Author: Techtime

Strong Currency drives Elbit to offshore production

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Above: Elbit’s self-propelled howitzer gun system, ATMOS

Elbit Systems announced 20% growth in sales during Q3 2021, to $1.36 billion, as compared to $1.13 billion in the third quarter of 2020. Gross profit in the third quarter amounted to $371 million (27% of revenues), compared to $302 million in Q3 2020. Elbit is a major Israeli defense and homeland security solutions provider with a broad portfolio of airborne, land and naval systems and products. Backlog orders as of September 30, 2021 was approximately $13.6 billion.

Last month it was awarded a contract to operate Texan T-6C training aircrafts for the UK Air Force, a $100 million contract to provide the Royal Navy with new Electronic Warfare capabilities, a $74 million order to supply airborne munitions for the Korean Air Force and a $106 million to supply its newly SIGMA fully automatic self-propelled howitzer gun systems, to a country in Asia-Pacific.

The problem with the Israeli shekel

But during the conference call following the quarterly results report, it was clear the Elbit in very concerned about the currency situation. Joseph Gaspar, Elbit’s  Chief Financial Officer, brought the issue to the table: “We continue to implement mitigation plans to limit the impact of the strengthening of the Israeli shekel. In the short-term, this includes the adoption of a rolling hedge policy and efficiency measures. Over the longer term, we plan to expand our manufacturing footprint in high quality lower cost countries to better balance our currency exposure and reduce risk.”

Bezhalel Machlis, Elbit’s President and CEO, added some color: “We have dozens of companies all around the world, in Brazil, in the U.S., in the U.K., in Germany, in India and many other places. So we are taking advantage of the positions we have in these markets and we are expanding our facilities there. It helps us first to be more local, to be more crafted and to do more jobs on the ground. And secondly, also to hedge some of our activities, which we do in Israel and other facilities. So all together, we have a long-term plan to improve the profitability of the company.”

Production of howitzer guns in The US

In November 2021, Elbit Systems of America (ESA) announced plans to establish a new 135,000 square foot facility in Charleston, South Carolina, for combat vehicle assembly and integration center of excellence. “The new facility is part of Elbit strategy to expand our engineering and manufacturing capability in the U.S. This facility will create around 300 new jobs. We expect operations in the facility to begin by the third quarter of 2022, to support contracts ESA received from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for the supply of self-propelled howitzer gun systems.”

 

Foxconn invests $10 million in Autotalks

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Foxconn Interconnect Technology (FIT), a subsidiary of Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group), the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, announced investment of $10 million in Autotalks, a strategic collaboration agreement between the two companies. The joint micro-mobility activity will start this year, on the basis of Autotalks’ ZooZ micro-mobility platform which was recently launched.

ZooZ platform is composed of a ZooZ device installed on the bike or scooter, alerting when a V2X vehicle is endangering the cyclist, and a ZooZ smart sign, lighting up when a ZooZ device is approaching an intersection. The joint automotive activity will start early next year. Autotalks provides V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) chipset to allow direct communication between vehicles and all other road users, without using the cellular network.

Each unit transmits ten times per second its location, speed, and heading. Each unit receives messages from other road users, analyzes those locally, and detects a risk if exists. The communication is range is more than 300 meter in dense urban areas and more than 1 kilometer on highways. “We see Autotalks as the provider of the world’s most trusted V2X solution,” said Thomas Fann, Special Assistant to Chairman at FIT.

Nova to acquire ancosys GmbH for $100 million

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Nova has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ancosys GmbH in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $100 million, including a performance-based earnout of $10 million. The acquisition is expected to close within the first quarter of 2022. ancosys provides chemical analysis and metrology solutions for semiconductor manufacturing. Based in Rehovot, Isreal, Nova provides X-ray and optical metrology solutions for semiconductor’s advanced process control. Among its costumers: TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Micron, Samsung, Hynix and Huali.

“Acquiring ancosys will support our long-term strategy to broaden our portfolio of key technologies for a wider range of process control applications in different semiconductor markets,” said Eitan Oppenhaim (photo above), President and CEO of Nova. Based in Pliezhausen, Germany, ancosys provides modular systems to measure physical, chemical, and electrochemical properties of materials, based on its open architecture.

According to Oppenhaim, “The next-generation devices require a better approach to control different materials’ properties, along with the ambitious architectural design”. Lately, Nova reported record quarterly revenue of $112.7 million, up 62% compared with Q3 2020. “We now forecast the company revenue for the year to surpass $412 million in revenues. This forecast indicates growth of more than 50% year-over-year.”

