PCTel saw its revenues grow more than 15% compared to the same time last year, to $25 million, and the testing equipment and antenna company generated profits for the second quarter of $400,000.
David Neumann, CEO of PCTel, said that the company has expanded its distribution channels, launched new antenna and testing products and that it has received “multimillion dollar OEM orders” for its Gflex and HBflex RF scanning receivers.
PCTel’s test and measurement business saw revenues grow nearly 16% year-over-year, driven by higher revenues for 5G products in the U.S., according to the company. A boost of nearly 13% in revenues for its antennas and industrial IoT segment was due to additional sales of antennas for fleet applications as well as revenues from PCTel’s acquisition of vehicular and IoT antenna company Smarteq in the spring of 2021.
PCtel’s profits of $400,000 for the quarter improved upon a net loss of $200,000 in the year-ago period.
“We expect positive momentum to continue and are keenly focused on executing on our three key growth strategies: Launching innovative wireless products, increasing market share by providing more components of the wireless ecosystem, and expanding and leveraging distribution channels,” Neumann said.
In other test news:
–Anritsu has added a spectrum analyzer option to its VectorStar vector network analyzer (VNA) series of instruments. The test company noted that the integration of a spectrum analyzer to a VNA allows engineers to “quickly transfer a challenging VNA measurement to the spectrum analyzer—without changing the test setup or using multiple instruments.”
Anritsu added that having both the VNA and spectrum analyzer functions enables “simultaneous, sequential S-parameter and spectrum analysis”; the instrument can analyze devices ubt is “ideal for on-wafer measurements” because it makes a direct connection with an on-wafer device. Multiple ports also enable the VNA to provide multi-channel synchronized spectrum analysis, according to the company.
–Keysight Technologies said that Chinese device manufacturer Xiaomi is using its 5G device testing solutions for validation of 5G New Radio Release 16 features and specifications.
–Advantest is using Rohde & Schwarz’s R&S RTP oscilloscope to support large-scale production evaluation of high-speed system-on-chip (SoC) testers. Advantest, based in Japan, is using the RTP 16 GHz bandwidth model. Noriaki Fukushima of the Advantest SoC test business headquarters said in a statement that using the RTP and building a new shipping inspection line has helped Advantest respond to increased demand and that the company plans to expand its use of the RTP.
-Ohio-based Nordson announced this week that it is acquiring semiconductor and electronics testing company CyberOptics for $54 a share, or around $380 million. Nordson said that CyberOptics’ optical sensing tech will be a boost to testing and inspection capabilities, particularly for semiconductor manufacturing process.
Nordson said that CyberOptics, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, generates about $100 million in annual revenue and that the company’s nearly 200 employees will become part of Nordson.
“[CyberOptics’] leading-edge 3D optical sensing technology and market leading wireless measurement sensors will expand Nordson’s current test and inspection capabilities, allowing us to offer new differentiated solutions to our semiconductor and electronics customers,” said Sundaram Nagarajan, president and chief executive officer. The company’s wireless measurement sensors support tool set-up and diagnostics in the wafer fabrication and packaging process.
-Business planning and supply chain modernization company Kinaxis says it is working with NI to help the company modernize and gain better visibility into its supply chain.
“A critical component of the NI growth strategy is targeting segments with powerful growth drivers, including electric and autonomous vehicles, wireless communication, and new space technology. Our highly differentiated technologies and offerings enable our customers to constantly evolve their testing systems to get to market faster,” said Adam Rutkovszky, NI’s director of supply chain transformation. “To ensure strong relationships with all of our customers, we are committed to modernizing our supply chain process for timely delivery. The unique capabilities offered by Kinaxis align with our priority to serve our customers with the speed and accuracy required. In return, our business will be more predictable and process efficient.” NI said that working with Kinaxis will enable it to “have complete transparency across its supply chain and the ability to balance all aspects of the demand and supply plans instantly and continuously” and be able to run multiple scenarios to address issues when they arise.
