Tag Archives: letter-wafer-business

SunEdison Semiconductor Limited, a supplier of semiconductor wafers to the global semiconductor device industry, today announced that it has initiated a plan to consolidate its manufacturing footprint to better match demands of the industry. The consolidation will consist of closing its Ipoh, Malaysia wafering plant by the end of 2016, and relocating the associated capacity to other plant sites. This action will affect approximately 650 employees at the Ipoh facility. The company does not expect its total capacity to change. By late 2016, with the closure of the Ipoh plant, the company’s global footprint will be consolidated from eight to seven plants.

The Ipoh plant produces 200mm semiconductor wafers. SunEdison Semiconductor will work closely with customers to complete the qualifications required and/or build adequate supply to support their needs. During the transition, SunEdison Semiconductor expects to continue to deliver products and service without disruption to their customers. Employees affected by the closure are being offered customary severance and benefits packages.

The company estimates that approximately $4 million to $6 million of severance expense will be incurred as a result of this action, of which approximately $2 million to $4 million is expected to be incurred in the third quarter of 2015 with the balance incurred over the next 12 to 16 months.

Related news: 

IC manufacturers close or repurpose 83 wafer fabs from 2009-2014

Today, Intel Corporation announced it will invest $5 million over the next five years to deepen its engineering pipeline partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology and deploy research-driven solutions to inspire and retain women and underrepresented minorities to start and complete computer science and engineering degrees.

The Intel and Georgia Tech program, announced in conjunction with the first-ever White House Demo Day, builds on Intel’s ongoing commitment to improve diversity in the technology industry. Earlier this year, Intel announced a new goal in diversity and inclusion: to achieve full representation of underrepresented minorities and women by the year 2020 in its U.S. workforce, along with a $300 million Diversity in Technology initiative to help build a pipeline of underrepresented engineers and computer scientists, to foster hiring and inclusion of women and underrepresented minorities at Intel, and to fund programs to support a more positive representation of women and underrepresented minorities in technology and gaming.

“Filling the tech industry pipeline with diverse students is critical to increasing the number of diverse engineers and computer scientists in the field,” said Rosalind Hudnell, vice president of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer at Intel. “The goal of this program is to inspire and support more women and underrepresented minorities to earn technical degrees so we can hire them down the road – we want to foster those future tech innovators.”

The program will support and expand several existing Georgia Tech initiatives, including:

  • Summer Engineering Institute: The three-week Summer Engineering Institute hosts rising 11th- and 12th-graders from around the country. Students learn basic engineering and computer science techniques and gain hands-on experience through working in teams to solve real-world engineering problems.
  • RISE: Retaining Inspirational Scholars in Technology and Engineering (RISE) provides financial support to talented underrepresented minority and non-traditional students. Intel’s existing Diversity Scholars program will provide scholarships with priority going to those whose majors align with Intel’s interests: electrical engineering, computer science and computer engineering.
  • Peer-2-Peer Mentoring: The mentoring program provides specialized guidance and support to undergraduate students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), while also helping them adjust to the climate and culture at Georgia Tech. Mentors and mentees develop leadership, communication and networking skills.
  • SURE: The Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering (SURE) is a 10-week research program to attract qualified minority students from across the country into graduate school in the fields of engineering and science. In addition to conducting research, participants receive mentoring from faculty and graduate students and participate in professional development and technical seminars.
  • Focus: The Focus program invites college juniors and seniors from around the country to attend a three-day event designed to raise awareness of graduate education among underrepresented students. Participants learn about financial resources, visit research laboratories, network with other scholars and receive help with the graduate school application process.

The Intel and Georgia Tech program is anticipated to result in retaining more than 1,000 underrepresented minority students and improve access to thousands more students.

“It is a national imperative that the U.S. continue to enhance the engagement of students of all backgrounds in STEM fields to create a more robust economy,” said Gary May, dean and Southern Company Chair in the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech. “The higher education and private sectors must combine forces to achieve the impact that is necessary. As a national leader in producing outstanding underrepresented engineering graduates, Georgia Tech is pleased to partner with Intel in this transformative initiative.”

