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udapest, Hungary — Semiconductor market analysts are still under estimating how good a yeart 2006 could turn out to be according to Malcolm Penn, chairman and CEO of Future Horizons. Speaking at his company’s Annual International Electronics Forum, Penn was still confident that his forecast made in January of a growth in dollar sales of semiconductors topping 20% this year was realistic while unit sales would grow 12%. Other major analyst predictions are coming out showing an average growth of 8% with only one willing at present to break the 10% barrier.
Penn is bullish that a combination of an improvement of 4.9% in world GDP which the IMF upgraded from 4.3% last week, a rise in unit demand and a shortage of capacity, pushing prices up, will provide the catalyst for a good year. "All the evidence is strong and everything is in place - if it is not a strong year then the semiconductor industry does not deserve a strong year," says Penn.
No-one believes that the chip industry can bounce back says Penn and there is too much of the 'Ill see believe it when I see' attitude but by the time it becomes evident it will be too late too take advantage.
Penn say the recovery in the unit demand started last May while a recovery in the average selling price started in the third quarter of 2005. Last year is seen as a market correction not a recession with the second half coming on strong after a first half depressed by inventory purges. "Markets normally bounce back fast from a correction," according to Penn. While average selling prices (ASPs) have bottomed out, they take a time to recover, anything between 4 to 8 quarters after unit demand has improved

LONDON — Cavendish Kinetics NV, a 12 year-old company developing CMOS-compatible one-time programmable and reprogrammable memories using MEMS technology, has closed its second round of venture capital funding at $15.5 million dollars.
The money is set to be used to continue the development of Cavendish Kinetics’ Nanomech technology and expand its market presence among IDMs, foundries and fabless semiconductor companies, the company said.
The round was led by Tallwood Venture Capital (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Wellington Partners (Munich, Germany). First round investors Celtic House Venture Partners, Clarium Holdings Ltd., Torteval Investments Ltd. and a private investor are all taking part in the second round. Luis Arzubi from Tallwood Venture Capital and Bart Markus from Wellington Partners are joining the Cavendish board.
Cavendish (Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands), which was spun out of the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University, England in 1994 by Professor Charles Smith, has developed micromechanical memory elements, miniature relays, that it claims can be integrated into CMOS, or any other process technology. Cavendish been working with the Institut fur Mikroelektronik Stuttgart, in Germany, to build prototype memories and picked up $6.5 million in venture capital funding in 2001

LONDON — Firecomms Ltd., a compound semiconductor company that develops visible wavelength light sources, has announced it has closed a 9.6 million euro (about $12 million) round of funding with new and existing shareholders.

Firecomms raised 9.6 million euro
Firecomms (Cork, Ireland), founded in 2001 as a spinoff from Ireland’s National Microelectronics Rsearch Center in Cork, makes lasers and LEDs for optical data transmission and data capture using visible light over plastic optical fiber.
The money would enable the company to increase production of semiconductor VCSEL devices and fiber optic devices, including an automotive-grade fiber optic transceiver for in-car infotainment systems, Firecomms said. This funding also will support the expansion of Firecomms' product line, sales and marketing fulfillment, and support activities throughout its markets.
ACT Venture Capital of Dublin, and Alps Electric North America, a customer for Firecomms, led the finance round. Atlantic Bridge Ventures, the company's anchor investor, also invested in this round.
“This additional funding and new investors will enable us to take advantage of many high revenue opportunities in the giant consumer electronics and automotive markets,” said Declan O'Mahoney, chief executive officer of Firecomms in a statement.
“We are delighted with the progress Firecomms continues to make with strategic customers particularly in high-volume consumer and automotive markets,” said Brian Long, chief executive officer of Atlantic Bridge Ventures, in the same statement.

Applied Micro Circuits CorporSelected Q4 Highlights
* Q4 net revenues of $67.0 million; fiscal 2006 net revenues of $261.8 million
* Q4 GAAP net loss of $138.3 million or $(0.47) per share, after recording a nonrecurring goodwill impairment charge of $131.2 million and a $7.7 million restructuring charge
* Q4 non-GAAP net income improved to $6.0 million or $0.02 per share; Q4 non-GAAP net operating margin measured as a percentage of revenue doubled to 5.6% from 2.8% in the prior quarter
* Q4 quarterly revenues in the focus areas of Process, Transport and Store grew 6% sequentially; non-focus revenues declined 13% sequentially; overall revenues grew nearly 3% sequentially
* Launched major initiative to develop a high performance processor core optimized for the needs of the converged network
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LEUVEN, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2006--IMEC, Europe's leading independent research institute for nanoelectronics and nanotechnology, confirms during its General Assembly a sustained annual increase in revenues since its foundation in 1984. IMEC's performance criteria have increased year over year, giving the Belgian-based research institute points in a year when the frame agreement with the government of Flanders will be renewed. The Flemish government accounts for 18% of the financing for IMEC's research activities.
With a total self-generated revenue of 162 million euro, IMEC's annual budget has increased with a firm 23% as compared to 2004. The total budget is now 197 million euro. The rise primarily results from an increase in revenue from contract research with the international industry. For one of its core activities, research on IC process technologies for the sub-45nm generation, IMEC collaborates with eight of the top ten IC manufacturers in the world and other organizations. Besides self-generated revenue, IMEC receives an annual grant from the government of Flanders amounting to 35 million euro. This grant is indispensable in sustaining IMEC's long-term research.
The revenues from contract research were generated through collaboration with local industry (22%) as well as with international industry (68%), through projects of the European Commission (8%) and the European Space Agency (2%). In 2005, more than 550 partners worked with IMEC through a bilateral collaboration, while more than 600 were involved in European projects where IMEC acts as a partner. Additionally, IMEC collaborated with 139 Flemish partners. The quality of IMEC's research was presented in the 1521 scientific papers and conference contributions that IMEC published, often achieved in collaboration with Flemish universities.
"These results prove that the hard work of 2005 has certainly paid rich rewards, both technologically and financially," said Gilbert Declerck, President and CEO of IMEC. "Currently, we are discussing our new business plan for the coming 5 years with the Flemish Government. In this plan, we are highlighting the importance of multi-disciplinary research, heterogeneous technologies, and integration because our future well-being will be marked by a strong synergy of disciplines. By strengthening our 'More-than-(Gordon) Moore' research and our 'More-Moore' research, we are prepared to build this future."

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Two Danish PhD students have joined with another university’s nanoscience center to deliver stamps for nanoimprint lithography (NIL), which will be used in life science research.
The stamps make it possible to print and mass-produce structures below 20 nm with very high quality across large areas.
The company, called NIL Technology, was founded by two PhD students from Technical University of Denmark (DTU). NIL has entered into an agreement with the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at the University of Aarhus and Aalborg University (iNANO).
The order, to be delivered in May, marks the first after NIL’s founding, said co-founder and CEO Theodor Nielsen: "It shows that, already today, there is a demand for our products. It is a very important milestone we have reached after only three months."
Currently, NIL Technology is financed with seed capital and is preparing for a second financing round. NIL is one of 50 companies slated to present at the Nanotech Venture fair in Boston May 7 to 12. "Although it is not expected that nanoimprint lithography will be used in the semiconductor industry until 2013, according to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, I estimate it is very likely that our technology will be used for large-volume fabrication of end user products within 18 to 24 months," said co-founder and CTO Brian Bilenberg.