Atheros 10Q - Litigation update

On March 30, 2009, PACid Group, LLC (“PACid”) filed a complaint against the Company and 18 other defendants in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. In the complaint, PACid alleges that certain of the Company’s products infringe U.S. Patent Numbers 5,963,646 and 6,049,612 which relate to generation of encryption keys and methods of protecting information files using such keys. PACid seeks unspecified damages and other relief. Due to its early stage, the Company has not yet had the opportunity to examine the merit of PACid’s allegations.

Freescale 10Q - Continued restructuring

On April 22, 2009, we announced actions to align the Company’s spending with its prior decision to exit the cellular handset business. The plan, which encompasses employment reductions and certain severance costs, was finalized and approved by the Board of Directors on April 17, 2009 and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2009. Implementation of this plan and any specific employment actions related to the plan are subject to satisfaction of legal requirements, including prior consultation on the plan with work councils in some of the countries in which we operate. Restructuring charges for these actions are estimated to be approximately $70 million in cash severance costs.
Total severance and related cash requirements associated with these actions, inclusive of the costs associated with completing the exit of the cellular handset business, total approximately $270 million with corresponding annualized savings of approximately $700 million realized by 2010. We have paid approximately $68 million of the cash restructuring charges in connection with the actions taken through April 3, 2009, resulting in approximately $280 million in annualized cost savings.
We also announced that we are initiating a plan to eliminate our 150mm manufacturing capability. We have experienced a migration from 150mm technologies to advanced technologies at our East Kilbride facility and are now seeing this happen to the technologies and products served by our Sendai, Japan and Toulouse, France 150mm fabs. The long-term trend in declining overall demand for the bulk of the products served by these fabs has resulted in low factory utilization, which has been accelerated by today’s global economic climate. This plan will result in the closure of our Sendai fabrication facility. We have also initiated a formal consultation with employees at our Toulouse facility. The proposal to close the facility will be evaluated through our Toulouse Workforce Council. The Board of Directors approved this plan on April 17, 2009, and we expect this plan to be completed by the end of 2011. We estimate the costs of this plan to be approximately $200 million, including approximately $190 million in cash severance costs and $10 million in cash costs for other exit costs.
Going forward, our business will be highly dependent on demand for electronic content in automobiles, networking and wireless infrastructure equipment and other electronic devices.

Conexant sell broadband access product lines to Ikanos

Conexant Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNXT) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Broadband Access product lines to Ikanos Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKAN) for $54 million in cash. Conexant’s Broadband Access business provides solutions for DSL, ADSL, VDSL, SHDSL, and PON applications. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals as well as approval by Ikanos shareholders, is expected to close in the fourth fiscal quarter. Approximately 400 Conexant employees at locations in the United States, India, and China will join Ikanos when the transaction closes. At that time, Conexant’s continuing business will consist of Imaging and PC Media.

Broadcom 8K - Broadcom Offers to Acquire Emulex for $9.25 in Cash

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM) today announced that it has made a proposal to the Emulex Corporation (NYSE: ELX) Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Emulex common stock for $9.25 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $764 million. The offer represents a 40 percent premium above the closing price of Emulex common stock on April 20, 2009, a 62 percent premium to trailing 30 day average price per share and an approximately 85 percent premium to enterprise value. Broadcom believes that its leadership in Ethernet networking, together with Emulex’s deep expertise in Fibre Channel storage networking, will enable the combined company to accelerate the development of converged solutions for enterprise networks.

Teradyne 8K - Staff and executive pay cuts

"On April 15, 2009, Teradyne, Inc. (“Teradyne”) continued actions as part of the Company’s ongoing efforts to lower expenses and its cost structure in light of the industry wide continued decline in orders for semiconductor production equipment. The actions include:

• A worldwide reduction in workforce of approximately 350 employees. The terminations are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2009, and to result in an estimated total severance cash charge of approximately $12 million that will be expensed in the second quarter of 2009.
• A further reduction in the annual base salaries of executive officers including the Chief Executive Officer commencing May 1, 2009. The further reduction was approved by the Compensation Committee of Teradyne’s Board of Directors. This reduction is in addition to earlier reductions which were implemented on October 1, 2008 and February 1, 2009. When compared to the 2008 executive officer annual base salaries, the effect of the three reductions is that the annual base salary of the executive officers including the Chief Executive Officer has been decreased by 20% from their respective 2008 or starting salary levels......"
  

