The State of Electronics IP in a volatile Economy
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The State of Electronics IP in a volatile Economy

Commentary:

Electronics IP Industry Update:

The State of Electronics IP in a volatile Economy

by Dr. Russ Henke
Henke Associates



Introduction

Please note that contributed articles, blog entries, and comments posted on EDACafe.com are the views and opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the management and staff of Internet Business Systems and its subsidiary websites.

The version of the document you are reading started life at the beginning of August 2011 as an initial draft of a standard EDA WEEKLY scheduled to be posted on EDACafe.com on August 22, 2011. However, events in the news of the US economy were moving so rapidly, that the writer wanted to publish the initial version ASAP as a COMMENTARY for his readers. The first posting did in fact occur on August 8, 2011. The article was then updated on August 9. Finally, the IP Commentary article was further updated on August 14 with selected events between August 9 and August 14, and it will soon be modified again and posted on August 22 as the official EDA WEEKLY of August 22, 2011.

So the material below is being published as an Electronics IP Industry Commentary in which we return our attention to the phenomenon of the rise of Intellectual Property in the world’s Electronics Industry, a segment of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) that we began reporting on separately in 2003. Indeed, for the entire period 2003 through 2010, separate issues of the Electronics Design Automation (EDA) Commentaries and Electronics Intellectual Property (IP) Industry Commentaries were posted quarterly on EDACafe.com.

Starting in 2011, the EDA WEEKLY attempted to adopt a new tradition of publishing a consolidated report each quarter that combined the two segments of EDA and IP into one posting. That new tradition has met with only limited success, as the quarterly reports on the two electronics segments were combined and posted together only twice out of three tries to date in 2011.

It again appears necessary, for timing and logistical reasons, to separate the reporting of the two segments once again, only eight months into the new mission. The actual timing of the original quarterly financial releases of the two vendor groups [IP and EDA] are different in themselves, and when added to the variable available dates for EDA WEEKLY postings, it’s possible that the financial results for one group could be reported over two months in arrears of their actual releases by the involved vendors. Moreover, the length of the combined postings often forced us to forego the latest news sections, which many readers had coveted.

So we will try separating the two segments once again this month, focusing in this issue on the Group of Five (G5) Electronics IP players, each of whom reported their Q2 2011 results individually between July 21 and August 04, 2011.

Other combinations will appear in future as well. For example, in the September 19, 2011 EDA WEEKLY, not only will the G5 EDA vendors be covered for their nominal Q2 2011 financials, but also a special article about one of their number is currently planned for inclusion, subject to the volatile developments in the economy.

And yes, when the planetary alignments are occasionally suitable, we’ll publish a consolidated report that combines the two segments of EDA and IP into one posting in the EDA WEEKLY.

The Electronics IP Group of Five (G5) Q2 2011 Reports

Henke Associates had selected eight (8) publicly-traded companies originally (called the "Group-of-8" or "G8"), as representative of the financial state of the nascent Electronics IP industry circa 2003. At the end of 2004, ARM completed its acquisition of Artisan Components, Inc., thereby reducing the "G8" to "G7". In August 2009 Mentor Graphics completed its acquisition of LogicVision, thereby reducing the “G7” to “G6”. Then on June 10, 2010 Synopsys announced that it would acquire Virage Logic, a transaction that was completed on September 2, 2010.

Accordingly, below are listed the five Electronics IP vendors which will be covered in the sequel, for Q2 2011:

 




As always, we will begin with summary charts of revenues and earnings, followed by individual financial summaries on each G5 IP vendor in turn. Recent stock performances will also be included, which is where the seldom-witnessed volatility of the current economic climate has the most impact.

Finally, some news items related to each of the G5 Electronics IP vendors, and/or other IP topics in general, will be presented.

Enjoy if you can!

 


The Electronics IP G5 Results for Calendar Q2 2011

We begin our review of the Q2 2011 Electronics IP G5 performances by looking at the G5 Electronics lP Revenue Summary (Table 1) below.

As a group of five vendors (the IP G5), the modest Q2 2011 revenue improvements of ARM, CEVA and Rambus were enough to propel the total revenue for the IP G5 to a small increase over just-prior Q1 2011, although the total sequential revenue gain was less than 2%. However, the Q2 2011 revenue performances by the same three vendors over Q2 2010 were healthy enough to propel the entire IP G5 to more than a 28% year-over-year total quarterly revenue enhancement.

Indeed, the G5 Q2 2011 revenue Sum of nearly $292 million was the second best of the five quarters displayed in Table 1, second only to the propitious anomaly of Q4 2010, (when the Rambus royalties’ windfall positively distorted the revenue Sum above $300 million for that quarter).

While ARM’s still-positive quarter to quarter revenue growth has shriveled to single-digit percentages, the revenue distinction among the five IP vendors continues, with two dominant vendors and three runners up. ARM’s strength is once more on display, with Rambus’ sinusoidal revenue still number two. While the business models of each these two vendors are dramatically different, together that “odd couple” again in Q2 2011 took some seven-eighths of the IP revenue Sum, leaving the last eighth or so to divide among the bottom three companies.

Ah, the bottom three. The revenue numbers for Q2 2011 indicate that while second smallest, CEVA is growing and may soon pass 3rd place MIPS, whose revenue is declining. Tiny MoSys for now is already less than a fourth the revenue of 2nd smallest G5 member CEVA and furthermore, MoSys revenue continues on a slightly negative trend pending some breakthrough.




While quarter to quarter profit growth even for ARM is not completely steady, ARM holds the distinction of being the only vendor with all black numbers in earnings in this quarter’s Table 2 below. And of course, none of the other IP G4 runners up can come close to ARM’s 4-quarter earnings totals.

Overall, Table 2 shows lots of red; indeed, once again 40% of the entries in the IP G5 earnings table are in red font this quarter. The earnings table last quarter also sported an even 40.0% red numbers.


Notice that Table 1 columns far above calculate the percentage of one quarter over the other, as labeled, whereas in Table 2 just above, the relevant columns provide the numerical dollar differences in earnings between two different quarters as labeled.



Electronics IP Vendor by Vendor Details – Q2 2011

 


On July 26, 2011 ARM Holdings plc announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

ARM Progress on key growth drivers in Q2 2011:

 

 

 

Warren East, ARM’s Chief Executive Officer, said, ““In the first half of 2011, we have seen strong license revenues driven by an increase in design activity around ARM technology across a broad range of end [user] applications. Major semiconductor vendors and consumer electronics companies are making long-term commitments to using ARM technology in their future product developments, underpinning growth in ARM’s long-term royalty revenues”.

