THT Research Newsletter - The Latest News on Global IT Manufacturing Fri, Feb 23, 2007

THT Research - Weekly Newsletter
The Latest News on Global IT Contract Manufacturing
From www.THTresearch.com Fri, Feb 23, 2007

ACCOUNTABILITY CORNER BRING ON THE ORDERS CHINA COMPANY NEWS AND INDUSTRY TRENDS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES M & A

This newsletter is a free service of THT Research, the leading industry analyst firm that tracks OEM-ODM deals. More in-depth information and the "stories behind the stories" on individual manufacturers, OEMs, or entire IT sectors can be accessed by purchasing individual reports or an annual subscription to THT's online database. THT's experienced research teams in Asia and the US also conduct custom research projects for a broad spectrum of clients. View our FREE Asustek OEM report, at http://www.thtresearch.com/tht/sampleResult.php Please visit us on the web at www.thtresearch.com, speak to someone at THT at 312-235-2673, chat with us on MSN at "taiwanTHT@hotmail.com" or email us.
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THT's Online Contract Manufacturing Database currently contains the following data: 7,96 Contract Manufacturing records 16,190 Company profiles 3,817 OEM/ODM Products covered 228 Brand names covered 710 China Activity records 725 Financial Notes 8,016 M&A deals 4,473 Product/company shipment statistics

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VISTA DRIVERS RadarSync has put up a page listing ALL Vista drivers with free links to driver downloads. The page will be updated daily and will definitely help those upgrading to Vista. More info: http://radarsync.com/vista

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NEW FEATURE: THT is going to be featuring a new Chinese company every month in this newsletter. This month's company is Elitek (Shenzhen) Communication Devices Co., Ltd. -- see more below.

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ACCOUNTABILITY CORNER

Arima handset shipments Arima Communications was projecting handset shipments of 15M for 2006, but shipped just 13.16M units after December shipments of just 530K.

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BRING ON THE ORDERS

Maxim - Seiko deal Seiko Epson has received an order from Maxim Integrated Products Inc. to manufacture Maxim's mixed-signal semiconductor products designed for power-management and battery-management applications. Seiko will use its 200-mm Sakata, Japan fab. The deal also involves a technology trade between the two companies.

Elpida Memory DDR-2 packaging and testing contract Walton Advanced Engineering has won DDR2 packaging and testing orders from Elpida Memory.

Via chip in China's Loongson processor The Chinese Academy of Sciences has selected VIA's southbridge chip for its Loongson processor, under development.

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CHINA

200% Increase in China's Auto Exports According to the Ministry of Commerce, China's auto exports reached a 200% increase in 2006 totaling 340,000 units (with Sedan exporting 90,000 units) from 78,000 units in 2004 and 173,000 units in 2005. China's export volume amounted to US$1.58B and it aims to export US$120 billion or 10% of the world's total vehicle trading volume in 10 years. In 2006, China has produced more than 7M units and was projected to surpass Germany and become the world's 3rd largest automobile manufacturer.

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COMPANY NEWS AND INDUSTRY TRENDS

Adventec sees sales rise on Palm Treo 680 orders Adventec, the ODM maker of Palm Treo 680, expects to see sales continue to increase following the success of the smartphone in the US and SE Asia and its forthcoming introduction into the greater China markets.

ZTE and Siano hook up for Telecom Italia TV phone contract ZTE (China) and Siano Mobile Silicon Ltd. are cooperating to produce a 3G DVB-H mobile phone capable of receiving video sequences and television programs for Telecom Italia Mobile. The phone will use Siano's multi-standard receiver chip.

Tower Semicon - Forza cooperation. Tower Semiconductor and Forza Silicon Corporation are cooperating to design and produce mixed signal and image sensor chips. Forza will take care of the design, which will be based on Tower's Advanced Photo Diode pixel IP. The chips will be made at Tower's Fab2, 0.18-micron process technology.

Hon Hai remains #1 in Taiwan patents Hon Hai Precision Industry Co applied has applied for more patents in Taiwan in each of the last four years than any other company, according to the government Intellectual Property Office. Royal Philips Electronics NV was top foreign company and Sony was the second, in terms of 2006 patent applications.

Samsung settles DRAM price fixing suit Samsung Electronics has agreed to pay US$90M to settle a DRAM chip price-fixing lawsuit filed last July. US$80 million of the settlement will go to consumers and US$10 million go to US state and local governmnts to cover losses.

IBM partially divests from Lenovo IBM plans to sell a large part of its Lenovo shares to raise US$127M. After the sale, IBMs will have an 11.5% stake in Lenovo.

Philips, Osram cross-license patents Osram GmbH and Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV have signed a cross-license agreement for optoelectronic semiconductor patents.

Forward to develop AC LED technology Tatung subsidiary Forward Electronics signed an agreement with Taiwan's ITRI to co-develop LED technologies for lighting purposes. The company will develop high-power diodes and encasing technologies for AC diodes.

Motorola secures chip supply agreements with TI, Freescale Motorola is putting its chip supply in order. First it agreed with Texas Instruments to use its baseband handset chips using Omap architecture. Now it has agreed to use Freescale processors in 2G and 3G handsets through 2009. Freescale also provides Motorola with RF transceivers and power amps.

Corning investing in Japan LCD glass maker Corning to invest US$160 million to expand manufacturing capacity in Japan.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES

ITC rules in favor of Philips, against Gigastorage and Princo The US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favor of Royal Philips Electronics in its patent infringement dispute with Gigastorage and Princo. This is the ITC's final ruling and is an important milestone in Philips' efforts to protect its IP from infringement by Taiwan and China disc makers.

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M & A

Tessera acquires Eyesquad Tessera Technologies Inc. is buying micro-imaging products maker Eyesquad (Israel) for US$18M.

NXP Semicon acquires Silicon Labs cellular business NXP Semiconductors will acquire Silicon Laboratories cellular communications business for US$285M in cash.

THT is now accepting orders for the following data:

1) China TV makers and market
2) China Handset PCB sub-contractors
3) China GPS market
4) Research on suspected patent violations by ODM/EMS manufacturers. Identification of violations, manufacturer/models misusing IP, etc.
5) Shipment Statistics (i.e. graphics cards per RAM, etc.)

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At THT Business Research we strive to provide you with the best information about the global IT supply chain. If you have not found the information you expected to find in this report, please feel free to send us an email to: request@thtresearch.com.

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