ADLINK Opens Shanghai Operations Center

ADLINK Technology, Inc. announced the grand opening of their Shanghai Operations Center (SHOC), located in Shanghai, China. The SHOC represents ADLINK's single most significant investment in ADLINK's 15 year history.

The goal of establishing the SHOC is to provide ADLINK with a first-rate operations center. For which, countless resources were utilized for the architectural design and interior layout of the center.

A significant amount of capital has been invested in quality assurance equipment, in addition to building board assembly (SMT and DIP) and system assembly lines. Furthermore, along with the equipment necessary for an electromagnetic interference (EMI) lab and vibration and temperature testing, ADLINK has also procured the world's most advanced accelerated testing system, the Qualmark Typhoon 4.0.

Jim Liu, ADLINK's CEO and President, and General Manager of SHOC, noted, "The Shanghai Operations Center will allow ADLINK to significantly increase our design, manufacturing, and service capacity and serve as a world-class operations base to provide companies with the necessary means to easily bridge into the Chinese market."

STMicroelectronics and Tsinghua University Partnership

STMicroelectronics and Tsinghua University, Shenzhen Graduate School, have entered a long-term strategic research partnership agreement. This is the second phase of a collaboration that began in 2002 with the setup of a joint ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) research center.

ST will provide the university with digital multimedia and advanced analog chips, expert support and advanced design tools, and jointly cooperate on applications engineering projects assigned by ST. Under the terms of the strategic partnership, ST will also donate RMB 1 million ($146,550) to the Graduate School each year for five years, with an overall assessment of research efforts conducted each year.

The Graduate School and the Electronic Engineering department of Tsinghua University will staff the long-term partnership with talent, including graduates and technical staff that have important know-how for the market in China, such as local standards and technical specifications in various application fields.

"This partnership provides a great opportunity for Tsinghua University to develop IP blocks and ICs that meet market demand, raising our design and innovation skills to a new level," said Prof. Kang Feiyu, Vice-president of Tsinghua University Graduate School, Shenzhen, "Leveraging our expertise, talents and management to extend the cooperation between us, the partnership is intended for applications that will be commercialized within five years, which is ideal for Chinese designers to sharpen their skills very quickly."

"ST has had a strong technical presence in China for many years. This presence has included manufacturing, IC design and applications teams. The collaboration with Tsinghua will enhance ST's capabilities to tailor our IC solutions to the local market needs," said Francois Guibert, executive VP and president, Greater China and South Asia region, ST. "This partnership with Tsinghua University will contribute to maintaining and further strengthening our relationship with industry leaders in the most dynamic and fastest growing market in the world."

The collaboration with Tsinghua is part of an R&D network established by ST with many world leading universities, research institutes, customers and suppliers in Europe, Asia and America. It aims to bring a dramatic increase in the availability of advanced IP blocks and chips designed in China.

IMEC Opens Facilities at Belgium Campus

IMEC has added 18,000m² (193,680 sq. ft.) to its Leuven research campus in Belgium to include cleanroom, research lab and office space which makes it an 80,000m² (860,800 sq. ft.) campus thus expanding its high-tech ecosystem. The centre can stand comparison with any other high-tech research centre worldwide. As such, IMEC aims at playing an important role in the growth of the Flemish high-tech economy.

It has officially opened the extension of its cleanroom at this campus and kicked off the construction of a new office building.

IMEC's infrastructure, researchers, yearly grant of the Flemish government and collaboration with important industrial players, form the fundaments for its further growth. Several companies have already established research entities at IMEC including the Flanders ExaScience Lab focusing on supercomputing and Neurelectronics Research Flanders (NERF) aiming at unravelling the human brain.

The extended cleanroom not only offers space to new tools, but also makes the facilities 450mm-ready so to enable advanced research in chip process technology to continue. With an extra ultraclean processing area of 1,200m² (12,912 sq. ft.), IMEC's cleanroom now approaches 10,000m² (107,600 sq. ft.). The first equipment for the extension, an advanced coater/developer from Tokyo Electron Ltd, the CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS Pro, arrived in May. This clean track will interface with ASML's newest preproduction extreme ultraviolet scanner, the NXE:3100, to be delivered by the end of 2010.

In parallel with the building of the cleanroom, IMEC also started construction of new lab spaces to facilitate and extend its advanced research on silicon and organic solar cells and on biomedical electronics. These labs take up another 1,600m² (17,216 sq. ft.), including lab space for the recently launched NERF initiative. The NERF lab will be finalized by Q1 11. The solar cell research facilities are gradually being installed.