Warren East

“As the addressable market for ARM technology grows, we continue to invest in the development of innovative technology, whilst simultaneously increasing revenues, profits and cash,” East concluded.


ARM Guidance

ARM enters the second half of 2011 with a healthy order backlog and a robust opportunity pipeline, which are expected to deliver strong performance in license revenues. Relevant data for the second quarter, Q2 being the shipment period for ARM’s Q3 2011 royalties, points to a small sequential increase in industry-wide revenues. Q4 2011 royalties are harder to predict, “as continuing macroeconomic uncertainties may impact consumer confidence,“ this last quote said with typical British understatement.

Given ARM’s relative mix of license and royalty revenues, ARM management expects overall Group dollar revenues in the second half of 2011 to be “in line with current market expectations.”

Total Revenues

Total IFRS revenue for ARM in Q2 2011 was $190.2 million, up 26.55% over $150.3 million in Q2 2010, but only 2.53% more than sequential Q1 2011 revenue of $185.5 million. (The revenue fx rates [$/pound] used by ARM were 1.61 for Q2 & Q1 2011, and 1.50 for Q2 2010).

Total Earnings

Total IFRS earnings for ARM in Q2 2011 were approximately $42,890 thousand, up 24.07% vs. sequential Q1 2011’s $34,569 thousand, and up 30.59% year-over-year vs. $32,844 thousand in Q2 2010.


Acquisitions

On 15 June 2011, ARM purchased the entire share capital of Obsidian Software Inc. for $5.6 million in cash. This purchase has been accounted for as an acquisition. More details beyond the brief mention of this acquisition in the June 27, 2011 EDA/IP Almanac are now available, and these details are recounted here:

Obsidian, a company based in Austin Texas, is a market leader in verification and validation products and services used in the design of increasingly complex processors. Obsidian’s RAVEN software has been used by many of the world’s leading semiconductor companies. As system-on-chip (SoC) and processors grow in complexity there is an increasing need to develop more sophisticated verification strategies. This acquisition augments ARM's drive in matching its verification strategies with the rate of change in its high performance, complex SoC IP components. For these reasons, combined with the ability to hire the entire workforce of Obsidian including the founders and management team, ARM paid a premium for Obsidian, giving rise to goodwill. All intangible assets were recognized at their fair values, with the residual excess over net assets being recognized as goodwill.

All of the goodwill recognized is expected to be deductible for income tax purposes. As of June 30, 2011, the accounting for the acquisition has been determined only on a provisional basis, because the fair market values assigned to the Obsidian’s identifiable assets and liabilities have not been finally determined (due to the short period of time between the acquisition date and June 30, 2011). Any adjustments to these provisional values as a result of completing work of the fair market values will be recognized as if they had occurred at the acquisition date.


Worldwide ARM Headcount

As of June 30, 2011, ARM had 1,986 full-time employees, a net increase of 97 since the start of the year. At the end of June, the Group had 812 employees based in the UK, 533 in the US, 227 in Continental Europe, 289 in India and 125 in the Asia Pacific region.


ARM self description

ARM designs the technology that lays at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM's comprehensive product offering includes 32-bit RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company's broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.







On July 26, 2011 CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA); (LSE: CVA) announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Highlights for Q2 2011:

-- Q2 2011 revenues of $14.4 million, up 36% year-over-year

-- Healthy licensing environment with good short-term visibility

-- Strong financial performance - both operating income and net income approximately double year-over-year

Total CEVA worldwide revenue for the second quarter of 2011 was $14.388 million, an increase of 35.62% compared to $10.609 million reported for the second quarter of 2010, but down 4.38% sequentially from a revenue figure of $15.05 million achieved in Q1 2011.

Second quarter 2011 licensing revenue was $5.2 million, representing an increase of 13% when compared to $4.6 million reported for the same quarter a year ago. Royalty revenue for the second quarter 2011 was $8.3 million, an increase of 60% compared to $5.2 million reported for the second quarter of 2010. Revenue from services for both the second quarters of 2011 and 2010 was $0.9 million.

Gideon Wertheizer, Chief Executive Officer of CEVA, stated, "The second quarter demonstrated strong financial and business achievements. We are particularly pleased with the dynamics of our licensing business, where we concluded strategic CEVA-XC agreements with partners in the LTE handset and smart grid markets.”

CEO Wertheizer

“We also experienced higher sequential shipment volumes of CEVA-powered products, resulting from continued expansion in the lucrative 3G smart phone and TD-SCDMA market segments. Overall, we continue to make exceptional progress in both the licensing and market deployment of our technology, reaffirming the key trends that drive growth and profitability for our company,” concluded Wertheizer.

Of the eight new license agreements secured during the second quarter of 2011, seven agreements were for CEVA DSP cores, platforms and software, and one agreement was for CEVA SATA/SAS product lines. Target applications for customer deployment are 4G and 3G baseband processors for handsets, infrastructure, smart grid, portable game consoles and SSD drives. Geographically, four of the agreements signed were in the USA and four were in Asia.

CEVA US GAAP net income for the second quarter of 2011 was $4.123 million, an increase of 94.2% over $2.123 million reported for the same period in 2010, but sequentially Q2 2011 net income was off 11.3% from the $4.651 million net income booked in Q1 2011.

US GAAP diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2011 were $0.17, an increase of 70% year-over-year compared to $0.10 for the second quarter of 2010.

Yaniv Arieli, Chief Financial Officer of CEVA, stated, "We continued to demonstrate considerable progress during the second quarter, delivering significant year-over-year growth in every aspect of our business. Total revenue increase was driven by exceptional year-over-year royalty revenue growth and progress in our licensing business. As a result, our operating income and net income approximately doubled compared to the second quarter of 2010.”

Yaniv Arieli

“Finally, we continued to strengthen our balance sheet with the addition of approximately $9 million in positive cash flow. At the end of the quarter, our cash balance, marketable securities and bank deposits totaled approximately $153 million," he said.

About CEVA, Inc. self description

CEVA is the world's leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) DSP cores and platform solutions for the mobile handset, portable and consumer electronics markets. CEVA's IP portfolio includes comprehensive technologies for cellular baseband (2G / 3G / 4G), multimedia, HD video and audio, voice over packet (VoP), Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2010, CEVA's IP was shipped in over 600 million devices, powering handsets from 7 out of the top 8 handset OEMs, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and ZTE. Today, more than one in every three handsets shipped worldwide is powered by a CEVA DSP core. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com. Follow CEVA on twitter at www.twitter.com/cevadsp.





