Market Watch

March 2015
Rumors broke today, sparked by a Korean business site, that Samsung may be considering making a bid for AMD. It’s not unusual for these kinds of rumors to make the rounds, though it’s been awhile since I heard Samsung’s name floated. Any such acquisition would mark a sea change for the Sunnyvale-based co
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Date:
03/31/2015
Two notes on Intel's possibly buying Altera

Top 10 semiconductor industry suppliers

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, March 27, 2015, Intel is in talks to buy Altera. Intel’s largest purchase comes on the heels of a long series of semiconductor mergers and acquisitions – including NXP and Freescale, Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion, Lattice Semiconductor and Si
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Date:
03/30/2015
TDK expands power capacitor plant in Zhuhai, China

Production of power capacitors at the TDK plant in Zhuhai FTZ, China.

TDK has opened a production facility for EPCOS power capacitors at its Zhuhai FTZ plant in China. In doing so, TDK is expanding and consolidating its power capacitor production based in China. Besides capacitors, TDK manufactures a wide range of EPCOS protection devices and temperature sensors at the plant – no
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Date:
03/27/2015
LEDs: from emerging technology to a commodity at the speed of light.

Kevin Parmenter, Contributing Editor

In my career I have seen few things go from emerging to a sea change as fast as the LED lighting market. LED lighting has gone from emerging technology to mainstream commodity very rapidly, and there are yet few standards. Every application usually needs something different, as every customer wants something a
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Date:
03/21/2015
Autonomous vehicles are everywhere

Technologies of existing and planned autonomous vehicles by type of function

Autonomous vehicles are successful here and now but you are unlikely to meet one because the successes are in the upper atmosphere, open cast mines, nuclear power stations, underwater and in other relatively inaccessible places. As the new IDTechEx report "Autonomous Vehicles: Land, Water, Air 2015-2035" ex
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Date:
03/19/2015
The Energy Department announced up to $20 million in available funding to spur the development of high speed industrial motors and drives, using high power-density designs and integrated power electronics to increase efficiency. The industrial sector consumes over a quarter of the electricity produced in the Un
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Date:
03/19/2015
Cypress Semiconductor and Spansion announced that they have closed the merger of the two companies in an all-stock, tax-free transaction valued at approximately $5 billion. In a special meeting earlier today, Cypress shareholders approved the issuance of 2.457 shares of Cypress stock to Spansion shareholders fo
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Date:
03/13/2015
Mouser Electronics, a leading distributor with the latest semiconductors and electronic components, announced it has entered into a global distribution agreement and partnership with CUI - a global leader in the development and distribution of electro-mechanical components for over 25 years. The company, a subsidiary of
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Date:
03/11/2015
After three days, LOPEC, the International Exhibition and Conference for Printed Electronics, saw another increase in attendance and ended on Thursday. It was a complete success: From March 3 to 5, more than 2,300 visitors from 42 countries came to the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München. That corresponds to
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Date:
03/09/2015
On Thursday, March 12, 2015, Forbes Media will host its second annual “Reinventing America: Leading the Next Industrial Revolution Summit,” at the J.W. Marriott in the summit host city of Chicago. This invitation-only event will bring together industry leaders, investors, inventors, entrepreneurs, CEOs and po
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Date:
03/09/2015
The Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has used the Battery Lifetime Analysis and Simulation Tool (BLAST) to confirm that energy storage for demand-charge management can deliver attractive economic benefits. The analysis paired recent utility rate structures with historic data on
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Date:
03/09/2015
Recent IDTechEx conference presentations and webinars on the research carried out for the new IDTechEx report, "Electric Buses 2015-2025" attracted many questions. They reveal a general perception that things are moving much more slowly than is actually the case, with the exception of a few aspects su
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Date:
03/09/2015
Mentor Graphics announced that it has joined the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech, the industry consortium dedicated to improving electrical power processing and distribution across various systems. CPES is focused on technologies and applications related to power electronic components: ve
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Date:
03/04/2015
The Energy Department announced final rules for a prize competition to make it faster, cheaper, and easier for Americans to install solar energy systems and spur solar deployment nationwide. The SunShot Prize: Race to 7-Day Solar competition challenges innovators around the country to develop solutions to reduce th
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Date:
03/04/2015
Supporting Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's vision for New York State's continued leadership in the global high-tech economy, SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE) and Israel’s Metro450 consortium today jointly announced plans to develop and produce Standard Cali
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Date:
03/03/2015
John Kingston, President of the McGraw Hill Financial Institute, testifyied before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee and Energy and Power Subcommittee. The hearing, entitled "21st Century Energy Markets: How the Changing Dynamics of World Energy Markets Impact our Economy and En
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Date:
03/03/2015
Keysight Technologies announced that effective June 1, it will resume direct sales of high-performance products to all customers in North America. This includes Keysight’s broad portfolio of high-performance network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, signal sources, power products, oscilloscopes and modular solutions. El
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Date:
03/03/2015
The Energy Department announced up to $35 million in available funding to advance fuel cell and hydrogen technologies, and enable early adoption of fuel cell applications, such as light duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). This funding opportunity will accelerate American innovation in hydrogen and fuel ce
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Date:
03/03/2015
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