Premier Farnell has signed  a distribution agreement with EAM, the manufacturer of  precision RF & Microwave interconnect products. Under their ConductRF brand, EAM offers interconnect products operating from DC to 110GHz. ConductRF’s products go into the Defense, Aerospace, Industrial, Medical Infrastructure, Instrumentation & Test, and Telecommunications. The agreement will provide ConductRF Solutions for RF & Microwave …

Read full article: Premier Farnell signs EAM

X-FAB will IPO tomorrow on Euronext Paris. The price range is €8-10.50 per share. Based on the price range, the size of the IPO will range between €440 million and €492 million and the implied market capitalisation of X-FAB will range between €1,046 million and €1,295 million. X-Fab is majority-held by its Belgian founders, including …

Read full article: X-FAB to IPO tomorrow

A computer game enthusiast has wired up a home automation system to be controlled by a Raspberry Pi which recognises memorable tunes from the classic Zelda game franchise. “Released in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best game ever is still an iconic entry in the retro gaming history books,” said Allen Pan on the Raspberry …

Read full article: Raspberry Pi triggered by tunes from legendary Zelda game

Prime Minister Theresa May singled out robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in her blueprint for a ‘modern’ industrial strategy for the UK. This comes as Edinburgh’s Centre for Robotics hosts the European Robotics Forum (22-24 March). Earlier this month the Prime Minister welcomed Sir James Dyson’s plans to build a 500 acre campus in Wiltshire …

Read full article: Robotics at the heart of UK government plans

Electronics Weekly asks Phil Valentine – MD at European Trade & Exhibition Services – about the Southern Manufacturing show, its future and UK manufacturing’s post-Brexit prospects.

Read full article: Interview: Southern Manufacturing and market trends, Brexit, and the future

NXP and Canonical have ported Ubuntu Core to NXP’s quad ARM Cortex-A53 core LS1043A SoC, aimed at IoT gateways and networking equipment.

Read full article: Ubuntu Core ported to NXP quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 SoC

When you remember the heady expectations of a few years back with the 10/100/20 EU programme to resurrect semiconductor manufacturing, the outcome is enough to make you weep. European companies held only 1% of the fabless IC company marketshare in 2016 as compared to 4% in 2010, reports IC Insights. The reason for the loss …

Read full article: Pipe-Dream

Japanese gallium oxide power device start-up Flosfia has raised Y750m (£5m) in series B funding. The firm, a spin-out from the Kyoto University, is aiming to commercialise crystalline α-Ga2O3 (corundum/sapphire/ruby structure) in power transistors and Schottky diodes – with the intention of manufacturing 600V TO-220 diodes in 2018 to compete against silicon carbide power devices. …

Read full article: Gallium oxide power device firm gets £5m in second-round funding

  Microchip has brought out a mobile app for ordering microcontrollers.   microchipDIRECT, which sells parts directly to customers, has been updated with several mobile-accessible features including high-volume quotes, custom programming, ordering flexibility, numerous languages, worldwide currency options and global support.   “microchipDIRECT is providing a B2C-like experience that allows our clients to check product …

Read full article: Microchip launches mobile ordering app

Crystals announced by Jauch Quartz (J103) – in the JXSxx-WA quartz crystal series – are designed for wireless applications in a variety of settings.

Read full article: Southern Manufacturing 2017: Quartz crystals target wireless and IoT