On August 4, 2011 MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS) reported consolidated financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2011 or calendar Q2 2011. All financial results are reported in US GAAP.

MIPS-selected Calendar July ‘10 to June ‘11 Highlights:


Detailed Calendar Q2 2011 Financial Highlights (?):

Q2 2011 revenue was $17.597 million, down 24.41% compared with $23.280 million in the year ago period, and down 12.22% from the sequential calendar Q1 2011 revenue of $20.048 million. Q2 2011 revenue from royalties was $11.8 million, a decrease of 5% from Q2 2010. License revenue was $5.8 million, a decrease of 47% from the $10.9 million reported in Q2 2010.

Q2 2011 GAAP costs and operating expenses were $16.037 million, a decrease of $0.172 million compared to $16.209 million in Q2 2010, but inexplicably up $0.234 million from $15.975 million in sequential Q1 2011.

As a source of real concern, GAAP net income for Q2 2011 was $0.729 million or $0.01 per share, down a whopping 87.66% compared with $5.909 million or $0.12 per share in Q2 2010, and down 78.34% compared with $3.365 million in just prior calendar Q1 2011 or $0.06 per share.


Sandeep Vij


"We had strong results for our fiscal year (the just concluded 12 months), but our fourth quarter (Q2 2011) proved to be more challenging than we expected. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, we remain confident in the market opportunity, and we are taking the steps necessary to achieve long-term success," said Sandeep Vij, chief executive officer, MIPS Technologies.

For the last 12 months

Despite falling revenue in each of the last two quarters, MIPS still scored annual revenues of $82.028 million for FY 2011 vs. $70.956 million for the prior fiscal year, a 15.62% growth in revenue. Profits for the same 12 months were also up, with $17.787 million net income in FY 2011 vs. $12.842 million the previous year.

Nevertheless, MIPS shares which had closed at $6.10 on August 4 just prior to the Q2 2011 afternoon financial results presentation, opened at $4.52 the next morning, an overnight loss of $1.58 per share, or minus 26% in value.

Combined with the week’s falling markets due to the intransigence of the majority party in the US House of Representatives in raising the US debt ceiling, MIPS shares went from closing at $7.18 on Friday July 29 to closing at $4.12 on Friday August 5, a loss of $3.06 per share or 43% of per share value, over half of which loss was arguably due to the poor Q2 2011 results announced Thursday afternoon August 4.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. self description

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications. The MIPS architecture powers some of the world's most popular products, including broadband devices from Linksys, DTVs and digital consumer devices from Sony, DVD recordable devices from Pioneer, digital set-top boxes from Motorola, network routers from Cisco, 32-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (408) 530-5000 or visit www.mips.com.



 

 

MIPS Technologies, Inc. rings the NASDAQ Opening Bell October 28, 2010


 

On July 22, 2011 MoSys, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOSY) reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Second Quarter 2011 Highlights

Management Commentary

“During the second quarter, we continued to make progress toward the full production release of our Bandwidth Engine family of ICs,” said Len Perham, MoSys’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “As part of these efforts, we completed the full chip verification process and continued sampling and evaluation activity with various network equipment suppliers. Also, during the quarter, we took steps to expand our sales and marketing channels by adding applications-rich sales representation firms in the eastern U.S. and in China to further support adoption of our Bandwidth Engine IC in these markets. Our efforts over the past six months have kept us on track for the completion of one of our most important goals; that is, securing design wins with our key customers and partners by year-end 2011.”


Len Perham


Perham continued, “In addition to our progress merchandising the Bandwidth Engine IC family, we had a solid first half of the year in our IP business, highlighted by securing five new customers and significantly increasing our SerDes licensing activity over the first half of 2010. We remain optimistic that we can achieve our bookings targets in the second half of the year, supported by a strong pipeline of new and follow-on projects, particularly for our 28 nanometer multi-protocol SerDes IP.”

“Lastly, we have strengthened our operational capabilities with the recent addition of Tom Riordan as Chief Operating Officer. Tom has a wealth of operational and leadership experience in the semiconductor industry and will be responsible for engineering, product development and operations. We are pleased to have him join our management team and look forward to his contributions,” concluded Perham.


Tom Riordan


Prior to joining MoSys, Mr. Riordan was president and CEO of Exclara, a fabless semiconductor supplier of ICs for solid-state lighting, from 2006 until 2010. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Riordan served as Vice President of PMC-Sierra’s microprocessor division. Mr. Riordan joined PMC-Sierra in August 2000 when it purchased Quantum Effects Devices (QED), which he had co-founded and served as President and CEO. Prior to QED, Mr. Riordan served in various design and managerial roles at MIPS Computer Systems. Mr. Riordan holds BSEE and MSEE degrees and a BA in Government from the University of Central Florida.

Adding operational management strength to the bevy of excellent corporate partners (see the list in the news section), combined with the relatively recent influx of additional capital, are all signs that MoSys is getting ready for a major business push; we wish the company the best, especially if the economy continues on its current downward trend ignited by the behavior of the US Congress.


Second Quarter Mosys Financial Results

Total net revenue for the second quarter of 2011 was $3.292 million, down 6.98% compared sequentially with $3.539 million reported in the first quarter of 2011 and down 22.88% compared with $4.269 million in the year-over-year second quarter of 2010.

Second quarter 2011 total revenue included licensing revenue of $1.2 million, compared with $1.3 million for the previous quarter and $2.0 million for the second quarter of 2010. Second quarter 2011 royalty revenue was $2.1 million, compared with $2.2 million in the previous quarter and $2.3 million for the second quarter of 2010.

Gross margin for the second quarter of 2011 was 86%, compared with 81% in the first quarter of 2011 and 87% for the second quarter of 2010.

Total operating expenses on a GAAP basis for the second quarter of 2011 were $8.5 million, compared with $8.9 million in the previous quarter and $9.2 million for the second quarter of 2010. (Second quarter 2011 operating expenses included $0.7 million of amortization of intangible assets and $0.8 million of stock-based compensation expense).

GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2011 was $5.682 million, or ($0.15) per share, compared with a net loss of $6.029 million, or ($0.16) per share, in the previous quarter and a net loss of $5.427 million, or ($0.17) per share, for the second quarter of 2010.

Earnings per share for the second quarter of 2011 were computed using approximately 37.7 million shares on a GAAP basis.

