| India holds potential for solar energy play |
Source:M. Somasekhar. Hindu Business Line, February 17 2008 |
| http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14605934 |
India has not just sunshine round the year, but it could offer the ingredients to manufacture
devices that store and distribute higher conversion efficiency power, said Stanley T. Myers,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
(SEMI). SEMI, the standards making body for the entire semiconductor industry, is also making
efforts to put in place standards for the solar photovoltaic industry (SPV), he told Business Line
here. |
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| Silicon Valley Starts to Turn Its Face to the Sun |
| Source:G. Pascal Zachary, The New York Times, February 17, 2008 |
| http://www.nytimes.com |
CAN Silicon Valley become a world leader in cheap and ubiquitous solar panels for the masses?
Given the valley’s tremendous success in recent years with such down-to-earth products as
search engines and music players, tackling solar power might seem improbable. Yet some of
the valley’s best brains are captivated by the challenge, and they hope to put the development
of solar technologies onto a faster track.
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| Demand for energy to spur growth for semi-conductor industry |
| Source:The Economic Times, February 18 2008 |
| http://www.eetimes.com |
|
Mobile phones, automotives and personal computers (PCs) would be the "private" drivers while
energy and medical electronics the "public" drivers of growth for the semi-conductor industry,
Union Minister for state for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said on Monday. The mobile market was
witnessing a tremendous growth of around seven million units a month out of which 45 per cent
is domestically produced. This was expected to be enhanced to 80 per cent, which would
further fuel the growth of the semi-conductor market, he told the third "Vision Summit 2008",
organised by the Indian Semiconductor Association.
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| ISA signs MoU with SEMI |
| Source:CIOL, February 18 2008 |
| http://www.ciol.com |
The India Semiconductor Association (ISA), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), to support the semiconductorrelated
ecosystem in India. |
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| Localised products to drive acceptance: Premji |
|
Source:Business Standard, February 19 2008 |
| http://www.businessstandard.com |
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji on Monday called upon the Indian semiconductor industry to adapt
products to local needs and support the right business model to drive products in the local
market. According to him, evolving a product with specific local needs and customer
requirements. Increased localisation of products would lead to greater consumption in the domestic market, meeting the diverse requirements of customers at different price points with
varying features. “For designing products for India, the level of involvement of firms needs to
be more. The designers have a tough ask of meeting the targetted costs while ensuring the
seamless integration of applications and having the right user interface, preferably localised,”
he said delivering the keynote address of the India Semiconductor Association (ISA) Vision
Summit 2008. |
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| India way ahead of China in economic transformation: Report |
| Source:The Economic Times, February 19 2008 |
| http://www.ibef.org |
|
India has been ranked 25th in terms of economic transformation, way ahead of world's fastest
growing economy China, which has been placed at the 85th position by a German foundation.
India ranks just behind Singapore (23), Brazil (20) and South Africa (18) in the transformation
index prepared by German Bertelsmann Foundation and published in Berlin on Monday. The
transformation index is a study of market economics and democracy in 125 transformation
states. |
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| RIL to set up $5b semiconductor unit |
| Source:The Times of India, February 19 2008 |
| http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com |
|
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is looking at setting up an over $5 billion photovoltaic (PV)
cell manufacturing facility in Jamnagar. Junior minister for commerce Jairam Ramesh said here
on Monday that the government has received an expression of interest from the company for an
integrated facility that would do everything from "sand to silicon". Jamnagar in Gujarat is home
to Reliance's refinery, the world's biggest. |
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| BATA felicitates Union Minister |
| Source:IndiaPost.com, February 19 2008 |
| http://indiapost.com |
|
On the occasion of 10th anniversary of Time To Market (TTM) Inc that was held on February 9
at Indian Community Center, Milpitas, India's Minister of State for Defense M. Pallam Raju
served as Guest Speaker. He spoke on "Indian Semiconductor Industry & Government policy". |
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| Synopsys exec: India is a design powder keg |
| Source:Sufia Tippu, February 19 2008 |
| http://www.eetimes.com |
|
India is a powder keg about to explode when it comes to design capacity and capability,
according to Chi Foon Chan, president and chief operating officer of Synopsys Inc. India's future
success will be determined by the types of design work performed here. "About 32 percent of
Indian engineers are working on 65-nm design compared to 30 percent worldwide," Chan said
during the second day of the India Semiconductor Association summit here. |
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| Panel: Indian product start-ups coming |
| Source:K.C. Krishnadas, EETimes, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.eetimes.com |
|
Some 60 venture capital firms have raised between $100 million and $150 million in Indian
investments, fueling an entrepreneurial explosion here that is just taking off, according to VC
experts speaking on a panel at the annual summit of the India Semiconductor Association.Panel moderator Richard Wallace, vice president and group editorial director at CMP Media,
publisher of EE Times, said improving infrastructure, looser financial controls and the
movement from a services- to a product-oriented domestic market all point to greater
investment in product start-ups. |
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| India Fab City funds hit $7B, focus on solar biz |
| Source:Sufia Tippu, EE Times, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.eetindia.co.in |
|
The India government has approved additional five companies to take part in Fab City project,
which would increase the total investment to Rs.27,634.87 crore ($7 billion). This is according
to the Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh who spoke Feb. 18 at the two-day India
Semiconductor Association (ISA) summit. Ramesh disclosed that the focus of the latest
investments is on solar energy conversion and that the government has other projects either
with in-principle approval or under considerations that could bring further investments to Fab
City. |
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| Sony to sell chip facility to Toshiba for $835 mln |
