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differentiation in the expanded
offering. The transaction is valued at $330 million.

Globalfoundries Plans
to Build Out Its Most
Advanced Chip Plant
Globalfoundries, a contract
chip manufacturer, is trying
to tap the US government's
ambitions to disentangle the
semiconductor supply chain
from Asia and keep its technology lead over China and
other countries. The firm said
it agreed to purchase a large
parcel of land adjacent to its
most advanced US fab, as it
looks to stay ahead of customer demand.
The Santa Clara, Californiabased company said it hammered out a contract giving it
the right to purchase the property sometime in the future.
Globalfoundries, the largest
contract chip maker in the US,
said the portion of land could
be used to build out its most
advanced US plant located in
upstate New York. The production plant, Fab 8, is where
it fills orders for chips based its
highest-end 12-nanometer and
14-nanometer nodes for others.
The company said it has invested more than $13 billion in
the foundry to date. It has also
invested $2 billion for upgrading its other US fabs, including
the former IBM plants it runs.
Globalfoundries, which
makes chips for hundreds of
customers from Advanced
Micro Devices and Broadcom
to Skyworks and Qualcomm,
said how it proceeds with the
property will depend on demand from its customers, including defense and aerospace
contractors in the US.

Samsung: Initial 6G
Networks in 2028
A white paper released by

Samsung says that initial 6G
networks could be deployed
in 2030. The paper, "The Next
Hyper-Connected Experience
for All," outlines various scenarios of what the technology
might look like, including technical and societal megatrends,
services, requirements, candidate technologies, and an expected timeline for standardization. Samsung's R&D hub,
Samsung Research, launched
its Advanced Communications
Research Center with the goal
of accelerating 6G research.
"While 5G commercialization
is still in its initial stage, it's
never too early to start preparing for 6G because it typically
takes around 10 years from the
start of research to commercialization of a new generation of
communications technology,"
said Sunghyun Choi, head of
the Advanced Communications
Research Center.

Synaptics to Buy
Broadcom's Remaining
Wireless IoT Business
for $250M
Broadcom is selling the remnants of its wireless Internet of
Things business to Synaptics.
Synaptics said it has agreed
to pay $250 million to buy out
Broadcom's WiFi, Bluetooth,
GPS and other IoT-focused
wireless assets, in its latest bid
to beat out competitors to control the electronics crammed
inside the next generation of
smart consumer devices in
the home.
Under the terms of the deal,
Synaptics said it would pay for
the rights to Broadcom's WiFi,
Bluetooth and GPS products
aimed at consumer Internet of
Things devices, ranging from

thermostats that programs itself based on how users change
the temperature to smart
speakers that can understand
simple, verbal commands from
users. The deal also gives it
rights to new generations of
wireless IoT chips currently
in development at Broadcom.
Broadcom is a supplier of
WiFi and Bluetooth chips for
use in smartphones ranging from Apple's iPhone to
Samsung's Galaxy devices, and
it is holding onto that business
unit. Around 60 employees
from Broadcom's engineering
division are also part of the
deal, which is expected to close
by the first quarter of 2021.
The assets Synaptics is
buying include IoT-focused IP
for WiFi 4, WiFi 5 and WiFi
6 as well as Bluetooth 5.1,
Bluetooth 5.2, BLE and GPS L5
and GNSS. Once the all-cash
deal closes, the new business
will add around $65 million
to Synaptics' annual sales.
The agreement has been approved by the company's board
of directors.

Standex Acquires
Renco Electronics
Standex International announced that it has acquired
privately-held, Florida-based
Renco Electronics for approximately $28 million in cash
with an additional three-year
earnout payment based upon
achieving certain financial
targets. The transaction is being financed from Standex's
existing cash balance. The
Company expects the acquisition to be accretive to its
earnings in its first year of
ownership as well as additive
to consolidated free cash flow.
"We are very pleased to have
acquired Renco Electronics, a
great strategic fit, deepening
our significant engineering

and technical expertise in end
markets supported by strong
engineer-to-engineer relationships. In addition, Renco's end
markets and customer base in
areas such as consumer and industrial are highly complementary to our existing business
with the potential to further
expand key account relationships and capitalize on cross
selling opportunities between
the two companies. Renco's
design and manufacturing
cycle is extremely efficient,
reinforced by a strong global
network of proprietary supplier
relationships," commented
President and Chief Executive
Officer David Dunbar.
Renco Electronics designs
and manufactures customized
as well as standard magnetics
components and products
including transformers, inductors, chokes and coils for
power and RF applications.
The products are used in consumer, industrial, military,
and aerospace end markets.
Renco's trailing twelve-month
revenues were approximately
$28 million.

Power Electronics for
Electric Vehicle Market
Growing Stongly
According to a report by
Report Ocean, the power
electronics for electric vehicle
market for 2018 was estimated
at $2.5 billion, and is expected
to increase to $30.01 billion
by 2026. This strong growth
is accompanied by a CAGR of
35.5% from 2019 to 2026. The
inverters segment scored the
largest revenue share for the
market in 2018. The report
predicts that the on-board
charger market is likely to
experience a higher growth
rate for the forecast period,
as a result of increased vehicle
electrification.

AUGUST 2020 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

http://www.EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

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