MoSys, Inc. self description

MoSys, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOSY) is a leading provider of serial chip-to-chip communications solutions that deliver unparalleled bandwidth performance for next generation networking systems. MoSys' Bandwidth Engine® family of ICs combines the company's patented 1T-SRAM® high-density memory with its high-speed interface technology. MoSys' IP portfolio includes silicon proven SerDes and DDR3 PHYs that support a wide range of data rates across a variety of standards and 1T-SRAM memory cores that provide a combination of high-density, low-power consumption, high-speed and low cost advantages for high-performance networking, computing, storage and consumer/graphics applications. MoSys is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. More information is available on MoSys' website at http://www.mosys.com. MoSys, 1T-SRAM and Bandwidth Engine are registered trademarks of MoSys, Inc. in the US and/or other countries. The MoSys logo is a trademark of MoSys, Inc. All other marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.







On July 21, 2011 Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS), billing itself as “one of the world's premier technology licensing companies,” reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Second Quarter 2011 Business and Financial Highlights

GAAP Financial Results:

Revenue for the second quarter of 2011 was $66.214 million, up 5.90% sequentially from the $62.527 million in the first quarter of 2011 primarily due to the recognition ($25.0 million) of Samsung's quarterly licensing payment to revenue in the second quarter of 2011.

Revenue guidance for Q2 2011 was a range between $62 million and $66 million.

As compared to the $35.862 million revenue in the second quarter of 2010, revenue in Q2 2011 was up 70.38% primarily due to the Samsung payment in the second quarter of 2011 as well as revenue recognized from agreements signed with Elpida and Nvidia in the second half of 2010.

Total operating costs and expenses for the second quarter of 2011 were $68.7 million, which included general litigation expenses of $11.5 million and Cryptography Research Inc. ("CRI") related deal costs, retention bonus and amortization expenses of $8.4 million. This is compared to total operating costs and expenses for the first quarter of 2011 of $54.2 million, which included general litigation expenses of $9.2 million and the gain from settlement of $6.2 million. Total operating costs and expenses in the second quarter of 2010 were $45.5 million, which included general litigation expenses of $5.2 million and the gain from settlement of $10.3 million.

Net loss for the second quarter of 2011 was $10.585 million as compared to a net loss of $4.230 million in the first quarter of 2011 and a net loss of $12.490 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Diluted net loss per share for the second quarter of 2011 was $0.10 as compared to a net loss per share of $0.04 in the first quarter of 2011 and a net loss per share of $0.11 in the second quarter of 2010.

Other Financial Highlights:

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30, 2011 were $359.4 million, a decrease of approximately $149.2 million from March 31, 2011. The decrease was primarily due to $168.8 million of cash used in the acquisition of Cryptography Research, Inc. offset by cash provided from operations.

On July 20, 2011, the Company received notice from Samsung exercising their right to put back approximately 4.8 million shares of the Company's common stock for an aggregate amount of $100.0 million, in accordance with the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement with Samsung dated January 19, 2010.

Rambus is providing revenue guidance for Q3 2011 in a range between $91 million and $96 million.

Rambus Inc. self description

Rambus is one of the world's premier technology licensing companies. As a company of inventors, Rambus focuses on the development of technologies that enrich the end-user experience of electronic systems. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.





Electronics IP G5 Stock Prices & Market Caps

In this section, the table comparing early January and late March Stock Prices and Market Caps, first presented in the EDA WEEKLY of April 04, 2011, and updated in the June 27, 2011 EDA WEEKLY, is in this August 15 Electronics IP Commentary extended and posted below, beginning from June 03, 2011 to July 29, 2011, with July 29 being a day right in the middle of the US debt ceiling fight.

The what? The debt ceiling fight? Why mention that again in this article? Here’s why:

As the preparation of this issue of this was begun (July 31, 2011), the prospect of an unprecedented failure to raise the debt limit of the United States of America was poised like a Sword of Damocles over the economic viability of the entire country, its people, and millions of others around the world.

That the situation had deteriorated to this point was a triumph of misguided zeal, ignorance, and greed that has infected one of the two principal US political parties in the last decade. Yet whenever in recent years this writer deigned to even hint at a warning of how that political party’s influence was damaging the economic environment in which not only the Electronics Industry but all citizens must operate, a few readers objected. It would now appear that more participation of the press was warranted, not less, given the mess that was created in the following years.

Most recently, by the afternoon of August 2, 2011, after a “deal” on the debt ceiling had been reluctantly reached, we saw statements in print like this, “The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI:DJIA) fell 265.87 points today (August 2, 2011), or a loss of 2.2%, to 11,866.62, its worst one-day loss since June 1, 2011. The recent eight-day losing stretch was the longest since October 2008, just weeks after the collapse of Lehman Bros. and by some measures, the peak of the US credit crisis.”

So Table 3 was further extended to August 5, 2011, all for just the Electronics G5 IP vendors. [Note: August 5 was just after MIPS had reported its Q2 2011 numbers, but more importantly, it was after a small group of congressmen had blackmailed the entire Congress into accepting onerous terms to finally OK a rise in the US debt ceiling].

But August 5 was just before the S&P lowered its credit rating of the United States from AAA to AA+, the first time in the history of the country this has occurred. By the way, the S&P credit rating company went out of its way to put the blame for its decision onto the group where it rightly belongs—the same small group of House congressmen who practiced “political brinksmanship” in the debate over the debt ceiling. Further, the S&P said that “the majority of one of the two major parties continues to resist any measure that would raise revenues,” such as elimination the George W. Bush tax cuts for the rich now 10 years in effect.

Has the recalcitrant group been chastened by the calamity they have wrought? Of course not! These same individuals continue to distort history, blaming the current president for his “poor leadership” for the last two years, a lie that typifies their radical agenda, and ignores the previous president’s record of eight years of tax cuts for the rich, two voluntary wars, two deep recessions, a housing crisis and a Wall Street meltdown, the second recession being the very one from which the current president is trying to help the country recover.

For what it’s worth, the writer is none too pleased with the leadership being exhibited by the current president, either. Long before the debt ceiling issue reached a crisis state, he should have been out alerting the people of the country about how radical and stubborn the far right wing was, and he should have alerted the public and gained support for using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling rather than “negotiate” with congressional neophytes who had signed a “no new revenue pledge.”

More importantly, he should have been out using his not inconsiderable communications skills to attack the chronic unemployment still leftover from the 2007-2008 recession. The president should have been and still should be galvanizing the country with Roosevelt-like fixes.

