Business
Murata invests in RF Monolithics
RF Monolithics, Inc. (RFM) has announced that Murata Electronics North America purchased 533,000 shares of RFM Common Stock at $1.31/share, in a private transaction. The purchase represents less than five percent of RFM’s outstanding stock. »
Gartner’s tips for selling ICs to Japanese OEMs
Selling semiconductors, particularly application-specific standard product (ASSP) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip solutions, to Japan-based hardware vendors requires a different selling technique, according to Masatsune Yamaji, analyst for Gartner. »
Intel buys McAfee for $7.7B
Intel will acquire McAfee for $7.68 billion, indicating that the company's security priority now matches its strategic focus in energy efficiency and Internet connectivity. »
Power management IC market to grow nearly 40% in 2010
The power management semiconductor market will reach $31.4 billion in 2010, up 39.9 percent from $22.4 billion in 2009, according to a new report from iSuppli Corp. This year's expansion will reverse the losses of 2009, which declined 15.8 percent, and is expected to yield the highest growth rate during the next four years. »
Electronic component orders fall in July, says ECA
After reaching a two-year high in June, electronic component orders fell in July, according to the monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components Association (ECA). »
IBM boosts forecast for U.S. retail electronics, appliance sales
U.S. retailers of electronics and appliances are expected to grow sales by $739 million in September and October, increasing five percent compared with the same period last year, according to an IBM forecast. »
Seagate, Samsung to develop controller tech for enterprise SSDs
Seagate Technology plc and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Seoul, Korea) will jointly develop and cross-license related controller technologies for enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs). »
Apple to become second largest IC spender in 2011, says iSuppli
Apple will become the world's second-largest OEM semiconductor buyer in 2011, and maybe the top chip purchaser in 2012, thanks to sales of its iPad and iPhone products, reports market research firm iSuppi Corp. »
ON Semi to buy Sanyo’s chip business
ON Semiconductor will purchase Sanyo Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., and other assets related to its semiconductor business, for $366 million in a cash and stock transaction. The acquisition is expected to boost ON Semi's manufacturing scale, broaden its product portfolio and expand its presence in the Japanese market. »
Nokia Siemens Networks buys some Motorola wireless assets for $1.2B
Nokia Siemens Networks will buy the majority of Motorola's wireless network infrastructure assets for $1.2 billion in cash, which will boost Nokia's business in key wireless technology and expand its global footprint in CDMA. The companies expect to complete closing activities by the end of 2010. »
Touch user interfaces have made significant advances in the consumer electronics market particularly for mobile phones and notebook computers, opening the door for adoption in other applications including white goods, computer peripherals, medical equipment, and instrumentation. Synaptics made its debut in the home appliance market earlier this year with the launch of the Samsung Hauzen ZERO air conditioner.
Smaller distributors were the only ones to post sales gains in 2009. Interestingly, two of the five distributors that posted growth last year -- Interstate Connecting Components and Sherburn Electronics -- derive 100 percent of their sales from interconnect products. Both of them also target the military/aerospace industry. Here are the top 10 sales leaders by ICs, passives/electromechanical devices, interconnects and computer products as well as sales growth.

NXP offers a low-power IC aimed at MPPT applications using PV cells or fuel cells.
C&K Components offers a series of low-cost, miniature slide switches. The OS Series of RoHS-compliant switches feature a new high-temperature option for lead-free soldering.