General Semiconductor Inc. (Melville, NY) reported results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2000. Sales increased 6.3 percent, to $119.9 million, from the $112.8 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 1999. Sales of $493.7 million for the year increased 18.4 percent over the $417.1 reported in 1999 and reached a record high. […]
Exide Technologies (Reading, PA) recently announced that Heinrich Meyr has joined the company's board of directors. Meyr is a professor of electrical engineering at Aachen University of Technology (Aachen, Germany). With a M.S. and Ph.D. from the Eidegenossische Technische Hochschule (Zurich, Switzerland) Meyr has spent more than 12 years in research and development, largely in […]
Solectria Corp. (Wilmington, MA) announced that it has received an equity investment of $11.0 million from Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd. (ST Kinetics), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. This investment follows a previous investment by ST Kinetics two years ago, and the formation then of a strategic alliance by Solectria Corporation and ST […]
GreenVolt Power Corp. (Ontario, Canada) announced it will commence field-testing of its alkaline fuel cell supercapacitor power system in a custom-designed, zero-emission, four-door electric vehicle. The vehicle incorporates a compact supercapacitor to enhance the fuel cell power delivery when accelerating or hill climbing. The present 14 lead-acid, deep discharge batteries, which weigh approximately 950 pounds, […]
Exide Technologies (Reading, PA) announced plans to invest $8.4 million in updating their Malpica, Spain, manufacturing facility. The company wants to convert it from an exclusive producer of after-market transportation batteries to one which manufactures both industrial and transportation batteries. Exide plans to produce TEBUS Front-Access, sealed-technology industrial batteries and AGM sealed-technology industrial blocs in […]
IdaTech Corp. (Bend, OR) announced an agreement with Atwood Mobile Products Inc. (Elkhart, IN) to develop a portable fuel cell system for the recreational vehicle (RV) industry. According to Alan Guggenheim, president of IdaTech, "Atwood understands RVs, and we understand fuel cell systems, which provide compact, quiet and environmentally friendly sources of power well-suited to […]
Siliconix Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) announced that net income for the year ended December 31, 2000 was a record $107.6 million, or $3.60 per share, an increase of 63 percent over the $66.1 million, or $2.21 per share, achieved in 1999. Net sales in 2000 were a record $473.1 million, a 23 percent increase over […]
Bolder Technologies Corp. (Golden, CO) reports that it is considering strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company. Bolder states that these alternatives include, in addition to the sale of the company, an alliance with a significant partner that would provide financing to the company. The company also said that it has retained E&Y […]
The eighth annual Drives and Controls Exhibition and Conference will take place from March 13 to 15, 2001. Having outgrown its previous venue in Telford, UK, the conference is scheduled to be held at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London's docklands. This conference, the UK's largest and only dedicated motion engineering event, will cover drives […]
Exide Corp. has completed its acquisition of GNB Technologies, the global battery business of Pacific Dunlop Limited, for $368 million. Exide will now conduct business under the name Exide Technologies and will seek shareholder approval at its 2001 annual meeting for the name change. The acquisition is designed to allow Exide to reenter the North […]
STMicroelectronics (Switzerland) posted strong results for 2000, but slashed its 2001 growth forecasts for the world chip market and predicted a nine-percent fall in first-quarter sales. Fourth-quarter operating profit rose 159 percent to $563.0 million, led by telecom and consumer electronics sales, and the company added that per-share earnings would fall 10 percent quarter-on-quarter in […]
ON Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) announced the availability of the CS1112, a quad-power output driver IC, designed to withstand the environments found in computer, industrial and telecommunication applications. Fabricated on PowerSense process technology, the CS1112 integrates four protected DMOS low-side drivers controlled either through a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) port or its associated parallel input. The […]
As part of its long-range plan to transform the company for future business growth, ON Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) accelerated its efforts to cut selling, general and administrative expenses. The company directed its efforts towards streamlining internal processes and enhancing operational efficiencies with the overall goal of reducing these expenses by approximately 20 percent in 2001. […]
Exide Technologies (Reading, PA) has become the exclusive battery supplier for Australia's largest mass-merchant retailer, Kmart. Exide-brand batteries will be in all of Kmart's 330 retail outlets in Australia, including some 180 Kmart Tire and Auto centers, effective March 1, 2001. "This is a positive development for Kmart customers and for Exide Technologies," said Tom […]
Dynetek Industries (Calgary, Alberta) announced that it supplies Nissan (Japan) with its advanced lightweight fuel storage system for the Nissan Xterra fuel cell vehicle. Nissan recently unveiled the Xterra FCV, equipped with Dynetek's compressed hydrogen fuel storage system, at both the 17th Electric Vehicle International Conference in Quebec and at the Grand Opening of the […]