Paul Krugman this week said it well: “What would a real response to our problems involve? First of all, it would involve more, not less, government spending for the time being — with mass unemployment and incredibly low borrowing costs, we should be rebuilding our schools, our roads, our water systems and more. It would involve aggressive moves to reduce household debt via mortgage forgiveness and refinancing. And it would involve an all-out effort by the Federal Reserve to get the economy moving, with the deliberate goal of generating higher inflation to help alleviate debt problems.”

This situation is going to worsen. The country has a lot more to fear from these radicals, making most of us nostalgic for the days when “fear itself” was all we had to “fear”.


Returning our attention to the Financial Reports

Going back to the actual financial performance of the Electronics IP G5 for a moment, we recall that Table 1 far above exhibited revenue numbers for Q2 2011 and the three prior quarters, listing each of the G5 Electronics IP vendor's revenue results for each of those quarters. Table 2 gave earnings numbers for Q2 2011 and the three prior quarters, listing each of the G5 IP vendor's earnings results for each of those quarters.

To gain a side by side comparison of all five vendors, in a format which lists both the Stock Prices and Market Caps, we present Table 3 just below. After each time period, the percentage the later Stock Price increased over its predecessor is listed in two-digit bold black font. If the Stock Price decreased over the period, the percentage is displayed in two-digit bold red font.

Notice in Table 3 that the stock prices (and market caps) of both ARMH and RAMBUS increased slightly between June 03 and July 29, while the other three vendors endured small, single digit erosions of their stock prices over that 55 day period.

However, by July 29, the aforementioned debt ceiling controversy was well underway, with increased stock market volatility, and the IP G5 vendors lost between 7.5% and 42.62% on their respective stock prices during the five days between August 01 and August 05 alone. The entire NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX fell over 8% during those same five days.

 

 


Stock Graphs for the IP G5 between July 29 and August 5, 2011

 

ARM Holdings, plc

 

 

 

CEVA, Inc.

 

 

 

MIPS Technologies, Inc.

 

 

 

MoSys, Inc.

 

 

 

Rambus, Inc.

 

 

 

NASDAQ Composite

 

 

 

Late Breaking NYSE News August 8 afternoon

The Dow Jones industrials fell 634.76 points today Monday August 8, the first trading day since Standard & Poor's downgraded American debt. It was the sixth-worst point decline for the Dow in the last 112 years and the worst drop since December 2008.

Every stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 index also declined Monday.

But the S&P downgrade wasn't the only catalyst Monday. Investors worried about the slowing US economy, escalating debt problems threatening Europe and the prospect that fear in the markets would reinforce itself, as it did during the financial crisis in the fall of 2008.

"What's rocking the market is a growth scare," said Kathleen Gaffney, co-manager of the $20 billion Loomis Sayles bond fund. "The market is under a lot of stress that really has little to do with the S&P downgrade." Instead, Gaffney said, investors are also focused on worries about another recession and "how Europe and the US are going to work their ways out of high debt burdens" if economic growth remains slow.

The Vix, a measure of market volatility and fear among investors, shot up 50% today. That was its steepest rise since February 2007.

Investors desperately looked for safe places to put their money and ironically settled on US government debt -- even though it was the target of the downgrade last Friday, when S&P removed the United States from its list of the lowest-risk countries.

The price of Treasuries rose sharply, and yields, which move in the opposite direction from price, plunged. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.34% from 2.57% last Friday. That matches its low for 2011, reached last week. Before last Friday, there was widespread concern that a downgrade would push yields up and increase borrowing costs for the government, businesses and consumers.

"This is largely a flight to safety," said Thomas Simons, money market economist with Jefferies & Co. "The bond market is really trading off of what's going on in the stock market." Money flowed out of stocks and into Treasuries.

Gold set a new record. It rose $61.40 an ounce to settle at $1,713.20.

Crude oil, natural gas and other commodities fell sharply on worries that a weaker global economy will mean less demand. Oil fell 6.4% to $81.31 per barrel, its lowest price of the year.

Fear is spreading quickly through the market, claims Dimitre Genov, senior portfolio manager with Artio Global Investors. "It's becoming a vicious cycle and could feed into consumers reducing their demand as well."

The Dow was down 5.5% to 10,809.85. The sharp drop extended Wall Street's almost uninterrupted decline since late July, when the Dow was flirting with 13,000. It fell below 11,000 for the first time since November 2010.

The S&P 500 fell 79.92, or 6.7%, to 1,119.46.

The NASDAQ Composite index fell 174.72, or 6.9%, to 2,357.69.

Trading volume was the highest since September 2008 and the fourth-highest on record. A total of 9.9 billion shares traded, and about 70 stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.


Then what happened on Tuesday August 9 to US Stocks?

US stocks on Tuesday August 9 surged up the most in two years -- rebounding after August 8, their worst day since 2008 -- after a divided Federal Open Market Committee said benchmark rates would stay near zero through mid-2013.

Are stocks still a safe bet?

In a volatile session August 9, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +3.98% rallied back on Tuesday from Monday’s battering, gaining 429.92 points, or 4%, to 11,239.77. It had fallen as much as 205 points after the Fed released its Tuesday afternoon statement. The rebound recovered part of Monday’s loss (August 8) of 634.76 points, or 5.6%, the sixth-largest point loss in its history, and its worst day since December 1, 2008. All 30 of the blue-chip index components gained Tuesday, with Bank of America Corp. BAC +1.32% up almost 17%, recouping most of the prior day’s 20% drop.

The S&P 500 Index SPX +4.74% added 53.07 points on August 9, or 4.7%, to 1,172.53, with financial firms faring best of the index’s 10 industry groups after getting socked the hardest on Monday August 8.

The NASDAQ Composite Index +5.30% climbed 124.83 points on August 9, or 5.3%, to 2,482.52.

For every stock falling, nearly a dozen gained on the New York Stock Exchange on August 9, where 2.4 billion shares exchanged hands. Composite volume topped 8.9 billion.

On August 9, the Fed announced it would keep interest rates, now near 0%, at ultralow levels at least through mid-2013 — the first time it put a time frame on its low-rate stance. The monetary committee also lowered its outlook for the pace of recovery, and discussed a range of policy tools to stimulate growth. Three members of the FOMC dissented, stating they preferred to keep the “extended period” wording in talking about its benchmark interest rate.

“Today’s Fed action is at best a bunt, with the opportunity for the Fed to swing at another pitch” come the annual Jackson Hole symposium later in the month,” according to Guy LeBas, Janney Montgomery Scott’s chief fixed income strategist. “That forum is notorious for introducing new policy mechanisms and implicitly running them by the ultimate umpire, the financial markets,” he said.