Tessera Extends Agreement With Motorola

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tessera Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSRA) today announced that Motorola, Inc. has extended its option agreement with Tessera that enables Motorola to enter into a pre-negotiated license agreement with Tessera and settle all outstanding litigation between the companies. Motorola extended the option until 14 calendar
days after the Final Determination in Tessera's ongoing U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Investigation 337- TA-605 (Wireless ITC action). Other detailed terms of the agreements, including option fees, license fees and license royalties, are confidential. Motorola is one of the respondents in the Wireless ITC action. The ITC is currently scheduled to issue a Final Determination in the Wireless ITC action by May 20, 2009.

Microsemi Acquires Rad Hard Technology From Spectrum Control

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq:MSCC), a leading manufacturer of high performance analog mixed signal integrated circuits and high reliability semiconductors, today announced that it acquired the Space Level Power Products business of Spectrum Microwave, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spectrum Control, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPEC).

Spectrum Microwave, Inc. (Spectrum) is a leading provider of RF and Microwave components and systems. The acquired technology consists of MIL-PRF 38534 power products for the Satellite and high-reliability markets including Rad Hard linear regulators, Rad Hard switching regulators, and Rad Hard point of load (POL) devices.

This strategic technology acquisition will have minimal revenues associated with it for the next several quarters. Microsemi will further discuss this acquisition and provide general business updates during its second quarter results conference call on April 23rd.

Altera and Zilog Settle Patent Infringement Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced settlement of its patent litigation with Zilog, Inc. As part of this agreement, Zilog made a one-time payment of an undisclosed amount to Altera and both parties agreed to dismiss their pending patent infringement lawsuits. All other terms of the agreement are confidential.

SanDisk Issues Statement Regarding ITC Ruling

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) was informed today that an Administrative Law Judge for the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an Initial Determination which found that certain accused flash memory products did not infringe the remaining two SanDisk United States Patents. SanDisk initially asserted five patents in the ITC on October 24, 2007 against 25 companies that manufacture, sell and import USB flash drives, CompactFlash cards, MultiMedia cards, MP3/media players and/or other removable flash storage products. Since then, SanDisk obtained judgments against the following companies: Zotek Electronic Co., Ltd. dba Zodata Technology Limited; Infotech Logistic, LLC dba Supertron Memory; Add-On Technology Co.; Behavior Tech Computer Corp.; Emprex Technologies Corp.; and Behavior Tech Computer USA Corp. dba BTC USA.

In addition, the following companies entered into settlement and license agreements with SanDisk: Trek 2000 International, Ltd., PNY Technologies, Inc., Verbatim Corp., Verbatim Americas, Add-On Computer Peripherals, Inc. and Add-On Computer Peripherals, LLC (collectively, Add-On USA), Edge Tech Corporation, Infotech Logistic, Interactive Media Corp. (Kanguru), Kaser Corporation, TSR Silicon Resources Inc., and Welldone Company. Further, the following companies entered into settlement agreements that included consent orders where the companies agreed to limit their imports of specified products to the United States to SanDisk licensed products: A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd. and A-DATA Technology (USA) Co., Ltd. (collectively, A-DATA entities), Melco Holdings Inc., Buffalo Inc., and Buffalo Technology (USA), Inc. (collectively, Buffalo entities) and Corsair Memory, Inc.

Microchip acquires R&E International

Chandler, Arizona – April 8th, 2009 – (NASDAQ: MCHP) – Microchip Technology Incorporated, a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced it has acquired R&E International, Inc. on March 31, 2009. R&E International is a privately-held developer of both standard and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) focusing on security and life-safety applications, based in Norristown, Pennsylvania. R&E International has supported the varied needs of end-market manufacturers worldwide since 1987 with custom and standard mixed-signal integrated circuit design and manufacturing.

The terms of the deal are confidential, and the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to Microchip’s non-GAAP earnings.