The Week In Review: Manufacturing

Chipmakers
Samsung has rolled out the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator, an appliance that changes the landscape in the refrigerator market. The refrigerator comes with a 21.5-inch LCD touchscreen, which serves as the digital command center and connects to a smartphone. It enables consumers to view inside the fridge with a smartphone while grocery shopping. It can access music or television content.

Samsung also announced the availability of the Flex Duo Slide-in Range with Dual Door and Wi-Fi Connectivity, a new smart range that combines advanced technology with flexible functionality to make meal preparation easier, faster and more enjoyable.

Nvidia and Samsung have agreed to settle all pending intellectual property litigation between the two companies. The agreement will lead to the immediate dismissal of all pending IP litigation in U.S. district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent Office between the companies. Further details of the agreement are not being disclosed.

OSATs
At one time, Taiwan’s Siliconware and China’s Tsinghua were looking to form an alliance. Tsinghua was supposed to take a 25% stake in the chip-packaging company. Those discussions have been terminated, however.

After failing to acquire Siliconware, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) has struck again. Recently, ASE invested in fan-out packaging specialist Deca. Now, Tessera Technologies’ subsidiary, Invensas, signed a new technology license and development agreement with ASE. The plan is to collaborate on the development and commercialization of Invensas’ Bond Via Array (BVA) technology.

Market research
Revenue associated with the wireless competitive landscape continued to serve as a bright spot in the larger semiconductor market in 2015, growing almost 4% to over $56 billion, year over year, while total semiconductor revenue fell 2% to $347 billion during the same period, according to IHS Inc.

CMOS image sensors are in the middle of an unprecedented string of record-high annual sales, thanks to the rapid spread of embedded digital-imaging technology, according to IC Insights.

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