Wall Street’s recent havoc is “giving investors flashbacks to the nightmare of 2008. However, unlike Freddie Krueger, 2008 isn’t back,” said Matt Freund, senior vice president of investment-portfolio management at USAA Investment Management Co. “Unlike three years ago, corporate balance sheets are healthy, liquidity is plentiful and the level of speculative investing is down dramatically,” added Freund, who attributed the current market volatility to “the ongoing situation in Europe and the potential for a slowing global economy.”


Shares of the G5 Electronics IP Vendors on August 8, 2011:

Shares of the G5 Electronics IP Vendors on Tuesday August 9, 2011:

The instability of the markets continued August 9 thru 12, affecting in their wake our five Electronics IP vendors as shown above.

Indeed, the entire US market went through unprecedented wild gyrations each day of the week from Monday till Friday August 9. It produced alternating days of collapsing prices — accompanied by speculation of a renewed financial crisis that could be even worse than the one that began in 2008 — and sharply rising prices the next day amid reassurances that banks are healthy and corporate profits strong.

On Thursday August 11, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index soared 4.6% to 1,172.64. Traders pointed to a small decline in claims for unemployment insurance in the United States and to reassurances from French officials that their country’s banks were safe. That gain recovered all of a 4.4% decline on Wednesday August 10th. For the two days, the index was up by only 0.11 point. On Monday August 8, the market had fallen by 6.7%, only to leap by 4.7% on Tuesday August 9. Never before in the history of the S.& P. index, which goes back to 1928, had there been alternating gains and losses of more than 4% on four days. In most years, there were no such days at all.


S &P 500 INDEX

“This has been an unbelievable week. You just had fear totally take over,” said Scott Wren, the senior equity strategist for Wells Fargo Advisors. “And the problems have not been solved. European sovereign debt issues are not going to go away. The debt and deficit situation is not going to go away."

The stock market collapse during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 is still fresh in the minds of many investors, but so too is the sharp rebound in share prices that began in the spring of 2009, when the credit crisis was at its height. Those competing memories appear to have contributed to the wild swings last week, with investors alternately fearful of a collapse and worried that they might get out at the bottom.

While the American economy has been stumbling since the last recession officially ended in June 2009, corporate profits have risen to record levels. On Thursday August 11, the Dow Jones industrials rose 423.37, or 3.95%, to 11,143.31, and the NASDAQ composite climbed 4.7% to close at 2,492.68 after a gain of 111.63.

According to Hauser and Norris of the New York Times, for much of the last decade, there was remarkably little volatility in the stock market, which was seen as providing evidence that the United States had entered what Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, called the “great moderation.” But it picked up when the second Bush financial crisis began. While there were no days with 4% moves from 2003 through 2007, there were 10 in 2008 and 11 in 2009. There had been none in 2011 until August 4, when prices fell 4.8%. Then there were the four moves just this past week.


Compared to the first four days last week, Friday August 12 was relatively benign. So is the trouble over? Very unlikely, partner!

One of the most tumultuous weeks on Wall Street ended on Friday with the markets not that far from where they started the week, but with all the worries about the United States economy undiminished. Indeed, the main American stock indexes finished the week down less than 2% after a second consecutive day of gains on Friday. Although there was a sense of relief that the economy had not fallen off a cliff, there was little to celebrate as new data showed consumer sentiment had sunk below levels seen during the financial crisis three years ago. Many experienced analysts think that the Wall Street roller coaster ride is likely to continue.

Analysts who were doing a postmortem on the turbulence last week had plenty to choose from. New data suggested the United States economy is worsening and could even slip back into a recession, forcing investors to scale back their growth expectations. The downgrade of government bonds by Standard & Poor’s further rattled confidence among consumers and businesses. On Friday, despite the rising retail sales, preliminary data for one of the leading barometers of consumer confidence fell in August to its lowest levels since May 1980.

Brian M. Youngberg, an analyst for Edward Jones, said, “It was a Jekyll and Hyde week.”

“The global economy is so uncertain right now investors are changing how they feel about the outlook,” he said. And as markets drop, “some investors view that as an opportunity to buy some stocks at a cheap price. The level of volatility was extraordinary.”

Stock markets end of day August 12

DOW
11,269.02
+125.71
+1.13%

NASDAQ

2,507.98
+15.30
+0.61%

S&P 500

1,178.81
+6.17
+0.53%


Electronics IP G5 Closing Stock Prices JUL 29 – AUG 12



Selected General News Items about the Electronics IP G5





On August 2, 2011 ARM announced that HiSilicon, a supplier of ASICs and solutions for communication networks and digital media, had licensed a range of ARM IP for use in 3G/4G base stations, networking infrastructure, mobile computing and power management applications. The broad agreement includes licenses for the high performance, energy efficient ARM Cortex™-A15 MPCore™ processor, ARM CoreLink™ CCI-400 Cache Coherent Interconnect fabric IP and the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

Access to the latest ARM IP, along with a prior license for ARM Cortex-A9, will provide HiSilicon with a multi-core technology platform. This will allow it to address global market opportunities with competitive solutions, encompassing both ASSP and ASIC products.

"For the last 20 years HiSilicon has focused on providing highly competitive, innovative ASICs to customers around the world. To achieve this required an innovative and scalable platform that differentiated HiSilicon," commented Teresa He, Vice President, HiSilicon. "Partnering with ARM over the years allowed us to develop such a platform and this has helped to position HiSilicon as a global provider of solutions for wireless and networking infrastructure, and digital media. This latest agreement will provide us with the latest ARM IP to address the needs of our customers."

As an ARM Partner, HiSilicon also benefits from membership of the ARM Connected Community®, a global network of over 850 companies with access to a wide variety of resources and aligned to provide optimized solutions to global customers based on the ARM architecture.

"Over the last 5 years ARM has consistently increased its investment in China to enable and support innovation for important partners, such as HiSilicon," said Allen Wu, President, ARM China. "We have been partnering with HiSilicon and Huawei for many years to develop a platform based on ARM technology. The relationship is now enabling broad innovation using ARM IP in many applications, such as consumer multimedia, set top boxes and networking infrastructure. The success of HiSilicon's industry-first eight core ARM Cortex-A9 network SoC is a great example of ARM Partner innovation."

