Sales of machines to make semiconductors will rise much faster in 2006 than initially forecast due to strong demand for electronic goods such as mobile phones, according to U.

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S. chip market research group VLSI Research. Worldwide sales of chipmaking equipment are expected to rise to $62.8 billion in 2006, up 23.2 percent from 2005, against initial forecasts for a 13 percent increase.
The increase in the forecast was prompted by strong first-quarter equipment sales of $15 billion, 20 percent more than the prior quarter and 9.5 percent above the year-ago period. VLSI Research warned that the surge in investment may be too much and that a correction loomed in the second half of the year.
The ratio of investment in equipment to sales of chips is running at 31 percent this year. This is well above the healthy investment ratio of 20 percent, VLSI Research said.

Working with STMicroelectronics to equip a 300-mm wafer fab in Catania, Italy, is one of three options for adding manufacturing capacity under consideration by Freescale Semiconductor, according to Denis Griot, the company's senior vice president.

Earlier this week, Carlo Bozotti, ST's president and chief executive officer, said the chip maker was looking for partners to share the cost of equipping the fab. Griot confirmed to Europelectronics that Freescale is considering such an investment.

Griot, who also manages Freescale's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was the key negotiator when Freescale (then Motorola Semiconductor) joined the Crolles 2 chip project in which it cooperates with ST and Philips Semiconductor on process and IP development.

Griot spoke at the Europartners Distribution Forum in Paris. When asked by EE Times UK if investing in Catania was under consideration, Griot said, "I think a lot of the Crolle technology will migrate to proprietary fabs in addition to TSMC, as it does today. And of course we are considering the scenario you mentioned. But there are other scenarios which are more in Asia but also in North America."
Griot added, "The final decision has definitely not been taken and this is just one scenario among three we are considering."

Sir Robin Saxby, founding chief executive officer of processor technology licensing company ARM Holdings and currently chairman, is to retire from the board of directors of the company. He is to be succeeded by semiconductor industry veteran Doug Dunn.

Saxby is due to retire from the board on Oct. 1, 2006, when he takes up the role of President of the U.K. professional body for engineers, the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). Dunn, aged 61, was president and chief executive officer of ASM Lithography until his retirement in December 2004. Prior to that Dunn held senior positions at Philips Electronics including being in charge of the semiconductor division and prior to that was chief executive of GEC Plessey Semiconductors.

ASML announced that it expects Q2 2006 order entry to be at least 40 percent higher than Q1 2006 net bookings of 62 lithography systems. ASML expects its Q2 2006 bookings level to be higher than previously disclosed due to strong customer demand for deliveries in Q4 2006 and Q1 2007.

Prelude Trust has invested 1.8 million euros ($2.3 million) in Xanadu Wireless BV, a fabless semiconductor company developing products for the ZigBee low-cost wireless communications market.

The investment is the first part of a larger financing round being provided by Prelude, GIMV and Motorola Ventures, Prelude said, adding that it’s investment has brought it a 19.4 percent shareholding in Xanadu (Utrecht, The Netherlands).

Based on its conviction that Kingbright is infringing fundamental patent rights, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has filed action against the Taiwanese LED manufacturer Kingbright Electronic at Dusseldorf Regional Court (Germany) and its German subsidiary Kingbright Europe. As part of the suit, Osram has asked that Kingbright be prevented from importing LEDs and Kingbright products containing the LEDs to Germany. Action was similarly taken against distributor D. Schuricht GmbH & Co. KG, Bremen, which is selling Kingbright's LEDs in Germany.

TRONIC'S Microsystems, a contract manufacturer of custom MEMS components, announced that it is extending its capabilities for design, frontend/backend manufacturing and electronic interfacing of MEMS components supported by a 1.7MEUR financial round with its institutional investors. The French manufacturer recently completed the upgrade of its facility from four-inch to six-inch wafer technology. The 1.7MEUR in fourth-round venture backing, which was concluded on May 12, will partially fund the capacity and capability expansions. All previous investors participated in the recent round: CDC Entreprises Innovation, Sercel, Credit Agricole Private Equity, Schneider Electric Ventures, CEA Valorisation and IXCore. TRONIC'S has received 15MEUR in total investment to support its continuous growth and consolidate its business development since its founding in 1997.