The Intel and Georgia Tech program was announced in conjunction with the first-ever White House Demo Day, which celebrates the important role entrepreneurship plays in America’s economy. Unlike a private-sector demo day, where entrepreneurs and startups pitch their ideas to funders, this new event invites innovators from around the country to “demo” their individual stories in Washington, D.C.

Earlier this year, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced that Intel is entering into a memorandum of understanding with the Oakland Unified School District and will invest $5 million over the next five years to improve access to computer science and engineering careers as early as high school. As part of Intel’s new collaboration with Georgia Tech, many of the Oakland students will have the opportunity to participate in Georgia Tech’s Summer Engineering Institute.

Microchip Technology Incorporated, a provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, and Micrel, Incorporated today announced that Microchip has completed its previously announced acquisition of Micrel.  Shareholders of Micrel overwhelmingly approved the merger with 98.95 percent of the Micrel shares that voted in favor of the merger.  As a result of the completion of the transaction, trading in Micrel common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market will cease today.

“We are very pleased to have completed our acquisition of Micrel,” said Steve Sanghi, President and CEO.  “I welcome the Micrel employees into the Microchip family and look forward to building a combined organization that will bring the capabilities of both organizations to bear in the marketplace.”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Micrel shareholders were able to elect to receive the $14.00 per share purchase price in either cash or shares of Microchip common stock.  Based on the results of the shareholder elections, Microchip will pay an aggregate of approximately $430 million in cash and issue an aggregate of 8,626,795 shares of its common stock to Micrel shareholders.  The number of shares of Microchip common stock that a Micrel shareholder will receive is based on a conversion ratio of $14.00divided by the average of the Microchip closing stock price for the ten most recent trading days ending on the second to last trading day prior to August 3, 2015, which is $42.888 per share.

Microchip Technology Inc. is a provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide.

ORBOTECH LTD. today announced that SPTS Technologies, an Orbotech company and a supplier of advanced wafer processing solutions for the global semiconductor and related industries, has received an order, worth approximately US$16M, for multiple etch and deposition systems from WIN Semiconductors Corp. (WIN), a provider of pure play GaAs foundry services for the wireless infrastructure and networking markets. The systems will be used to make Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT) and Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (pHEMT) devices in WIN’s Fab C, their third and newest fab. The systems will ship in the second half of 2015.

“We are proud to have been a supplier to WIN since their inception in 1999,” said Kevin Crofton, president of SPTS and corporate vice president at Orbotech. “They recently announced their 1 millionth GaAs wafer shipment, and our systems have added value to every one of those wafers. Over those 16 years, our technology roadmaps have been shaped by leaders such as WIN, and this repeat order confirms that our etch and deposition solutions continue to deliver production advantages to our customers”

Steve Chen, Senior Vice President of WIN commented, “The GaAs device market is entering a phase of growth, driven by the increasing complexity of RF designs inside smartphones and the accompanying infrastructure. We are successful because we have the flexibility and technology bandwidth to react to the fast changing demands of a consumer driven market, and SPTS has the same mindset. Sixteen years ago, we selected SPTS to join us in the new world of GaAs foundry services, and today we own approximately 60 percent of the foundry market share and are opening our third fab. The support and commitment of SPTS has contributed to that success. I look forward to entering the next phase of growth with them.”

Virtually all power amplifiers in a modern smartphone are made from circuits built on GaAs semiconductors, and enable handsets to transmit voice and data back to the base station tower. Power amplifiers (PAs) are one of the most critical RF components and the leading smartphones contain up to 5 PAs. The increasing complexity in dealing with multiple RF bands from 2G up to 4G, and the uptake of more capable smartphones, are expected to support the market’s continued growth.

WBG companies are slowly but surely reshaping the industry and accelerate the market adoption with numerous strategic mergers and acquisitions (Cree, Infineon Technologies) and the development of disruptive solutions.

wbg market segments

In its latest technology and market analysis entitled “GaN & SiC for power electronics applications”, Yole Développement (Yole)  highlights the different strategies defined by the leaders. Infineon Technologies ensures the development of its WBG activities with the introduction of a new Gallium Nitride (GaN) segment: the company acquired International Rectifier in January 2015. Few months later, Cree announced the willingness to spin out its power and RF activities and acquired the US-based company APEI to strengthen its position in SiC based power electronics. Yole also lists huge investments that have been done by the WBG companies. Latest examples are:

– Exagan, that raised US$ 6.5 million in first-round financing, to produce high-speed power switching devices on 200mm wafers, based on GaN technologies.
– And Transphorm with its US$ 70 million investment round led by global investment firm KKR.

