Arnold & Porter adds from Banner Witcoff Christopher Renk and Michael Harris as partners and Helen Minsker as senior counsel, all in Intellectual Property practice and working on issues including tech ... Semiconductor Research Corp. board names its Joint University Microelectronics Program Executive Director Todd Younkin, ex-Intel, as president-CEO, SRC, succeeding Ken Hansen ... Flex hires Paul Lundstrom, ex-Aerojet Rocketdyne, as chief financial officer, succeeding Chris Collier, resigning for personal reasons and staying on as employee and a senior adviser to CEO Revathi Advaithi, Sept. 1-March 31.
Spigen introduced a fast charger using gallium nitride (GaN) technology Monday, positioning it for the iPhone 12, rumored to be the first iPhone not packaged with a charger or earphones. The 20-watt PowerArc ArcStation Pro, based on Navitas Semiconductor's GaNFast power ICs, is said to be smaller and more efficient than standard chargers. It’s due to sell on Amazon later this month at $20, Spigen said.
COVID-19 is a “significant headwind” at ON Semiconductor, which reported a 10% revenue drop in Q2 to $1.2 billion, said Chief Financial Officer Bernard Gutmann in the quarterly statement Monday. ON had “moderate improvement in business conditions” on a pickup in global macroeconomic activity, Gutmann said. The company is having “strong momentum” in its power, analog and sensor products. Networking and wireless accounted for $255 million, 21% of Q2 revenue, up 3% on strength in 5G, but Q3 volume will be down due to “delayed launches of certain platforms and geopolitical issues related to a specific customer,” said CEO Keith Jackson on a call. Responding to a question on whether the semiconductor company is concerned about risks that the U.S. will expand targets in China beyond Huawei, Jackson said, “We are very concerned about some of the increasing tensions on global trade.” Much of global trade is “essential for technology and the growth of semiconductors,” he said, “so clearly, would not like to see further there.” The consumer end-market contributed $126 million in the quarter, 10% of revenue, dropping 22%, due to consumer tech market weakness. The company forecasts Q3 revenue of $1.2 billion-$1.3 billion compared with $1.38 billion in Q3 2019. The stock closed 5.2% higher at $21.92.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday sided with Qualcomm in an FTC antitrust lawsuit against the company. In the minutes after the ruling, the company's stock rose.
The U.S. needs to pour more resources into research and innovation of emerging technologies to boost commercialization and outpace Chinese technology development, said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. She advocated for a methodical decoupling and reshoring manufacturing of critical technologies. “We have to realize that you can't just decouple from China and say, 'All right, we're severing.’ It is more like an unraveling,” Blackburn told the Hoover Institution Wednesday. “Whether it is critical supply chains for semiconductor chips or telecommunications equipment … we have become too dependent on China for manufacturing, and we need to return that capability and capacity to the United States.” The U.S. isn't investing enough in R&D, she said, and needs to form better partnerships between universities and corporations. Blackburn said “technology is going to be the nexus for so many areas of growth,” and the military needs to better innovate to compete with China’s civil-military fusion surrounding military applications for artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. “Our commercial sectors and our military sectors need to be innovating,” Blackburn said. “Our military complex needs to be utilizing the new concepts that are being pushed forward in the commercial area.” Blackburn said the U.S. can take steps beyond the Commerce Department's recently amending export administration regulations to let U.S. companies more easily participate in bodies in which Huawei is a member. She pointed to S-2528 to require the administration report on the “purpose, scope and means” of expanded Chinese influence on standards bodies. Friday, the White House, China's embassy in Washington and the Semiconductor Industry Association didn't comment.
Wireless charging company Energous had another product delay, said CEO Steve Rizzone on an investor call Wednesday. The company “months ago” previewed the NewSound Primo W hearing aid, which was expected to be in the market now, but factory shutdowns and supply chain issues delayed production. Energous expects to have chip procurements from NewSound by year-end, said Rizzone. The company is looking to its recently announced WattUp PowerHub developer kit to create new revenue opportunities. Q2 revenue was $114,375 vs $47,500 in the year-ago quarter. Energous received $9.2 million in the quarter through a stock offering, it said. The company is now targeting military applications.
June semiconductor sales increased 5.1% from a year earlier to $34.5 billion, but down 0.3% from May, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Monday. Q2 sales of $103.6 billion were up 5.1% from the 2019 quarter but down 0.9% from Q1, said SIA. “Significant uncertainty remains for the second half of the year due to ongoing macroeconomic headwinds,” said CEO John Neuffer, “Sales into the Americas stood out in June,” rising 29% year over year, he said.
The U.S. should impose stricter export controls on advanced chip manufacturing equipment to prevent China from getting more of its own semiconductor technologies, experts told the Commerce Department’s Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Success of U.S. export controls depends on cooperation with allies, said Carrick Flynn and Saif Khan, research fellows with Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “Doing this without full buy-in from all partners is going to be worse than doing nothing at all,” Khan said. “That always has to be an overriding principle." Khan predicts China needs “at least a decade” to develop industry-leading advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Flynn suggested the U.S. take risks to prevent China from becoming the world’s leader in advanced technology development. “We do not want the Chinese government to have access to advanced computer chips,” he said. An artificial intelligence "arms race, or a hypersonic missile arms race, or any other technology arms race is not in the best interest of the United States or global security,” he said. China's Washington embassy didn't comment Thursday.
Lattice Semiconductor’s consumer business sales declined 17% from Q1 and 43% from the year-ago Q2, said CEO Jim Anderson on a Tuesday evening investor call. Lattice supplies processors for smart home devices and other consumer tech products. “The decline reflects a full quarter of COVID-19 demand impact as well as the expected shift in the mix of our revenue profile over time,” said Anderson. “We remain focused on serving the areas of the consumer market that include applications with consistent multiyear revenue streams and higher margins, where our solutions are enabling customers to differentiate their products.”
DOJ Antitrust Division chief Makan Delrahim promotes Taylor Owings to division acting chief of staff and senior counsel, succeeding outgoing COS William Rinner, who's senior counsel until planned departure from the department "in the coming months" ... Verizon Public Sector names Jennifer Chronis, ex-Amazon Web Services, to lead Federal business; Michael Maiorana, Verizon Federal lead, leaving the business effective Dec. 31 ... Corning taps Chief Legal and Administrative Officer Lewis Steverson to lead new Office of Racial Equality and Social Unity, tasked with building diversity “within the walls of Corning” and in its “communities.”