Electronic Business articles from October 2003

Electronic Business archives from October 2003

Meeting supply chain demands: more information helps tackle the weakest links.(Editor's Note)
October 1, 2003... Electronics is known for its amazing technological accomplishments, such as ever more powerful, yet smaller, chips and components. Behind the scenes, however, the electronics industry is subject to the same supply chain management issues that...

How fast are your reflexes?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... I found James Haughey's "Blast from the Past" [September 2003, page 16] to be informative and enlightening. Although I certainly agree with his analysis of the current situation, I do feel that the upcoming cycle will be more extreme than your...

Where's Foxconn?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... How does the top 100 list of contract manufacturers [September 2003, page 36] not include the likes of a company such as Hon Hai/Foxconn? Foxconn is responsible for a massive flow of electronic manufacturing jobs to main land China, especially...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2003... Due to an editing error, we noted in the September 2003 story "The Ups and Downs of Contract Manufacturing," page 36, Flextronics SGA costs as $116 billion; they were actually $116 million. The editors responsible have had the decimals shifted...

Software or silicon?(Semiconductor Design)
October 1, 2003... Complicated chip designs are forcing semiconductor companies to adjust their design tactics. One of the trickier decisions is about where the intellectual property (IP) will reside--in silicon or software. "More chip IP is in adjoining...

Cutting power but not profits: Power Integrations stays a winning course.(Profile)(Company Profile)
October 1, 2003... Power Integrations Inc. is one of the few--perhaps the only--semiconductor company to turn a profit every quarter in the downturn. In fact, the San Jose, Calif., chip maker has reported a profit every quarter since its IPO in December 1997. ...

Wireless workers risk data insecurity: don't leave the office without protecting it.(Mobile Systems)
October 1, 2003... As most sales figures and analyst predictions have revealed, wireless networking is the one bright spot in computing right now. But today's growing mobile workforce has a lot of experts concerned. Although companies are taking measures to...

Identifying the winners and losers: chip stock prices don't tell the full story.(Finance)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2003... Semiconductor stocks have come roaring back since they hit bottom a year ago. But in the world of chip stocks, things are not always what they appear to be: Some of the highest stock performers are still not well-positioned for long-term...

Companies reach tentative settlement on IPO fraud: but payoff awaits judgment against investment banks.(Management)
October 1, 2003... Hundreds of tech companies are hoping that a mammoth IPO fraud lawsuit is behind them after a $1 billion settlement was proposed over the summer. But the case is likely to drag on for years. The settlement must not only be approved by U.S....

No pain, no gain: some companies--and countries--are well positioned for the bounceback.(Economic Outlook)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2003... Within the technology industry, the word recession--even depresion--is being used to describe market conditions. Whereas most other industries have stopped layoffs and restored margins, electronics industry managers are still shedding jobs,...

Qualcomm sues Texas Instruments for breach of contract.(Litigation)
October 1, 2003... Qualcomm Inc. is suing Texas Instruments Inc., claiming it breached a cross-licensing agreement the two signed in December 2000 covering thousands of patents the companies held. Qualcomm has a reputation for suing to protect its patents for...

Shop now and avoid the crowds.(Business Barometer)(Industry Overview)
October 1, 2003... This month's polling of purchasing shows some signs of life for the electronics industry. Roughly a third of companies expect an increase in business conditions over the next 30 days. One in four believe capacity utilization will improve. ...

ATI's bragging rights: the deal with Microsoft for the Xbox is neither a boom or a bust.(Semiconductors)
October 1, 2003... The deal ATI Technologies won to provide 3-D graphics intellectual property (IP) for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox is good news for the Canadian graphics chip company. It's also more evidence that competition is alive and well in the...

Analog angst: several startups vie to serve chip design's neglected segment.(Electronic Design Automation)
October 1, 2003... A bevy of startup companies hopes to cash in on the industry's growing need to design more analog circuits faster with fewer analog designers. The companies each have adequate to excellent venture funding (see the table, "Some Analog EDA...

Can OEMs turn back from reverse auctions? Probably not, but they should at least play fair, say suppliers.(Supply Chain Management)
October 1, 2003... It's a nightmare that component suppliers are experiencing more and more. One of their biggest OEM customers asks them to participate in an online reverse auction. For the supplier, there is no good answer. If it refuses, it's likely to lose...

IBM and Viacore partner on supply chain tools.(Integration)
October 1, 2003... FADI CHEHADE THINKS the industry is ready to move out of survival mode and get back to the everyday challenges--such as business-to-business (B2B) integration. IBM apparently agrees. Last month Chehade's Irvine, Calif.-based company,...

Dielectric becomes a dirty word: both low- and high-k dielectrics are proving to be a challenge.(Capital Equipment)
October 1, 2003... For the longest time, the one real potential threat to the cycle of device shrinks within the semiconductor industry was lithography and its ability to resolve ever smaller feature sizes. Now that we are well into the submicron era, it looks as...

Microsoft does hardware: the software giant has been subtly expanding into new hardware markets.(Profile)
October 1, 2003... CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SAYS that Microsoft is a great big software firm, but sometimes conventional wisdom is wrong. For two decades, Microsoft has also been one of the world's leading providers of keyboards, mice, joysticks and gamepads. With the...

A truce in the battle over inventory: OEMs smarting from inventory bloat work with their suppliers to reduce the risk of getting stuck with excess product.(Supply Chain Strategies)
October 1, 2003... LINEAR TECHNOLOGY CEO Bob Swanson looks at a cartoon on his wall every time he's tempted to accept a lopsided business deal. The cartoon's caption: "I'm pleased to announce that we've completely outsourced problems, anxiety and any...

Pretenders to power: fuel cells must now prove they are the heir apparent to batteries.(Mobile Technology)
October 1, 2003... The arrival of fuel cells as new power sources for portable electronics is a fait accompli that's yet to be accomplished. Yes, fuel cell engineering is as advanced as it has ever been, and the reigning battery chemistry, lithium ion, is about...

Relationship management: what's good for the customer is good for the supplier.(Commentary)
October 1, 2003... What makes for a successful long-standing customer/supplier relationship--especially in the semiconductor industry, with its high level of design complexity, distributed teams and large investments in nonrecurring engineering (NRE) charges? ...

Next-generation digital photography: breaking the barriers to better pictures.(Chip Advisor)
October 1, 2003... Photography has become one of the best markets for digital electronics. People are rapidly becoming comfortable with this new technology. Digital cameras are easier to use and their pictures can match or even beat pictures from film cameras....