WBG companies are so moving in the right direction to overcome the remaining technical challenges and confirm their confidence in these new solutions.

So far, the WBG market has not grown as fast as people in the business have hoped. The four barriers to WBG device adoption remain: high cost at the device level – reliability – multi-sourcing – integration.

– Many R&D programs have been launched in recent years and some prototypes have demonstrated that the cost of the Bill Of Materials (BOM) can be lower at the system level when using WBG devices.

– To overcome reliability challenges, ROHM and Cree have announced new Silicon Carbide (SiC) device generations or platforms with enhanced, more stable, specifications. SiC and GaN devices are also going through reliability tests to lower their adoption risk.

– “Numerous companies have now developed SiC MOSFETs, including Cree, Rohm, ST Microelectronics, Mitsubishi and GE,” said Dr. Hong Lin, Technology & Market Analyst at Yole. And she explains: “This means end users are better able to multi-source these devices. By contrast, there’s a limited number of suppliers in the GaN market. In coming years, new entrants like Exagan and TSMC will provide extra sourcing options. Infineon and Panasonic also announced in 2015 that they would establish a dual-sourcing relationship for normally-off 600V GaN power devices.”

–  Integrating these fast switching, high operating temperature devices remains one of the major challenges. WBG suppliers and end users need to reconsider many factors, including device packaging, module packaging, gate driver integration and topology design.

Packaging is becoming a particular bottleneck, but the good news is that companies are moving in the right direction. GaN device makers EPC and GaN Systems have both adopted advanced packaging, which seems to be more suitable than traditional power device packages. The recent acquisition of APEI by Cree will likewise accelerate the development of SiC module packaging.

Recent financial moves also indicate market confidence in WBG devices. There have recently been several pieces of good news for the WBG business. The current SiC device market leader Cree decided to spin off its power and RF division as a separate company, and will issue shares in a new IPO. At Yole, analysts interpret this announcement as a positive sign of the continuing growth in the SiC power device market.

At the same time, around US$ 100 million in investments have been made in different GaN startups:

– In May 2015, the company GaN Systems raises US$ 20 million venture funding.
– In June 2015, Exagan raises € 5.7M (US$ 6.5 million) to produce high-efficiency GaN-on-Silicon power-switching devices on 200mm wafers.
– And the same month, Transphorm announces new US$ 70 million investment led by KKR.

These investments reflect the confidence in the GaN device market and investors’ willingness to provide funds to accelerate production capabilities. Under this context, Yole’s analysts propose a comprehensive survey of the WBG applications in the power electronics area. This report describes the WBG power device industrial landscape, its players and their strategies of development. It presents the main remaining technical challenges facing WBF devices; it projects the market for GaN lateral devices and SiC power devices up to 2020.

By the end of 2015, the consulting company will take part in numerous compound semi. conferences. Yole’s analysts will present the latest results of the WBG analysis, with a special focus on the applications.

The SEMI Strategic Materials Conference (SMC), taking place September 22–-23 in Mountain View, Calif., will uncover the drivers for new materials and how material suppliers are impacted by the value chain they serve. The SMC theme is “”Materials Enabling a Smart and Interconnected World”” – focusing on the emerging trends in the semiconductor industry arising from the increasing pervasiveness of the Internet across industries and the potential impact on our daily lives. SMC is the only conference devoted to the technology and business drivers of materials in the microelectronics industry. It is also a planning, forecasting, and business development necessity for the “advanced materials” microelectronics industry.

