Friday, January 26. 2007
- STMicro has posted a 51% net increase in the fourth quarter but warns of weaker business in the coming months. Inventory is building up due to weaker demand in the wireless markets. Better business is expected for the second half of 2007, though.
- Nokia reported that it had been able to "solidify" its number one mobile phone vendor position in the fourth quarter, with 106 million handsets sold and revenues up 27% from a year earlier. This is quite a good result in light of falling average selling prices, which shows that they were prepared for that and could overcompensate. Net income increased to €1.27 billion.
- With the move into smaller structures, all chipset manufacturers are faced with higher leakages that force them to use different materials than silicon dioxide and polycrystalline silicon. Intel, IBM, TI and others will make the move to new materials with the 45nm process introduction. What everyone is using has not yet been disclosed since - at least at the beginning - this could mean a competitive advantage. Intel seems to have a time-to-market lead ready to produce chipsets already in 2007 wheras the others plan introduction in 2008.
- Siemens is buying the US software company UGS Corp. to bolster its factory-automation business unit. This shows Siemens' focus on automation, which is among the four areas (energy/environment, health, public and private infrastructure) they intend to focus on in the coming years. For its automotive supplier business, Siemens VDO, they plan to sell a minority stake in a public offering starting a (partial) spin-off.
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