Break IC, Recover MCU, Microcontroller Reverse Engineering

Archive for August, 2013

The market share of diversified residential market may exceed 50% in 2015, high-efficiency products are becoming the trend in PV industry
TetraSun, a high-efficiency silicon PV cell manufacturer, was merged by First Solar recently. By officially entering the silicon PV cell territory, First Solar is planning to pilot-run 100MW high-efficiency mono-si cells in 2014 and start mass production in 2015. According to EnergyTrend, a research division of TrendForce, from process equipment producers and cell module manufacturers to material suppliers, they all have come up with several solutions involving high-efficiency products. It’s obvious that high-efficiency products have become the trend in PV industry.

EnergyTrend indicates that roof-top systems have become the focus of subsidy policies, which causes the market share of diversified markets such as residential systems and small/medium commercial systems to continuously increase in Europe, North America, and Japan. Based on EnergyTrend’s estimation, the market share of diversified residential market is likely to exceed 50% by 2015. Relevant users in this market pay special attention to performance during the facility evaluation because they are hoping to replace conventional power with solar power. Relatively, the price range that they can accept is larger. Therefore, the visibility of high-efficiency products will significantly increase in the future.

Besides, since the minimum price has been set according to the new agreement between China and Europe and most of the subsidy has been allocated to the diversified residential market, it will put pressure on Chinese manufacturers that specialize in cost. Also, it will allow the countries that specialize in technology, such as Taiwan, Japan, USA, and Europe, a chance to take a break.

Judging from the spot market’s overall performance, both upstream and downstream manufacturers in China and Taiwan have accepted the price to be revised upward. Last week’s polysilicon price continues to increase with average price reaching USUSD 16.353/kg, a 0.2% rise. For Chinese domestic demand, the price range still falls between RMB 130/kg- RMB 140/kg. For silicon wafer, major silicon wafer manufacturers are planning to revise the price upward. Since they are still bargaining the price with the buyers, last week’s average price remains stable. For cell, Taiwanese manufacturers are intending to lower the price to maintain capacity utilization rate. Thus, the price continues to decline with average price dropping below USUSD 0.40/Watt to USUSD 0.398/Watt, a 0.75% decline. For module, since Chinese manufacturers are observing the development of quota allocation, last week’s lowest price turned out to be USUSD 0.55/Watt, while average price remains unchanged.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32292

Sparton Corporation was awarded a Phase 1 contract for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Upward Falling Payload (UFP) program.
Sparton, under the UFP program, will design a system intended to live on the sea floor and release payloads. This enablement would represent a game changing capability for mission commanders. Sparton will develop and deliver solutions for the Undersea Warfare (USW) and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) domains to develop a Universal Payload Delivery System module for the UFP program.

“We are proud to be part of the DARPA team that is designing the next generation of disruptive USW solutions. This award recognizes our continued commitment to the current and future USW/ASW innovations.”

The Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington will be a part of the Sparton team to provide additional deep ocean design expertise.

“We have enjoyed working and collaborating with Sparton several times over the past few years and we are pleased to be working with them again,” said Bob Miyamoto, Director for Defense and Industry Programs for the APL-UW.

“Sparton is energized by the opportunity and eager for the collaboration to execute on the delivery system module,” said Jim Lackemacher, Vice President and General Manager of Sparton Defense and Security Systems.

Mr. Lackemacher concluded, “We are proud to be part of the DARPA team that is designing the next generation of disruptive USW solutions. This award recognizes our continued commitment to the current and future USW/ASW innovations.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32286

Some of you might have read about the MSL/Celestica Valencia acquisition in Spain – well, Evertiq as a different set of facts regarding said “acquisition”.
Reports claim that the Spanish Council of Ministers has authorised the US company MSL SPV to acquire Celestica Valencia – with the intention that it may carry out activities directly related to national security.

We reached out to Celestica to ask about the acquisition – however, the information seemed to be a bit flawed.

“Celestica’s operation in Valencia, Spain is receiving approval from the Spanish Ministry of Defense to export defense products. The operation is not being acquired.

The operation is an Industrial, HealthTech and Aerospace & Defense Center of Excellence for Celestica’s Europe region and specializes in medium- and low-volume, high-mix, high complexity, printed circuit assembly (PCA) and systems assembly,” the company writes in an email.

So there you have it folks, Celestica Valencia is still a part of Celestica. And the company also let us in on some future plans for the Spanish operations.

“The site strategy is to grow in its target markets with high value-added services including design, high-complexity manufacturing and after-market services. The approval from the Spanish Ministry of Defense will improve the service level provided to the existing Defense customers, reducing the time needed to get export license approvals,” the company states.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32283

Norwegian EMS-provider Hadelandsprodukter AS (Hapro) will reduce the workforce by some 125 positions.
This includes 60 persons who have been on a temporary lay off. Almost all positions that are being cut is related to electronics manufacturing, CEO Erik Lundbekk told the local newspaper Hadeland.net.

