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Technology Stocks : Atmel - the trend is about to change -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter S. Maroulis who wrote (13307)	2/4/2004 1:22:12 PM
From: tech101	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13565

UMC's Q1 Fab-Capacity to Hit 100% Amid Stellar Q4 By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies 02/04/2004, 12:00 PM ET HSINCHU, Taiwan--United Microelectronics Corp. reported sales of NT$23.72 billion (US$698 million) in the fourth quarter of 2003, up 10.1 percent from the previous quarter and 35.5 percent from the like period a year ago. Quarter-over-quarter net income increased 60.1 percent to NT$6.73 billion (US$198 million). The net income was 582.3 percent over the like period a year ago, according to the Taiwan foundry giant. Overall utilization rate for the quarter was 96 percent, compared to 84 percent for the pervious quarter. UMC shipped 644 thousand 8-inch equivalent wafers in 4Q03, a 17.9 percent increase from 546 thousand 8-inch equivalents shipped in the previous quarter. Blended average selling price (ASP) of net wafer sales was flat in U.S. dollar terms compared with the previous quarter. Year-over-year revenue increased to NT$84.86 billion (US$2.50 billion), up 25.9 percent from NT$67.43 billion in 2002. Year-over-year gross profit increased to NT$19.44 billion (US$572 million), from NT$ 11.20 billion in 2002. For the first quarter of 2004, UMC said wafer shipments will be flat compared to the previous quarter. Wafer ASPs will increase by low single digit percentage points. Capacity utilization rate will hit approximately 100 percent after factoring in fab maintenance "We are pleased to report a sequential increase of over 60 percent in operating income for the fourth quarter," said Jackson Hu, CEO at UMC, in a statement. "During this period, we experienced a steady increase in overall demand, particularly from the communications segment, which exhibited a robust rise in orders," he said. "By the end of 2004, we plan to triple our 300mm manufacturing capacity to 30-thousand 12-inch wafers per month," he said. "Planned total capacity, including UMCi, will increase 16 percent year-over-year, with over half of our total capacity capable of manufacturing chips using 0.18um and below technologies."

To: Peter S. Maroulis who wrote (13307)	2/10/2004 1:15:37 PM
From: tech101	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13565

A Very Smart Chip Atmel Expands Its FingerChip Sensor Portfolio to Meet Requirements of New Mobile Hand-Held Devices Tuesday February 10, 8:02 am ET Atmel Bridges the Gap to Next-Generation Phones and PDAs GRENOBLE, France, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML - News) announced today the introduction of the AT77C104B FingerChip(TM) fingerprint sensor optimized for mobile hand-held devices such as cell phones, smart phones or Personal Digital Assistants. The AT77C104B is the perfect choice for hand-held device makers wishing to increase the added value of their product, while minimizing the cost and integration efforts of a biometric solution. Access protection, password replacement, data encryption, profiling and theft prevention will easily become added-value features on next-generation devices with the integration of Atmel's FingerChip. The sensor integrates new 8-way navigation and click functions for menu scrolling and item selection. This eliminates the need for space consuming, sometimes troublesome mechanical navigation modules. Once the FingerChip is integrated into a device, only a 1.6 mm by 9.5 mm sensor area remains visible, making it the smallest visible sensor area on the market today. The AT77C104B is an SPI output fingerprint sweep sensor providing a high-quality 500 dpi fingerprint image. It utilizes a unique patented method for imaging the entire finger by "sweeping" it across the sensor. Successive images are captured and specific software is then used to reconstruct the fingerprint. The AT77C104B operates within a voltage range of 2.3V to 3.6V, draws a maximum of only 6 mA during fingerprint acquisition and less than 10 uA in sleep mode, making it an ideal fit for battery-powered hand-held devices. Capitalizing on a proven technology already used in consumer applications, its high robustness is another asset that meets constraints faced by portable devices. Designed to operate between -20 and +70 degree Celsius, withstand more than 4 million swipes and resist electrostatic discharge, shocks or sweat, the AT77C104B sensor is a true guarantee of reliability. "While designing this sensor, we paid particular attention to the most important parameters requested by mobile device manufacturers," says David Richard, Worldwide Biometrics Marketing Manager at Atmel. "Low power consumption to maintain long battery life, high resistance to usual environmental challenges that can affect mobile devices and multiple packaging options will make this product simple for our customers to use. The AT77C104B also provides the additional benefit of replacing space-consuming navigation buttons while still allowing robust designs on the final product. And the price is attractive too, starting at less than $6 for high-volume orders," he adds. Samples of the AT77C104B and evaluation kits are now available. Pricing depends on the packaging option.