DeepStream Technologies, a North Wales pioneer in high volume integrated 3D digital sensor technology, has appointed Philippe Vedel, as its vice president of sales and marketing. Vedel has extensive global sales, marketing and operations experience working for more than nine years for Eaton Corporation, a global leader in fluid power systems, automotive and truck components and electrical systems and components.

Total shipments of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and CMOS image sensors are expected to grow 31% this year, reaching 1.9 billion units worldwide, and that will be enough to push sales up 12% and across the $7 billion mark, says IC Insights.

In 2005, image sensor sales grew a little more than 11% to $6.3 billion with unit shipments rising 45%. The optoelectronics chapter of the O-S-D Report shows average selling prices (ASPs) collapsing by 24% in 2005 and then dropping another 15% in 2006.

Image sensor revenues are now expected to increase at a CAGR of 15%, with unit volumes growing at a 20% average rate in the 2005-2010 time period. By 2010, image sensor sales are expected to reach $12.8 billion with unit shipments topping 3.6 million, according to the IC Insights O-S-D forecast.

In the image sensor arena, CMOS-based devices continue to grab share away from CCDs due to the strong growth in camera cell phones and the ability to integrate more circuit functions with pixel arrays on a single chip. CMOS devices are forecast to account for more than 60% of the total image sensor market in 2006, up from 45% in 2003. According to IC Insights’ outlook, CMOS image sensors will claim more than 80% of the total revenues and over 90% of the units in 2008.

The use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in mobile phone handsets reached $157 million in 2005 and is set to exceed to $1 billion in 2010, according to market research company In-Stat.

Microphones and bulk acoustic resonators have dominated the MEMS market to date but there are now emerging opportunities for inertial sensors, accelerometers, and radio frequency components.

MEMS switches and MEMS-based digital tuning would appear in handsets in 2007, followed by MEMS-based oscillators in 2008. Continued growth is foreseen for silicon membrane microphones based on demand for thinner handsets. In the longer term displays, fuel cells, and other types of MEMS devices could also develop a price advantage, In-Stat said.

The value of worldwide FPGA shipments is expected to increase from $1.9 billion in 2005 to $2.75 billion by 2010, with much of the revenue coming from low-volume shipments, according to In-Stat.
By 2010, the largest two end-use segments will continue to be communications and industrial, growing to a combined FPGA market share of 76.8 percent from 73.8 percent in 2005.

In Q1, NOR-type flash memory market decreased 6,1% sequentially to $ 2013 M, according to preliminary market-share data from iSuppli.
Spansion retained its position as the world’s leading supplier of NOR-type flash memory. The U.S.-based company achieved NOR sales of $562 million in the first quarter, down 6.5 percent from $601 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Intel held onto second place with revenue of $537 million, down 10.5 percent from $600 million in the fourth quarter. Europe’s STMicroelectronics remained in third place with revenue of $327 million, a 2.4 percent decline from $335 million in the fourth quarter.
Samsung Electronics notched up its best-ever quarter for NOR flash sales, with revenue of $125 million, up 9 percent from $114 million in the fourth quarter.

Strong demand boosted the worldwide market for chemicals and materials for semiconductor manufacturing by 6.1% in 2005, and growth for 2006 is projected at 6.8%, according to The Information Network. The clear winner in the market is the silicon-wafer sector, which will grow 8.9% in revenues in 2006 to $ 8,642 billions driven by higher pricing, increased volume demand across all diameters, and a rash of 300mm fabs coming online.

Samsung is about to become a foundry giant. Over the next six years, the company will spend $33 billion in capital equipment to build six new 300mm fabs. The company already has one in the works, bringing the total to seven.

“We see foundries as the next growth engine,” Ana Hunter, VP of technology for Samsung’s System LSI Division, said. “We will begin offering strategic foundry services starting with 90 nanometers..

Samsung will leverage its joint development project with IBM and Chartered Semiconductor, all of which have collaborated to create a common platform. That also allows Chartered and IBM to act as second sources for Samsung, and vice versa. All have exactly the same processes running internally.

Micron Technology intends to double its CMOS sensor manufacturing capacity by converting two 8-inch memory fabs to imager chip production.
Micron, which currently produces CMOS sensors in Boise, Idaho, and Avezzano, Italy, is converting another Boise plant and one in Nishiwaki, Japan, to sensor production. Each of the four fabs has a production capacity of 50,000 8-inch wafers a month.