MobileODT will participate in India’s ambitious nationwide project for cervical cancer early detection

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The project will be run by Karkinos Healthcare company, specialized in technologies for early cancer detection, in collaboration with GenWorks Health, MobileODT’s exclusive distributor in India. The tests will be conducted by World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) DNA test for early detection of cervical cancer among women followed by colposcopy exam. In the current project, the colposcopy exams will be performed using MobilODT’s device. According to MobileODT’s estimation, around 5,000 EVA kits will be used in the project.

“We are extremely proud that the EVA technology has been selected to be part of this endeavor together with our partner Genworks, in this effort to eliminate cervical cancer in India. This is one of the largest national programs of its kind” says Leon Boston, MobileODT’s CEO,” our unique algorithm, allows an unprecedented screening at scale, that can be life saving for many women around the world”.

A Mobile Colposcopy Using Smartphones

MobileODT, which was established in 2012 and is now run by the CEO Leon Boston, developed an inexpensive and mobile kit called EVA System, which is based on the smartphone’s photography and processing abilities and allows it to perform the vaginal colposcopy. The kit includes a zoom lense that is attached to the smartphone camera and a powerful lighting unit that allows clear imaging of the cervix. After the test, the images can be sent to gynecologists and experts through the application for diagnosis. In addition, the product also includes a smart decoding of the test, based on algorithms developed using machine learning performed on large databases of patient’s cervical imaging.

This assessment allows nurses, midwives and therapists to simply perform the diagnostic test even in remote locations and countries in which medical infrastructure is lacking, and thus help lessen the cervical cancer mortality rates. The EVA System kit which received FDA approval in 2016, is sold today in about 30 countries and is in use in 60 clinics in the US.

Schneider Electric and Prisma Photonics to partner in the gas and oil sector

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Schneider Electric Company and the Israeli startup Prisma Photonics announced on a commercial partnership focused on marketing the smart monitoring solution of Prisma Photonics for the world of oil and gas infrastructure. Prisma Photonics develops optic fiber based monitoring solutions for long stretch utility infrastructures such as electric grid, oil & gas pipes, railways, borderlines and more. The company’s technology uses the existing optic fiber infrastructure as a sensor and by analyzing small changes in the optic signal, originated from the outside environment – it provides insights regarding external events at the fiber’s environment.

Schneider Electrics, based in France, is considered one of the largest industrial technology companies. In FY2020, the company posted revenues of €25.2 billion, and its market value in the France Exchange is €88.5 billion. The company is significantly active in the energy market and provides a variety of software and hardware solutions, such as power suppliers, cooling systems, sensors, and power grid management systems.

Schneider Electric, which announced the partnership in a formal press release, says that adding Prisma Photonics’ solution to its portfolio is part of its ongoing effort enable gas and oil companies to manage their operations in safer and environment-friendly manner, and prevent leaks and attempted sabotage and theft. Also, as Prisma Photonics’ solution is based on existing infrastructure, it is highly cost effective.

Prisma Photonics was founded in 2017 by CEO Dr. Eran Inbar and Chief Scientist Dr. Eitan Rowen. For 18 years, Inbar was CEO of V-Gen Company, the developer and manufacturer of laser systems, while Rowen was its leading researcher. Strategic investor in Prisma Photonics is the venture capital fund i3-Ventures, which focus its investments in early-stages startup companies at various technological fields.

“Listen” to the fiber

Prisma’s technology is based on a physical phenomenon in which part of the futons within the light pulse are being scattered, and a small fraction of the traveling pulse’s energy is scattered back, holding information about the fiber’s environment. This way, the fiber is used as an active sensor and detector. Analyzing the scattered energy allows for detection of environmental events, similar to the way radar works. The main challenge is that the back-scattered signal is very low – typically, as low as 1 billionth of the transmitted pulse, makes it hard to differentiate between different signals and build a clear picture of the outside environment. This is the reason why most solutions currently in the market are having problems to reduce false positive and negative alarms.

 

Prisma Photonics’ solution uses patented laser-based optical interrogator for ultra-sensitive and intelligent-learning detection, producing “acoustic signature” of each event, later used for a smart event identification and classification.

According to the company, its solution is 100 times more sensitive than the other solutions currently in the market. It can identify changes in pressure, temperature and vibrations outside the fiber at resolution of one millionth of a millimeter, and build a precise detailed picture of the events based of these changes, providing dramatic reduction of false alarms.

Another advantage is the ability to monitor up to 100 KM using a single Optical Interrogator unit. Based on this technology, Prisma Photonics developed a variety of solutions for the infrastructure world, such as locating leacks and theft attempts from oil & gas pipes, damages and sabotage attempts to submarine cables, hazards and people crossing railways, peripheral defense and detecting trespassers along border lines.

