SAN JOSE, CA – Cadence Design Systems, Inc., announced today that it is making a $50 million USD purpose-driven investment in an impact investment program managed by RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) to address racial wealth inequities in affordable housing, homeownership and small business.
In partnership with RBC GAM, Cadence will invest in an impact investment strategy that seeks to positively support underserved Black and Latinx individuals and communities nationally, including those in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Austin, TX; Columbia, MD; the New York Metropolitan Area; Boston and Burlington, MA; Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, NC; and Pittsburgh, PA—locations where Cadence has significant operations and a community presence. Additionally, a portion of Cadence’s investment will be focused internationally on projects aimed at supporting women and people of color as well as climate justice initiatives.
"Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion is at the core of who we are as a company, and collaborating with RBC GAM to advance racial equity and community development was a very easy choice," said Dr. Anirudh Devgan, president and CEO of Cadence. "We are dedicated to making a difference and look forward to seeing the impact that our partnership will have on Black and Latinx communities across the United States as well as on the international initiatives focused on supporting women, people of color and climate justice."
"Following Black History Month, we’re taking a proactive approach to address the racial income gaps and racial homeownership inequality that exist throughout the United States in commemoration of this important period of reflection," said KT Moore, vice president, Corporate Marketing at Cadence. "At Cadence, we are committed to supporting diversity and revitalizing communities where we operate and are proud to call home."
Cadence’s investment will be allocated in RBC GAM’s Access Capital Community Investing Strategy, which will invest in U.S. government-backed securities to support lending in historically underserved communities.
Access Capital has a quarter century of history of supporting investments in underserved communities and was founded in 1998 by Ron Homer, Chief Strategist of U.S. Impact Investing at RBC Global Asset Management, who is a pioneer of impact investing in the U.S. Mr. Homer, who held executive roles at several Black-owned banks before joining RBC GAM in 2008, has dedicated the entirety of his six-decade career to supporting community development and homeownership in Black communities through impact investing.
"We are excited to work with Cadence on this initiative aimed at reducing racial disparities in income and wealth within the United States," said Mr. Homer. "Through Access Capital’s 25-year history of impact investing, doors have opened that facilitated more people of color to enjoy the benefits of the American dream of wealth, homeownership and income appreciation. On the heels of Black History Month, we must understand the importance of building racial equity across America."
CHICAGO – West Chicago PCB fabricator American Standard Circuits has recently purchased and installed two new lines from Circuit Tech International: The etch/strip cupric line for inner layers and the strip/etch/strip ammoniacal line for outer layers after pattern plating.
ASC President and CEO Anaya Vardya commented about the company’s investment in these 2 lines, “We are now commonly dealing with thin core materials down to 1 mil so handling is critical. We are also building boards where we need etching resolution below 0.002” lines and spaces which requires us to have equipment that can handle these parameters and evolve with us for the future. After a thorough evaluation of what was available on the market today, we decided that the Circuit Tech lines were best suited to fit all our needs.”
KANAGAWA, JAPAN – HIROSE Electric Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Japan), a manufacturer specializing in connectors, and SnapEDA (Headquarters: San Francisco, USA), the internet's first search engine for electronic design, have partnered to release more than 1,000 ready-to use symbols and footprints for a variety of Hirose's PCB mountable connectors.
Required Reduction of Man-hours for Design
During the circuit board design process, engineers must create a digital model for each mounted component. This is a time-consuming task, which hinders a smooth product development cycle.
Contribute to Fast Design and Development
The partnership includes data on over 1,000 symbols and footprints including board-to-board connectors and FPC connectors of Hirose products. This enables designers to easily search for their desired product on SnapEDA and instantly download the data they need, free of charge (SnapEDA membership is required). The digital models are available in over 15 PCB design formats, including Altium, KiCad, Autodesk EAGLE and Fusion 360, OrCAD and Allegro, Proteus, PADS, and more. This collaboration helps streamline and reduce design time, allowing engineers to focus on innovation and development.
Future Development
Hirose Electric aims to expand the data available on SnapEDA. The company remains committed to provide connector solutions and services that help customers design their products more efficiently.
