The Week In Review: May 21
By Mark LaPedus
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) launched its second-generation A-Series accelerated processing units (APUs) for notebooks and desktops. The codenamed “Trinity” APUs provide a boost in graphics and an increase in processor performance of up to 29 percent – thanks to AMD’s new “Piledriver” CPU core. The APUs are based on a 32nm process as well as silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology from Soitec. The Trinity devices are manufactured on a foundry basis by GlobalFoundries Inc.
Applied Materials Inc. beat Wall Street’s expectations in its results for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 ended April 29, 2012. Mike Splinter, chairman and chief executive of Applied, attributed the results to strong foundry orders, but noted that memory spending remains weak. The worldwide wafer equipment market (WFE) is expected to be flat to minus 10 percent in 2012, he said.
Infinite Power Solutions Inc. (IPS) recently obtained a $10 million round in venture capital funding. The startup is developing solid-state, rechargeable, thin-film micro-energy storage devices for embedded applications. Generation Investment Management, D. E. Shaw Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners and Core Capital Partners co-led the financing. Other investors included Applied Ventures LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, and In-Q-Tel. In-Q-Tel is the venture capital arm of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
TowerJazz, a specialty foundry, released a 180nm power management analog/mixed-signal reference design flow, featuring technology from Cadence Design Systems. Another foundry, Altis Semiconductor, released of its qualified process design kits for its 130nm specialty technologies. It is based on Cadence’s Virtuoso 6.1 and OpenAccess Platform solutions.
Mentor Graphics won two deals. The first was from U.K.-based Professional Circuit Design, which standardized on Mentor’s PCB design through manufacturing technologies and consulting services. The second involved Vestel Electronics, a set-top box manufacturer in Europe, which is using Mentor’s Inflexion user interface technology.
Tags: Applied Materials, CIA, GlobalFoundries, Soitec