HiSilicon self description

HiSilicon Technologies Co., Ltd. was established in October 2004. Formerly the ASIC Design Center of Huawei Technologies, HiSilicon was founded in 1991. With headquarters in Shenzhen of China, HiSilicon has set up design divisions in Beijing, Shanghai, Silicon Valley (USA) and Sweden. HiSilicon provides ASICs and solutions for communication network and digital media. These ASICs are widely used in over 100 countries and regions around the world. In the digital media field, HiSilicon has already released the SoC and solution for network surveillance, videophone, DVB and IPTV. After years' accumulation, HiSilicon has mastered the leading IC design and test technologies, constructed the advanced EDA design platform, as well as R&D flow and regulations. Moreover, HiSilicon possesses the IPRs of more than 100 types of self-developed chips, at the same time owns over 500 patents. HiSilicon has kept excellent strategic cooperation with partners from USA, Japan, Europe and China, thus maintain a complete and stable network covering wafer production, encapsulation and test. During 17 years' development, meeting customers' demands are driving force for HiSilicon. The company always aims to provide high quality chip solutions with good services and quick response to customers' request. HiSilicon Technologies will persist in value creation for customers continuously. For more information go to www.HiSilicon.com

ARM self description

ARM designs the technology that is at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM's comprehensive product offering includes 32-bit RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company's broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. Find out more about ARM by following these links:

ENDS

ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. Cortex, MPCore and CoreLink are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM Inc.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Limited.; ARM Taiwan Limited; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Germany GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; ARM Norway, AS and ARM Sweden AB

 

 

On July 6, 2011 CEVA, Inc. [(NASDAQ: CEVA); (LSE: CVA)], licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, announced the availability of fully optimized HSPA+ software libraries for the CEVA-XC DSP. The addition of these new libraries to the CEVA-XC Software-Defined Radio (SDR) reference architecture enables the implementation of a software-based multimode HSPA/HSPA+/LTE/LTE-A solution. Support for HSPA and HSPA+ is essential to provide mandatory backward 3G compatibility for mobile applications.

CEVA's HSPA+ libraries are specifically optimized to run on the CEVA-XC, the industry's widely adopted communications DSP, and represent a significant enhancement to CEVA's SDR reference architecture. In combination with CEVA's existing LTE libraries, CEVA's SDR reference architecture provides a highly-optimized multimode solution that significantly reduces development costs and time-to-market for software-based modem designs.

Will Strauss, principal analyst and founder of Forward Concepts, commented, "The evolution of advanced mobile wireless technologies is a moving target for product developers, so a flexible platform is key. A unified and seamless 2G/3G/4G multimode baseband architecture is needed as we move towards "true" LTE handsets in the coming years. With the addition of HSPA+ software libraries for their CEVA-XC based SDR reference architecture, CEVA becomes the first IP vendor in the industry with a multimode software-defined modem library offering, giving their customers a significant advantage in the development of multimode LTE baseband architectures."

CEVA's HSPA+ software libraries support up to HSPA+ 3GPP Rel-8 worst case conditions including MIMO and 64QAM and enable peak downlink data rates of 42 Mbps on a single CEVA-XC processor. The libraries address the most complex receiver parts including: channel estimation, equalization, de-mapping, de-interleaving, de-rate matching, and more.

"The addition of fully optimized HSPA+ software libraries for our CEVA-XC processor architecture further extends our leadership in offering robust solutions for customers designing multimode devices," said Eran Briman, vice president of marketing at CEVA. "Together with our communications and LTE software libraries, we offer the industry's most comprehensive SDR architecture for 3G/4G modem design, which fundamentally reduces both time-to-market and development investment."

CEVA-XC is a high-performance, scalable, low-power communication DSP designed specifically to overcome the stringent power consumption, time-to-market and cost constraints associated with developing high-performance Software Defined Radio multimode solutions. It supports multiple air interfaces for various applications such multimode cellular baseband, connectivity, digital broadcast and smart grid.

CEVA, Inc. self description

CEVA is the world's leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) DSP cores and platform solutions for the mobile handset, portable and consumer electronics markets. CEVA's IP portfolio includes comprehensive technologies for cellular baseband (2G / 3G / 4G), multimedia, HD video and audio, voice over packet (VoP), Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2010, CEVA's IP was shipped in over 600 million devices, powering handsets from 7 out of the top 8 handset OEMs, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and ZTE. Today, more than one in every three handsets shipped worldwide is powered by a CEVA DSP core. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com. Follow CEVA on twitter at www.twitter.com/cevadsp.

 

 

 

MIPS Shares Fall 25% After Posting Sharp Revenue Drop

August 4, 2011 - 7:00 PM Source: Brian Caulfeld of Forbes

Shares of MIPS Technologies fell more than 25% in after-hours trading Thursday August 4, 2011 after the processor designer posted results short of its earlier guidance on sharply lower revenues (for calendar Q2 2011).

The company also announced Chief Financial Officer Maury Austin will be stepping down.

MIPS posted net income for the quarter ending in June (2011) of $0.7 million, or a penny a share, compared to net income $5.9 million, or 12 cents per share during the year-ago period.

Revenue for the quarter fell 24.5% to $17.6 million compared with $23.3 million during the year-ago period.

It has been a wild ride for MIPS over the past year. MIPS shares rose from $5.71 last August (2010) to more than $17 a share in January (2011) — as investors bet on the company’s plan to push into the market for smart-phone and tablet processors.

While MIPS appears to have gained some ground in that market, the company is facing renewed competition in the consumer electronics market that has long been its strongest business, where rival ARM has been gaining ground.

“While we have seen and reported for some time the trend of convergence between digital home electronics and mobile applications, this is happening quite rapidly for high end connected TVs,” MIPS Chief Executive Sandeep Vij said on a conference call with investors Thursday. “Applications that are traditionally found in smart phones are a necessity in high-end connected DTV and are being [built] in by certain manufacturers.”

For the quarter, license revenues — collected when a company agrees to use a MIPS processor design — fell 47% to $5.8 million from $10.9 million during the year-ago period.

Royalty revenues — collected on every MIPS design its licensees stamp out — fell 5% to $11.8 million compared to the year ago quarter.

MIPS shares fell $1.60, or 26.23%, to $4.50 in after-hours trading Thursday August 4, 2011.