WALTHAM, MA – Nano Dimension Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNDM, “Nano Dimension” or the “Company”), a leading supplier of Additively Manufactured Electronics (“AME”) and multi-dimensional polymer, metal & ceramic Additive Manufacturing (“AM”) 3D printers, announced today that it has received a purchase order from a leading Western intelligence agency, for a DragonFly IV® system, the leading Additive Manufacturing Electronics (AME) 3D-printer.
For reasons of national security, Nano Dimension cannot reveal the name of the country where the intelligence agency is situated, but this is clearly a continuation of the Company’s success in providing leading technology to those who need it most. This intelligence agency, and others like it, which include national armies, navies, air forces, and governmental secret services, rely on the DragonFly IV® to advance innovation in a way that other manufacturing technologies of electronics manufacturing cannot achieve.
The DragonFly IV® system and specialized materials serve cross-industry High-Performance-Electronic-Devices (Hi-PEDs®) fabrication needs by simultaneously depositing proprietary conductive and dielectric substances, while integrating in-situ capacitors, antennas, coils, transformers, and electromechanical components. The outcomes are Hi-PEDs® which are critical enablers of autonomous intelligent drones, cars, satellites, smartphones, and in vivo medical devices. In addition, these products enable iterative development, IP safety, fast time-to-market, and device performance gains.
"I am very excited that another Western Intelligence Agency is investing in the design and production of 3D electronics, to shorten its development cycles and bring to life innovative ideas which could not have been done before,” commented Amit Dror, co-Founder and Chief Customer Success Officer of Nano Dimension.
Mr. Yoav Stern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nano Dimension, added: “Very importantly, this customer is buying the second machine of the Company, while the first one was Fabrica 2.0 machine. This is a beautiful manifestation of our claims that the synergies of all our acquisitions work together and efficienize our go-to-market performance. 3D printing technologies and materials are irreplaceable, and essential, both for electronics and micro-mechanical parts. Intelligence agencies are leading the forefront of technological innovation applied for high-performance applications, similar to aerospace, advanced medical fields, academy and corporate research departments. We are proud to be chosen as the supplier of such a unique organization. After many years of experience with advanced technologies in the Air Force, I know that leading edge products, which are adopted initially by defense forces, traditionally end up creating very large size commercial markets as well.”
TOKYO – Toppan, a global leader in communication, security, packaging, décor materials, and electronics solutions, will introduce an internal carbon pricing system for its capital investment from fiscal 2023 onwards.
Internal carbon pricing is an important indicator that businesses themselves set and use to drive low-carbon investment and related measures. Its adoption as an investment indicator for decarbonization is recommended within ESG disclosure frameworks, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
To address the growing problem of climate change and other global environmental issues, Toppan has set out its long-term approach in the Toppan Group Environmental Vision 2050 and is aiming to enable “fulfilling, sustainable living.” With increasing needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Toppan will use an internal carbon pricing system to inform decisions on low-carbon investment and related measures from a long-term perspective and advance the further use of energy-saving and renewable energy equipment.
“Introducing internal carbon pricing at Toppan will enable us to make better informed decisions on how we invest and what we do to decarbonize our own operations and contribute to efforts in wider society,” said Fumie Ikeda, General Manager of Sustainability Promotion at Toppan. “We will also continue to enhance the transparency of our disclosure and accelerate ESG initiatives by working with stakeholders as we aim to be a leader in addressing global social issues with solutions enabled by Digital Transformation and Sustainable Transformation.”
Overview of Toppan’s planned internal carbon pricing system
Internal carbon pricing
US$130/t-CO₂ (at time of introduction)
Scope and method
Apply internal carbon pricing to changes in CO₂ emission volume associated with capital investment and prioritize investments in measures that are effective in reducing CO₂ emissions.
Target of internal carbon pricing system
Capital investments that bring about changes in CO₂ emission volume.
Sustainability at Toppan
Toppan engages in a range of sustainability-related activities, incorporating into its targets the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the guidelines of the ISO 26000 international standard on the social responsibilities of organizations, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The TOPPAN SDGs STATEMENT, published in November 2019, sets out Toppan’s commitment to intensify its related initiatives and incorporate the SDGs into management. TOPPAN Business Action for SDGs, announced in November 2020, specifies the areas of focus in which Toppan aims to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through its business.