The layoffs is a continuation of ongoing developments from last year, when Hapro lost Cisco as a customer. This led to a total of 115 positions lost 2012, out of a total 600.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32276

An industry that has seen its ups and downs – and most recently a streak of ‘downs’ – we’re talking about the solar industry of course. And now, the industry might see a new player entering the already crowded field.
The electronics giant that is Hon Hai Precision Industry is apparently eyeing the industry, and according to some analysts, the company might end up timing their entry just right, as the sector is starting to show some positive signs.

Foxconn, the trading name Hoi Hai has tested the marker through its Fox Energy solar unit for about two years now, but little is know about the subsidiary, other than that it has a solar panel facility in eastern China.

But in an interview with Reuters, Foxconn spokesman Simon Hsing stated that the company is to make a decision if to enter the market by years end.

“We believe renewable energy is a potentially good trend. It looks like a good project. This is an industry we probably need to know more about,” he added.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32255

Restructuring and cost-saving initiatives seems to have turned FIH Mobile (previously Foxconn International Holdings) back to profit in 1H13.
The handset maker reported a net profit of USD 17’66 million for the 1H13, compared to the USD 226.07 million loss during 1H12.

If this keeps up, FIH would be on track to post a net profit for the full year – which would be a giant leap from the loss of USD 316.4 million in 2012.

The company reviews its first half of 2013 by stating:“The increase in profit is mainly attributable to the Group’s improved gross profit margins principally as a result of the corresponding improvement in the Group’s yield and operation efficiency, as well as control of the Group’s cost of sales and general and administrative expenses and optimisation of its research and development resources. Also, no asset impairment loss was recorded during the period (2012: USD 56 million),” The company states.

Looking forward, FIH Mobile has a rather reserved outlook, citing that the global economy still has some recovery to do.

”Customers’ trend of outsourcing also directly affects our business. Market share reshuffling among our customers will continue and it will need time and efforts to develop new customers and new businesses for manufacturing other mobile devices. Orders of new customers will need time to be sizeable enough to boost utilisation significantly”, the company rites in a statement.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32232

Norwegian solar company REC, Renewable Energy Company ASA, proposes to improve its debt maturity profile through issuing a new convertible bond loan maturing in 2018.
REC ASA has mandated Arctic Securities ASA to explore the potential issuance of up to USD 110 million (NOK 643 million) in principal amount of convertible bonds with maturity on September 13, 2018.

In conjunction with the issue of the New Convertible Bond Loan, REC ASA will offer to repurchase and exchange bonds in the Company’s Subordinated Unsecured Convertible Bond Issue 2009/2014 for a principal amount of up to EUR 112 million (NOK 876 million), including accrued interest since the July 4, 2013 interest payment date.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32219

A Woodinville, Wash. company contracted by the U.S. Navy to manufacture high-tech components, and the company’s owner recently pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act, according to an ICP slog post.
The owner of Precision Image Corporation admitted to illegally sending restricted U.S. Navy technical information to a Taiwanese printed board (PCB) manufacturer that was subcontracted to make the printed boards.

The information sent to the Taiwanese PCB manufacturer contained the technical specifications for the printed boards – information listed on the United States Munitions List (USML) and controlled by U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and therefore prohibited from being transmitted outside the U.S. without a license from the State Department.

For the past two years, IPC has been promoting a better understanding of ITAR’s applicability to PCBs in order to protect national security. Launched in July 2012, IPC’s Follow the Law, Protect the Board initiative sought to raise awareness and promote compliance with federal regulations on the export of printed boards designed for ITAR-controlled equipment.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32203

The German component distribution market (according to FBDi eV) grew during the second quarter of 2013 with 2.3%. Orders registered above-average growth.
The state of the German component distribution market is beginning to improvements. According to the FBDi, sales figures increased for the second quarter with 2.3 percent to EUR 712 million compared to the same quarter 2012. The book-to-bill ratio stood at 1.02 (0.96 for the same period last year). The first half ended almost balanced – both turnover and order intake stood at EUR 1.44 billion – which is a promising sign for the second half of the year.

When considering the various component groups, figures for the semiconductor segment have a lot to be desired for: a meager growth of 0.7% to EUR 484 million in turnover. However, order intake was up 8.5% and stood at EUR 497 million. This results in a market share (total component distribution market) of 68%.

This is followed by passive components with a turnover increase of 6.9% to EUR 108 million (representing a 15% market share). With an increase of 3.4% to EUR 75 million in turnover, the segment Electromechanical reached a market share of over 10%. The rest is split between displays, power supplies and sensors.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32198