 

 

MoSys, Inc. has assembled a formidable list of partners to assist in fulfilling MoSys’ current mission. Below are the partner logos. For more details, go to http://mosys.com/company-partner.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mosys self description

MoSys, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOSY) is a leading provider of serial chip-to-chip communications solutions that deliver unparalleled bandwidth performance for next generation networking systems. MoSys' Bandwidth Engine ® family of ICs combines the company's patented 1T-SRAM ® high-density memory with its high-speed interface technology. A key element of Bandwidth Engine technology is the GigaChip(TM) Interface, an open, short-reach, low-power serial interface developed by MoSys to enable highly efficient, high-bandwidth, low-latency performance not achievable using currently available serial protocols. MoSys' IP portfolio includes silicon proven SerDes and DDR3 PHYs that support a wide range of data rates across a variety of standards and 1T-SRAM memory cores that provide a combination of high-density, low power consumption, high-speed and low cost advantages for high-performance networking, computing, storage and consumer/graphics applications. MoSys is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. More information is available on MoSys' website at WWW.MOSYS.COM

 

 

 

 

 

Rambus Completes Acquisition of Cryptography Research

On June 6, 2011 Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) announced the closing of its acquisition of Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), a leading semiconductor security R&D and licensing company. The acquisition expands the breadth of Rambus' breakthrough technologies available for licensing with patented innovations and solutions for content protection, network security, anti-counterfeiting and financial services. Nearly all of CRI's employees have joined Rambus following the close of the acquisition and will continue operations at CRI's San Francisco, CA office. Rambus announced the definitive agreement to acquire CRI on May 12, 2011.

"CRI's technology is critical to securing a broad spectrum of electronic systems against piracy or unauthorized access which is of growing strategic importance in our increasingly connected world," said Harold Hughes, president and chief executive officer at Rambus.



Howard Hughes


Hughes continued, "Harnessing the power of our world-class innovation and licensing platform, the addition of CRI to our semiconductor, and lighting and display businesses, will contribute significantly to accelerating our revenue growth."

Over five billion semiconductor products secured by CRI's technology are made under license annually. Key technologies developed by CRI include differential power analysis (DPA) countermeasures. DPA attacks involve monitoring the fluctuating electrical power consumption of a target device and then using advanced statistical methods to derive cryptographic keys and other secrets. With CRI's DPA countermeasures, electronic systems and security devices, such as smart cards, are protected from DPA attacks.

 


 

In addition, CRI offers anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting solutions including CryptoFirewall™ technology. The CryptoFirewall core is a separate, on-chip, hardware-based security block that protects cryptographic keys and computations from attack. CryptoFirewall solutions can be used across a broad spectrum of applications including Pay TV security and counterfeit protection of products such as printer consumables.

Internationally renowned cryptographer Paul Kocher, and his team of engineers and scientists at CRI, have joined Rambus to continue to innovate in the vital area of semiconductor and system security. Mr. Kocher will serve as SVP and president of Cryptography Research, reporting to Martin Scott, SVP and general manager of the New Business Group at Rambus.

 

Paul Kocher


Rambus intends to support CRI's current licensees, as well as continuing to invest in CRI to deliver the full benefit of Rambus' world-class innovation and licensing platform.

In 2009, Frost & Sullivan awarded the company the World Smart Card Technology Leadership of the Year Award, noting that the company is "one of the highest-volume and highest-value technology licensors in the semiconductor industry" and that "more than 4 billion security chips are produced under its licenses every year".

The acquisition of CRI is for $167.5 million in cash, approximately 6.4 million newly issued shares of Rambus stock, and $50 million payable to CRI employees in cash or stock over three years. While the accounting for the transaction is not yet finalized, Rambus estimates that on a non-GAAP basis, this acquisition will be accretive to earnings per share in fiscal 2013.

Chronology

 

2011 – Company acquired by Rambus

2010 - More than 5 billion chips licensed per year
2009 - More than 3 billion chips licensed per year
2008 - More than 1 billion chips licensed per year
2007 - SPDC business unit sold to Macrovision
2005 - BD+ adopted by Blu-ray Disc
2003 - Introduction of Self-Protecting Digital Content
2002 - First CryptoFirewall chips launched for Pay TV
2002 - Public announcement of DPA Workstation™ platform
1998 - Design of record breaking DES key search machine
1998 - Publication of DPA whitepaper
1995 - Cryptography Research is established

Additional information on Cryptography Research can be found at: www.cryptography.com.

Rambus Inc. self description

Founded in 1990, Rambus is one of the world's premier technology licensing companies. As a company of inventors, Rambus focuses on the development of technologies that enrich the end-user experience of electronic systems. Its breakthrough innovations and solutions help industry-leading companies bring superior products to market. Rambus licenses both its world-class patent portfolio, as well as its family of leadership and industry-standard solutions. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Rambus has regional offices in North Carolina, Ohio, India, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com

 

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About the Writer:

Since 1996, Dr. Russ Henke has been active as president of HENKE ASSOCIATES, a San Francisco Bay Area high-tech business & management consulting firm. The number of client companies served by Henke Associates during those years now numbers close to fifty. Engagement lengths have varied from a few weeks up to ten years and beyond.

During his previous corporate career, Henke operated sequentially on "both sides" of MCAE/MCAD and EDA, as a user and as a vendor. He's a veteran corporate executive from Cincinnati Milacron (Research Scientist), SDRC (President & COO), Schlumberger Applicon (Executive VP), Gould Electronics (President & General Manager), ATP (Chairman and CEO), and Mentor Graphics (VP & General Manager).

Henke is a Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and served on the SME International Board of Directors. Henke was also a board member of SDRC, PDA, ATP, and the MacNeal Schwendler Corporation, and he currently serves on the board of Stottler Henke Associates, Inc.

Henke is also a member of the IEEE and a Life Fellow of ASME International. In April 2006, Dr. Henke received the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the CAD Society, presented by CAD Society president Jeff Rowe at COFES2006 in Scottsdale, AZ. In February 2007, Henke became affiliated with Cyon Research's select group of experts on business and technology issues as a Senior Analyst. This Cyon Research connection aids and supplements Henke's ongoing, independent consulting practice (HENKE ASSOCIATES). Dr. Henke is also a contributing editor of the EDACafé EDA WEEKLY, and he has published EDA WEEKLY articles every four weeks since November 2009; URL's available.

Since May 2003 HENKE ASSOCIATES has also published a total of ninety-seven (97) independent COMMENTARY articles on MCAD, PLM, EDA and Electronics IP on IBSystems' MCADCafé and EDACafé.

Further information on HENKE ASSOCIATES, and URL's for past Commentaries, are available at http://www.henkeassociates.net.

March 31, 2011 marked the 15th Anniversary of the founding of HENKE ASSOCIATES.