[Picture source: Schneider Electric]

TI’s Wafer Fab Expansion Program

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Above: Design concept for Texas Instruments’ new 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabs in Sherman, Texas

Texas Instruments is scaling up its chip manufacturing capacity, and announced plans to begin construction next year on its new 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer fabrication plants (fabs) in Sherman, Texas. The new site has the potential to hold four fabrication plants that will supports TI’s long term growth goals, but currently it is starting with the first two plants “Our long term strategy is aimed to increase our production capacity”, said TI’s Chairman, President and CEO, Richard Templeton.

The production in these new plants is expected to start in 2025. TI estimates that the total investment in the site could reach approximately $30 billion and create 3,000 direct jobs. Along with the existing 300mm plant in Dallas, TX, the company is now involved with the re-building and enlarging other fabrication plants: The RFAB1 and RFAB2 300-mm plants in Richardson, TX are expected to start production in the second half of 2022. The LFAB plant in Lehi, Utah, which was acquired in July 2021 from Micron for $900 million.

Originally, the Lehi LFAB was a memory production fab. Texas Instruments is now replacing major portion of its equipment in order to prepare it for the production of analog and embedded components. It is expected to begin production in early 2023. During the past two weeks TI is distributing a presentation among its major customers, demonstrating it extension plans and its dedication to expand its production capabilities. The presentation, has reached Techtime, and includes also an expansion plan of TI’s assembly and testing factory in Chengdu, China.

TI is moving to 300mm

The presentation shows that in the current Chinese site there are two factories: a chip production factory (CFAB) and an Assembly & Testing factory (CDAT1). At the same site, TI plans to add additional 300,000 square foot assembly & testing factory named CDAT2, which is supposed to double the assembly and testing capacity for the whole site.

Texas Instruments is ranked by IC Insights as the ninth largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. In 3Q-2021 its revenues grew 22% comparing to the same quarter 2020, to a total of  $4.64 billion – Analog accounted for 75% and Logic and Embedded accounted for 18%. During the a conference call with analysts last month, said TI’s Chief Financial Officer Rafael Lizardi that as of today, 80% of the company’s production is done by its own plants, and approximately 20% is outsourced.

“We are looking at the company’s potential for growth into the next 10 and 15 years, not the next four or five years.” The purpose of the expansion plan is to support customers’ demands and to decrease production costs, he explained. “This is the why we invest in 300-mm fabs. The efficiency of 300-millimeter is huge, because 300-millimeter wafer accounts for almost 2.3 times a 200-millimeter wafer.”

Kontron Partners with AI Chipmaker Hailo to Launch High-Performance Edge AI Inference Solutions

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Kontron, a global provider of IoT/Embedded Computing Technology (ECT), announced today it has forged a strategic technology partnership with AI (Artificial Intelligence) chipmaker Hailo to offer next generation AI edge inference solutions. The advanced Hailo-8 AI processor, performing at 26 tera-operations per second (TOPS) at a typical power consumption of less than 2.5 watts, enables edge devices to run at performance levels previously only possible in the cloud. The strategic collaboration offers customers a new level of high-performance, scalable AI-edge application-ready platforms for a wide range of market segments such as Industry 4.0, smart cities, smart retail and more. 

Kontron’s pITX-iMX8M-AI-H8 Arm-based 2.5” SBC and the KBox A-150-WKL-AI-H8 x86-based featuring a range of Intel® Core™ i processors e.g. 8365UE (formerly Whiskey Lake) for X86-based applications are compact, energy-efficient, fanless high-performance edge compute platforms that seamlessly integrate the best-in-class Hailo-8 AI-accelerator. Along with preinstalled drivers and BSP, the complete software toolchain is available under Hailo’s developer zone website. Hailo’s developer zone includes numerous pre-trained neural networks (“model zoo”), a bit–accurate simulator and performance tool,  the Hailo dataflow compiler, and the Hailo “Tappas” high performance application toolkit, enabling the highly efficient implementation of innovative AI solutions at reduced time-to-market and engineering costs.

“Our AI strategy at Kontron is to provide scalable, best-in-class IoT/IIoT solutions for a host of different applications and markets. Our strategic technology partnership with Hailo enables us to offer our customers a new level of AI-edge application-ready platforms. The partnership also includes the joint creation of new AI-ready board level products and custom solutions on a project basis” said Christoph Neumann, VP Technology of the Kontron group. “In addition, we offer extensive AI project services, including software application consulting and integration, as well as the training of neural networks via our own data scientists.” 

“More and more enterprises require edge AI solutions that ensure their devices are more powerful, versatile, responsive and secure in order to keep up with the growing demand for technological innovation across industries,” said Liran Bar, VP Business Development of Hailo. “Our partnership with Kontron, an undisputed global leader in its field, bolsters our ability to address the growing demand for high-performance and scalable AI-edge application-ready platforms for a range of applications – from inspection systems to robotics to semi-autonomous driving and beyond. Our work with Kontron is taking us one step closer towards ushering in a new era of AI solutions at the edge.”