The Top 5 Semiconductor Stocks of 2012

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

With tech stocks seeing a strong start to 2012, you’d expect the cyclical semiconductor industry to contain some strong outperformers. With 82 out of the 150 companies in the industry with market caps greater than $500 million seeing gains this year, the general trend has been up.

Yet, May has definitely hit semiconductor stocks hard. The widely followed Philadelphia Semi Index is down 15.8% from highs reached just two months ago. Fears of a global slowdown have been stoked as all eyes turn to the eurozone. Such a situation could be brutal on a semiconductor industry that’s just recovering from a huge downturn in 2009.

Today, we’re looking at a group of semi companies that have been able to hold onto their gains, and we’ll see what’s led them to such strong results in the first five months of the year.

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Solantro Semiconductor Raises $10 Million for Solar PV Module Integrated Electronics

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

Solantro Semiconductor Corp. of Ontario, Canada today announced the completion of its Series A financing in the amount of $10 million (CAD). This funding was led by Black Coral Capital and included participation from Presidio Ventures (a Sumitomo Corporation company), Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Export Development Canada (EDC).

Solantro designs, manufactures and markets semiconductor chipsets and reference designs for use within distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) power conversion equipment. Solantro’s chipset-based solutions redefine the economic model for PV module manufacturers while providing for higher energy yields and significantly reduced costs, time and complexity associated with PV system design and installation. Distributed, module-integrated, power conversion solutions accelerate the global deployment of solar PV by optimising the economics of PV installations.

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Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

A materials scientist at Michigan Technological University has discovered a chemical reaction that not only eats up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it also creates something useful. And, by the way, it releases energy.

Making carbon-based products from carbon dioxide is nothing new, but carbon dioxide molecules are so stable that those reactions usually take up a lot of energy. If that energy were to come from fossil fuels, over time the chemical reactions would ultimately result in more carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere—defeating the purpose of a process that could otherwise help mitigate climate change.

Professor Yun Hang Hu’s research team developed a heat-releasing reaction between carbon dioxide and Li₃N that forms two chemicals: amorphous carbon nitride, a semiconductor; and lithium cyanamide, a precursor to fertilizers.

“The reaction converts carbon dioxide to a solid material,” said Hu. “That would be good even if it weren’t useful, but it is.”

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Saratoga will host global semiconductor industry group

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

Executives of global semiconductor companies will be in Saratoga County on May 24-25 to make trade policy recommendations to their governments and set environmental goals.

The World Semiconductor Council is hosting its 16th annual meeting at the Saratoga Hilton at City Center, the Canfield Casino and TEC-SMART in Malta. It is expected to draw 100 attendees from the semiconductor industry.

The council is a coalition of semiconductor associations from the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

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Semiconductor ETF Experiences Big Inflow

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the Semiconductor ETF where we have detected an approximate $58.1 million dollar inflow — that’s a 19.7% increase week over week in outstanding units (from 9,370,937 to 11,220,937). Among the largest underlying components of SMH, in trading today Intel Corp is up about 0.6%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is off about 1%, and Texas Instruments Inc. is lower by about 0.8%.

Looking at the chart above, SMH’s low point in its 52 week range is $29.21 per share, with $36.17 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $31.32. Comparing the most recent share price to the 200 day moving average can also be a useful technical analysis technique.

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New Industries To Bolster Local Semiconductor Segment

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

LED lighting, smart grids, new energy and LTE communication are expected to boost China’s semiconductor production value beginning this year.

Emerging industries will steer developments in China’s semiconductor industry beginning this year. For a start, makers are looking at a 4 percent increase in production value from LED lighting, smart grids, new energy and LTE communication. Smartphones and TVs, panel computers, cloud computing, electric vehicles and personal medical electronics are also expected to drive demand.

Suppliers expect to benefit from the spreading global adoption of diode-based illumination as the “green” replacement for traditional incandescent technology. They are counting on the legislative action in the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and even China to accelerate the shift.

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Investing in Semiconductor Stocks: Three Chipmakers on the Upswing

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

Deborah Baratz writes: Global semiconductor sales have been pretty listless lately, but new data suggests a turnaround is on the horizon for this sector.

In fact, one new forecast by research firm IDC predicts the rate of growth in the semiconductor sector could potentially double in the latter part of this year.

For semiconductor stocks, this newfound growth could provide a big lift in profits.

Even smaller chipmakers may have suitors knocking on their doors for takeovers as they look to increase their market share.

What does this mean for investors?

Now is the time to start looking for the next big winner in semiconductors.

Here’s why.

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Memory Chip Makers Posting Mixed Results

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

Memory chip makers with a strong presence in the NAND flash market have been the strongest performers in the industry. Meanwhile slowing PC demand has hurt earnings for companies more focused on dynamic random access memory (DRAM). DRAM is widely used in traditional PCs, while NAND is used in popular high-end portable devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs. The Paragon Report examines investing opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry and provides equity research on Micron Technology, Inc. and MIPS Technologies, Inc.

Rapidly growing demand for smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks are expected to boost NAND revenues for years to come. Smartphones are expected to play a major role in the growing demand for NAND. Shipments of smartphones are projected to total 626 million units in 2012, and by 2016 NAND flash content in smartphones is expected to double. According to research done by IIHS Inc., NAND flash revenues are projected to total $22.9 billion this year, up from the 2011 total of $21.2 billion. IIHS predicts that by 2016 the NAND market should reach $30.9 billion.

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Samsung Launches Consumer-Facing Digital Campaign to Raise Awareness of Samsung Memory

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, today launched a digital advertising campaign focused on the significance of memory in PCs, smartphones and other digital devices, and the many advantages of Samsung memory.

By visualizing user experiences with a humorous touch, the new consumer-focused video ads accentuate how important it is to choose electronic devices with memory components of high quality, high performance and low power consumption such as Samsung memory. Traditionally, Samsung’s advertising campaigns for its memory business, such as ‘Green Memory,’ have focused on print messaging in global business and trade press. This time, Samsung is moving one step closer to consumers, using video ads.

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Broadcom CEO Sees Consolidation Ahead In Mobile-Chip Sector

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Consolidation is ahead for the wireless semiconductor sector, according to the chief executive of chip maker Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), with many companies likely to face either a financial or technological squeeze.

Scott McGregor, speaking at an investor conference, said the high cost and difficulty of developing new processors for smartphones and tablet computers will cause many chip makers to exit the market.

He said companies fall into one of four categories–those that have the money and technology to create products, those that have the technical capability but don’t have the cash, those that have a lot of money but not a lot of technology, and startups or companies without much scale. McGregor said he believes there are only about a handful of companies that can offer a complete product to customers.

“Some people are going to give up, some people will sell out and some people will continue to push forward,” he said.

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