| Source:CIOL, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.ciol.com |
|
Sony Corp said on Wednesday it will sell its microchip production facilities in western Japan to
Toshiba Corp for 90 billion yen ($835 million), in their latest move to focus on their core
businesses. |
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| Google, Soros, Omidyar team up to provide India small and medium business loans |
| Source:The Mercury News, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.mercurynews.com |
|
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc., has teamed up with the Soros Economic
Development Fund and Omidyar Network to fund a $17 million company that will invest in
small- and medium-size business in India. |
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| RComm seeking EMS partnership |
| Source:evertiq, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.evertiq.com |
|
Mr. A. Gururaj a former head of Flextronics’ operation in India, now works as Senior Vice-
President - Manufacturing Projects at Reliance Communications (RComm). During a conference
recently, Mr. Gururaj said that RComm is looking for an EMS partner. |
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| Tessolve expects $38 m funding by June |
| Source:M. Ramesh, The Hindu Business Line, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.thehindubusinessline.com |
|
Semiconductor company, Tessolve, which is putting up engineering, and assembly and testing
facilities near Chennai, expects to go on stream by mid-October, Tessolve’sCo-Founder and
Director, Mr V. Veerappan, told Business Line today. |
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| TES expands Indian multimedia design group |
| Source:John Walko, EETimes, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.eetimes.eu |
|
Electronics design and manufacturing services group TES (Langon, France) is planning to grow
its embedded hardware, software and system design team in India from currently 50 engineers
to over 100 in over the next six months. |
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| TCS inks multi-year deal with Chrysler |
| Source:CIOL, February 20 2008 |
| http://www.ciol.com |
|
IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) would deliver application maintenance and
support services to Chrysler LLC, following a multi-year contract it had signed with the car
maker. |
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| Wafer vendors under pressure from PV industry dynamics |
| Source:EE Times, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.eetindia.co.in |
|
According to Semico Research Corp., silicon wafer vendors are under pressure from current
demand and the new dynamics in the solar cell industry. In total, silicon wafer demand for
semiconductor production is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent over the next five
years. |
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| India set to take on the role of tech leader |
| Source:Richard Wallace, EE Times, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.eetindia.co.in |
|
India is riding a new wave of globalisation and prosperity as IT outsourcing, design and
development markets push the country to take on a new role as a technology leader.
No longer an island of outsourcing, India is at the center of a growing number of regional
business and IT technology partnerships with neighbours as diverse as Egypt, China, Pakistan
and Dubai. All are poised to shake up the IT status quo in the West while bringing a new phase
of tech-driven development to North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf states. |
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| Microchip announces expanded Design Partner program |
| Source:EETimes, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.eetindia.co.in |
|
An expanded Design Partner Program of more than 700 partners worldwide has been announced
by Microchip Technology Inc. Microchip Design Partners have expertise in a wide range of
markets, such as the medical, appliance and automotive markets; and in applications such as
motor control, lighting and power supplies, among others. They also receive priority technical
support, free extended samples and discounted development tools from Microchip—enabling
them to provide complete solutions quickly and inexpensively, at low risk to the OEM. |
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| IBM plans to set up a prototype fab in Kolkata |
| Source:K.C. Krishnadas, EE Times, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.eetindia.co.in |
|
IBM Corp. has expressed interest in establishing a prototype fab in the India Design Centre in
Kolkata, West Bengal. The prototype fab is likely to have facilities for chip characterisation,
and may be able to provide 45nm process technologies for prototyping purposes. Currently,
chip design firms here have no choice but to use foundries in Taiwan and elsewhere is Asia to
test chips, a lengthy and expensive proposition. |
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| Indian, Taiwanese companies see opportunities |
| Source:livemint.com, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.ibef.org |
|
India and Taiwan might not have direct diplomatic relations due to India’s “one China” policy.
But this is not preventing the semiconductor industries of these two countries from expanding
their partnership. While Taiwan is the second largest chip design industry (by revenue, only
behind US), India is home to more than 100 companies in the semiconductor space. Indian firms
see opportunities in embedded software and chip design services, while the Indian market as
an alternative to China is what attracts Taiwanese companies. As a testimony to the interest, a
six-member contingent mainly comprising professors from Taiwan-based universities who work
closely with the industry, turned up at the third annual summit of the Indian Semiconductor
Association (ISA) at Bangalore. |
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| Partnering Key To Semi Success, says NMI |
| Source:David Manners, ElectronicsWeekly.com, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.electronicsweekly.com |
|
Partnering is key to success in the semiconductor industry, but it’s difficult to identify
potential partners and avoid the pitfalls of partnering. This comes out of a report by the
National Microelectronics Institute (NMI). The need for partnering has been accentuated by the
symptoms of globalisation e.g: more competition; shorter product lifetimes; rapid
technological change (though this has been a semiconductor industry characteristic for half a
century); global access to human capital, and access to foreign markets. |
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| KLA-Tencor to buy ICOS Vision Systems for $465.8 million |
| Source:Fabtech, February 21 2008 |
| http://www.fabtech.org |
|
KLA-Tencor Corporation has made a friendly acquire all shares in ICOS Vision Systems for
approximately $465.8 million. ICOS's primary business is inspection equipment for
semiconductor packaging - an area not covered by KLA-Tencor. However, ICOS has a growing
presence in the photovoltaic solar cell and module inspection market and expects revenues in
2008 of between €16-20 million from this rapidly growing market. |
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