Gary Patton, Ph.D., CTO and Head of Worldwide R&D at GLOBALFOUNDRIES kicks off with the conference’s keynote. Other companies presenting include: Air Liquide Electronics, Air Products and Chemicals, Applied Materials, Cabot Microelectronics, Consumer Electronics Association, EMD Performance Materials, Environmental and Occupational Risk Management, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell, Imec, Imprint Energy, Inpria, Intel Corporation, Lam Research, Medtronic, Micron Technology, ON Semiconductor, SEMI, Susquehanna International Group, Techcet, and Texas Instruments.

Day One focuses on economic and material trends, including market forces for semiconductor process materials, both from chip fabricators and also end-use applications. Market trends in materials and semiconductor equipment growth, semiconductor production demand, and end-user applications will be covered, as well as a “Street perspective.”

SMC will continue with “Material Enabling Silicon Everywhere” bring new life for mature technologies and new capabilities from materials science. Many Internet of Things (IoT) devices will build off well-known technologies, but “More than Moore” integration may also be necessary to fulfil the vision.

Day Two of SMC focuses on “New Emerging Materials Technology and Opportunities at the Edge.” The “Great Untethering” of data from wired infrastructure led to an explosion in lightweight, high-powered, energy-efficient portable computing. This session delves into how this ubiquitous connectivity will enable new modes of work and leisure, healthcare and entertainment, production, distribution and consumption of the staples and ornaments of life. This session will highlight the new-to-the-world capabilities over the next 20 years, and some likely areas where materials science and technology will be essential parts of tomorrow’s digital ecosystems.

For the “advanced materials”-enabled microelectronics industry, the Strategic Materials Conference is a planning, forecasting, and business development necessity. Organized by the Chemical and Gas Manufacturers Group (CGMG), a SEMI Special Interest Group comprised of leading manufacturers, producers, packagers and distributors of chemicals and gases used in the microelectronics industry, SMC has provided valuable information and networking opportunities to materials and electronics industry professionals since 1995.

For the complete agenda, additional information and to register, visit the Strategic Materials Conference webpage at www.semi.org/smc.

The growth rate for vehicle shipments in China is slowing, but more and better performing semiconductors will still be required in automotive applications in the coming years. Total automotive semiconductor revenue in China reached $5.6 billion in 2014, and revenues are expected to grow nearly 11 percent year over year in 2015 to reach $6.2 billion. Semiconductors used in automotive powertrains, infotainment and body-convenience electronic systems are the primary drivers of revenue growth, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global source of critical information and insight.

“There is increasing auto industry focus on power efficiency and green energy, as well as the pursuit of greater safety and a better overall driving experience,” said Alex Liu, semiconductors and components analyst for IHS. “For that reason, more and higher performance semiconductors will be required in automotive applications, like direct injection systems in power engines, advanced driver assistance systems and safety applications.”

According to the latest IHS Automotive Semiconductor Report — China, the leading automotive semiconductor company in 2014 was Freescale, based on bill-to China sales, with 15.5 percent of the market. Freescale is strong in the microcontroller and processor market, with products that are widely used in automotive powertrains, automotive bodies, and safety and infotainment systems. Freescale was followed by STMicroelectronics, with 14 percent of the 2014 market in China, and NXP Semiconductors, with 12 percent of the market.

Local automotive design market revenue in China was estimated to reach $1.5 billion in 2014, led by the automotive infotainment category, which includes car radios and navigation systems. IHS expects that the total local design market in China will grow at a 13 percent compound rate from 2014 to 2019.

“Local Chinese companies are strong in the automotive aftermarket, because they have a price advantage, require less time to market and have more flexible design processes than their non-local competitors,” Liu said. “With the accumulation of technical knowledge, and close ties to original equipment manufacturers, some local players have also gradually entered the applications market. They provide semiconductors for low-end auto-body electronic applications where quality and reliability are less critical, such as parking assistance in advanced driver assistance systems and automotive infotainment.”

ReportsnReports.com added 2015 semiconductor market research reports that forecast a 2.9 percent CAGR to 2020 for semiconductor industry and a 6.7 percent rise from 2014 in the semiconductor equipment market size during 2015 across the world.

