supply

The electronics industry is close to avoiding a helium supply crisis after Congress last week approved bipartisan legislation to secure the procurement of this key element that is needed to manufacture semiconductors and other electronic products.

Ford SYNC (2nd generation) Teardown

Ford Sync (2nd generation) is essentially complete communications link for the late model Ford, Lincoln and Mercury product lines.

Materials Breakthrough Could Lead to Self-Deploying Medical Devices

Researchers from MIT and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore developed a way to bend ceramics, which could create important tools for biomedical applications.