In January 2021, Toppan devised the Toppan Group Environmental Vision 2050, which lays out long-term approaches to environmental issues to shape a sustainable society in which all forms of life can continue to exist into the future. At the same time, Toppan reviewed key performance indicators for “environmentally friendly & sustainable production” under the scope of Companywide Materiality and set new medium-and-long-term environmental targets for fiscal 2030.
WASHINGTON – A U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association delegation (SIA) will travel to Xiamen, China for the 75th World Semiconductor Council Joint Steering Committee (JSTC) meetings from March 7-10. The meetings will include our industry counterparts from China, Chinese Taipei, the EU, Japan, and Korea. This will be SIA’s first trip to China since the start of COVID and represents an important opportunity to discuss shared industry concerns about recent issues relating to trade, global supply chain, government support, environmental, and other developments.
The semiconductor industry is one of the most globally integrated industries, spanning dozens of nations with thousands of suppliers. As a result, semiconductors are the fourth-most traded good with nearly $1.5 trillion in annual trade flows. While the United States is rightly focused on supply-chain resilience and rebuilding our industrial base with the passage and enactment of the CHIPS Act, as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo recently stated,[1] the U.S. can never be fully self-sufficient. This means access to global markets and supply chains is integral to the future success of the U.S. semiconductor industry. In fact, more than 80% of all U.S. semiconductors are sold overseas, meaning the new fabs and jobs created with support from the U.S. CHIPS Act will need greater access to global markets to be financially viable and globally competitive. SIA and its members are committed to both rebuilding American supply chains while further promoting more access to global markets and facilitating increased global trade through deeper international collaboration with all key partners and nations.
Essential to this mission is the World Semiconductor Council (WSC).[2] Established in 1996 as a forum for the world’s key semiconductor-producing nations and regions, its role is to help coordinate industry and government initiatives and policies to ensure our industry remains healthy. Few industries have such a body, and from day one, the WSC has been a shining example of our industry’s commitment to international cooperation and policies that foster fairness and openness in the semiconductor industry. For example:
The WSC has successfully promoted a tariff-free global environment for the trade of semiconductor products, successfully adding Multi-Component and Multi-Chip and Multi-Component packages (MCOs and MCPs) to the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement.
On the environmental front, the WSC was recognized by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its first Climate Protection Award, in recognition of the semiconductor industry’s efforts to commit to significant reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases used in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Under the umbrella of the WSC, the global industry has exceeded its initial 10% reduction goal for perfluorocarbons (PFC) emissions and achieved a 32% decrease over a ten-year period.[3]The WSC also coordinated efforts of the global industry to eliminate the use of PFOS, a chemical of concern previously used in semiconductor manufacturing, and in efforts to phase out the use of another chemical, PFOA.
Most recently, the cooperation among WSC members was critical to keeping semiconductor operations up and running during COVID forced closures. All six WSC members swiftly signed three COVID-related global industry statements, having real, meaningful impact to convince governments around the world to designate our sector as “essential.”
These are just a few examples of how the strong relationships and trust built through the WSC have helped our industry prosper. As we look to the future, SIA remains committed to working with our counterparts in China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea, and Europe through the WSC and GAMS to establish a vibrant global policy and innovation ecosystem for our industry and ensure the world continues to reap the benefits of innovative solutions to any future challenges.
Next week’s JSTC meeting will tee up the work for the CEO-level WSC meeting, which will take place in May this year in Seoul to prepare detailed policy recommendations to their governments for the annual Government Authorities Meeting on Semiconductors (GAMS). The U.S. will then host the 2023 GAMS meeting in Phoenix, Arizona this October. The WSC and GAMS are invaluable forums, unmatched by other sectors, providing a unique opportunity for our industry to convey the importance of cooperation and explore areas of mutual interest with our governments and authorities.
With global trade tensions on the rise, there is an urgent need for government policies that support open markets, innovation, and secure and resilient global supply chains. We look forward to continuing to pursue these policies alongside our global counterparts at next week’s JSTC meeting in Xiamen.