The Global Semiconductor Market 2015 – 2020 research report forecasts revenues for key services across key geographies. The global semiconductor market is forecast to reach $332bn across 2015, representing a 3.4 percent growth in comparison to $316bn in 2014. This research forecasts that the market will grow at a 5-yr CAGR of 2.9 percent over 2015 to 2020, with the majority of growth being driven by mobile, automotive and industrial application markets. The consumer electronics and data processing application markets are expected to remain at the end of the growth spectrum with limited expectations for any innovative development to lead market demand.

Key product and service applications for semiconductor technology include innovations in smart devices and hyper-connected communications networks, as well as medical devices and efficient infrastructure across the energy sector. There is still capacity in the semiconductor market for innovative semiconductor production methods that drive expenditure reduction, productivity, and efficiency as the demand for performance increases.

This semiconductor market research facilitates analysis of the state of the global semiconductor market in 2015 and a market forecast for the period 2015-2020. It helps identify how the market operates and which companies are operating in the market, their current products and pipeline candidates. Discover how the semiconductor market is evolving across the forecast period of 2015-2020 through the examination of global and regional benefits and challenges, particularly relating to political, economic, social, and technological factors and read interviews with 2 key global authorities in the semiconductor market.

Top 20 global semiconductor industry players, by revenue, 2014 listed in this research include Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm, Micron, SK Hynix, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Broadcom, TSMC, STM, MediaTek, Renesas, SanDisk, Infineon, NXP, Avago, AMD, Freescale, Sony and NVIDIA.

The second research titled “Global and China Semiconductor Equipment Industry Report, 2014-2015″ says in 2014, the global semiconductor equipment market size totaled USD38 billion, up 10.4 percent from 2013. It is predicted that in 2015 this figure will climb to USD40.5 billion, a rise of 6.7 percent from a year ago, and that the market size in 2016 will slump by 5.6 percent as compared to 2015. However, the possible shrinkage in 2016 might come from the following factors:

Firstly, following a peak in 2014, main electronic products such as smartphones and tablet and laptop PCs have stagnated or declined. This is particularly true of tablet PCs, which has presented a significant decline. On the other hand, equipment market delays being sluggish but will without doubt decline in 2016.

Secondly, due to the global deflation, prices for bulk commodity led by oil and iron ore plunged and would cause knock-on effect, which would in turn result in a fall in semiconductor equipment prices.

Thirdly, global economic recovery will probably come to a halt, with the US GDP dropping by 0.7 percent in 2015Q1. Moreover, China’s GDP growth slowed obviously. The both countries constituted the major driving force of the global economy. The stimulatory effect of US QE began to fade away, and therefore the economy might go down.

In 2014, semiconductor equipment vendors made remarkable performance, with a substantial rise in operating profit, though their revenue did not increased. The merger of Applied Material and Tokyo Electron was rejected by the US Department of Commerce. In future, more of M&A plans may well be intervened by the government, after all semiconductor equipment market is a highly concentrated market.

In 2015, the Chinese semiconductor companies and institutions showed their strength, launching a series of mergers and acquisitions. The Chinese enterprises are adept in and fond of capital operation rather than industrial production. The semiconductor equipment market size in China will reach USD4.4 billion in 2015, of which the domestic companies, mostly engaged in low-end equipment, will account for just 14 percent.

Major semiconductor equipment market vendors mentioned in this report include Applied Materials, ASML, Tokyo Electron, KLA-Tencor, Lam Research, DAINIPPON SCREEN, Nikon Precision, Advantest, Hitachi High-Technologies, ASM International N.V., Teradyne, ASM PACIFIC, Kulicke & Soffa, AMEC and Sevenstar Electronics.

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced the appointment of Sunil Lalvani as vice president and president of Qualcomm India, and the departure of Avneesh Agrawal, senior vice president and president of Qualcomm India and South Asia. Lalvani’s appointment will be effective July 27 and he will report directly to Cristiano Amon, executive vice president and co-president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Lalvani has more than 20 years of experience in sales, business development, strategic planning and business operations across the IT and telecom sectors. He joins Qualcomm from BlackBerry, where he served most recently as managing director of India and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). In this role, Lalvani was responsible for overseeing and driving BlackBerry’s overall business strategy and growth in India and was focused on driving differentiated solutions for consumers and enterprise customers. Lalvani was also instrumental in leading a strong engagement with Carrier partners and ISV’s in India, to drive uptake of BlackBerry’s services portfolio in the India region.