In Q4 2010, IMEC will start with the construction of a new office building. A jury, including Flanders' official building master, has selected the design of the Austrian architect's firm Baumschlager-Eberle. The tower building will have 16 floors to house up to 450 people, and will have space for an auditorium and labs with light equipment.

"The continuous growth of IMEC into a high-tech knowledge pole has only been possible thanks to the continuous support of the Flemish Government." said Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of IMEC. "I'm confident that the expansion of IMEC will play a crucial role in the further growth of the high-tech economy in Flanders.

IBM Sets Up Research Lab in Brazil

IBM and the Government of Brazil have launched a new research laboratory in Brazil, the IBM Research—Brazil, a research center to develop technology for a smarter planet.

Lab personnel will begin operations immediately at existing IBM locations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. IBM will work with local governments to determine the future locations of IBM Research—Brazil.

IBM Research—Brazil is IBM's ninth global research lab. It also is IBM's first research lab in South America and the first new IBM Research lab in 12 years.

Over the next few years, the lab will grow to more than 100 world-class researchers. These specialists will be added to the team of approximately 3,000 IBM researchers, in eight labs, in six countries today. The new lab will be integrated into IBM's worldwide research and development organizations to enhance scientific discovery and apply the results to address the planet's biggest challenges.

"IBM Research addresses some of the most significant challenges of our time by discovering how science and technology can improve the way the world works," said John E. Kelly III, IBM senior VP and director of IBM Research. "Brazil's abundance of natural resources and technical talent presents unique research opportunities and the ability to deploy them to solve increasingly important problems. The new lab also gives IBM scientists the opportunity to extend their collaboration with universities, government organizations and companies in Brazil and across Latin America."

"The choice of Brazil for the installation of the lab is a demonstration that our medium- and long-term perspectives are very promising as a result of a coordinated effort which has allowed us to reach a big economic and institutional solidity," said Miguel Jorge, Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Commerce. "This scenario has given a company like IBM the assurance and confidence needed to extend its activities in our country."

Research conducted at the new lab in Brazil will focus on:

Smarter natural resource discovery, exploration and logistics, initially in the areas of oil and gas, and addressing the sustainability and safety of the resources industry.

Smarter devices that can be created using advances in semiconductors aiming the challenges of building a smarter planet. The lab will be a center of collaboration and innovation for Brazilian and global companies in the areas of development and deployment of these advances.

Smarter "human systems" with an emphasis on large-scale events. Researchers at the lab in Brazil will work to create and deploy innovations which will be used at the major sporting events Brazil will host, including the Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.

Over time, other areas of possible research at this lab could include: smarter transportation, smarter healthcare, smarter agribusiness, and the required information technologies—including supercomputing—that will support these industries.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende, has described the IBM initiative as "the recognition of the excellence achieved in Brazil of its progress in science and technology, and the quality of its human resources, reinforcing our ability to execute world class scientific and technical projects." For him, the decision of the company "is a consequence of a continuous effort in developing skilled human resources and in fomenting research activities, development and innovation, consolidated by the articulation between the Productive Development Politics and the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan of Action. Brazil will benefit significantly from being selected by IBM Research, which is recognized as one of the most important scientific and technological institutions in the world."

"The choice of Brazil for the newest IBM Research Lab is the reflection of the big growth opportunity we have seen here," said Ricardo Pelegrini, general manager of IBM Brazil. "IBM believes technology is an important tool to help the growth of the country and the development of our society. We are proud of seeing our company—in the year it will celebrate 93 years in Brazil—investing even more, creating opportunities and developing new technologies for the benefit of Brazil and of the world."

Foxconn Production at Chongqing Plant

Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) recently started mass production at its plant in Chongqing, China, earlier than the company's original schedule of September 2010. The sources believe the action is related to the news that Foxconn has received notebook orders from Hewlett-Packard (HP) for 2011. In addition to notebooks, the new Chongqing production site is expected to also produce telecommunication, LED and solar energy products as well as developing software.

The site currently has over 2,800 employees and the number is expected to reach around 10,000 by the end of 2010. Meanwhile, around 30 of Foxconn's notebook component suppliers are preparing to establish new plants in Chongqing, helping Foxconn to achieve its goal of having 30 percent of its component supplies sourced from local factories by the end of 2010. For the future, Foxconn also plans to build hospitals, restaurants, gyms and shopping arcades at the site, and will sign contracts with local schools to provide scholarships.

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