Prior to that, Lalvani held the position of Director of Enterprise Sales. Lalvani also has worked at EMC Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Cisco Systems and SITA Equant Network (now Orange Business Services).  Lalvani holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Bombay University and a post graduate diploma in marketing management from Xavier’s Institute of Management, India.

“I am pleased to welcome Sunil Lalvani as vice president and president of Qualcomm India. His broad industry experience and extensive leadership experience will enable us to strengthen existing strategic relationships, identify new opportunities for business growth and build new relationships in India,” Amon said. “Under Avneesh’s leadership, Qualcomm led a number of successful efforts to nurture the local ecosystem in India, including accelerating 3G smartphone adoption and 4G LTE deployment, helping Indian brands build new revenue streams and establishing Qualcomm as the premier technology brand in India’s telecom and handset ecosystem. I’d like to thank Avneesh for all of his contributions to these successes.”

During his 21-year tenure, Agrawal has played a key role in many of the Company’s key technology initiatives including leading the development of Qualcomm’s first WCDMA and LTE chipsets, and has played a crucial role in driving Qualcomm’s business in India and South Asia.  In 2005 he assumed his role as senior vice president of engineering, where under his direction, the team has implemented a number of key initiatives to expand Qualcomm’s technology leadership and foster the mobile ecosystem in India. He has been granted 159 US patents. Avneesh is moving on to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.

ROHM Co., Ltd., a developer of analog power IC solutions, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Powervation Ltd., a privately held digital power IC company that develops digital power management system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for approximately $70M, in an all-cash transaction.

The strategic combination of Powervation’s Intelligent Digital Power platform with ROHM’s leading analog power technology and global market access will enable the company to address a broad range of fast growing market opportunities, as customers increasingly adopt digital power solutions to power next generation high density systems and ICs such as processors, memory, FPGAs and ASICs.

Since its founding in Ireland in 2006, as a University of Limerick spin-out, Powervation has established itself as a leading innovator in digital power controllers serving high performance Computing, Cloud and Communications infrastructure markets. The Company’s proprietary DSP control platform with patented xTune auto-tuning and ITM intelligent transient management technologies, has been adopted by industry leading customers who need advanced power management, precision telemetry / control and high efficiency solutions to power their complex multi-rail, multi-phase systems. Powervation delivers on these needs with further breakthroughs on design flexibility, fast time-to-market and lower total cost of ownership.

ROHM, a $3B global leader in analog and power semiconductors, supplies a diversified global customer base in the consumer, automotive and industrial markets. By acquiring Powervation, ROHM will gain leading-edge digital power technologies to strengthen its product offerings in the rapidly-growing cloud, data-center, and communications infrastructure markets. This acquisition will also enable ROHM to develop advanced digital power solutions for a broader range of markets and applications with Powervation’s flexible controller platform.

According to market research reports, digital power continues to progressively displace traditional analog technology in the $11B global power management IC market driven by its performance and energy efficiency advantages.

“ROHM and Powervation share a common vision for the role of digital power technology in transforming the market with next-generation high performance power solutions,” stated Mike Smith, SVP & GM of ROHM Semiconductor USA.

“The combination of our two companies will enable ROHM to develop industry-leading, integrated digital power solutions to serve a broad range of customers, markets, and applications spanning the entire spectrum from Computing and Communications to Consumer and Industrial,” stated Jun Iida, head of LSI development and member of the ROHM board of directors.

Powervation will become a fully owned subsidiary of ROHM, with principal design center in Cork, Ireland and system application centers in San Jose, CA and Asia which fuse expertise in power systems, digital control, silicon and embedded software. ROHM plans to accelerate product development through investment and synergies with ROHM analog / discrete power technologies and to increase market adoption further by leveraging ROHM’s global customer base and channels.

“The Powervation team is excited to join forces with ROHM, a top 25 global semiconductor company,” said Mike McAuliffe, CEO of Powervation. “It’s simply a great fit – we have built an innovative Digital Power IC company to date but the combination with ROHM now presents a compelling opportunity for broad market leadership in Digital Power Management solutions.”