Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) officially announced yesterday that it has taken over Comneon in Linz, Austria, a software subsidiary of Infineon.

Fujitsu appears to be moving away from the hardware component world towards increased software engineering for its more profitable chip business.  
 
Infineon is also admitting that its prospects are continuing to slide since last week’s announced insolvency proceeding for Qimonda. Infineon still owns 75 per cent of Qimonda, which added a loss of €4.2 billion ($5.55 billion) to Infineon's balance sheet last year.  
 
Earlier this month, Fujitsu did not deny rumours that it was in negotiations with Toshiba to sell its hard-disk drive business in a deal reportedly worth ¥30-40 billion ($335-$447 million).  

Dr Gerhard Roos, senior director at FME and newly-appointed managing director of FME Embedded Solutions in Austria, said that FME is very excited about the expansion of software capabilities by acquiring the experts in Linz. In 1997, Roos joined Fujitsu and founded the local microcontroller design centre in Austria.  

Comneon, of Linz, Austria, has been a leading global supplier of embedded software solutions for 17 years, providing a comprehensive range of R&D, applications and software services. Comneon is known for developing embedded software for mobile communications, especially the man-machine interface (MMI). MMI is the part of the handset design software that determines how a mobile phone user interacts with a handset's applications and services.  

Comneon is also known for Apoxi, its object-oriented application framework for rapid development of man/machine interfaces and integration of various applications for mobile communication products. Apoxi was designed to meet the special requirements of mobile embedded devices, and provides specific enhanced API calls.  

According to an FME press release, target applications  include solutions for automobile driver information, body and chassis control, and HMI (human machine interaction) software. There are rumours that some FME activities are centering around innovative dashboard designs which include the Apix (automotive pixel link) data connection technology. APIX is a 1GBps differential serial link capable of handling video streams in harsh automotive environments.  

FME also said that some of the development work will be on 2D HMI and 3D graphics, as well as application software and low-level drivers. In addition, the Linz-based software unit will develop similar projects for industrial controls applications.  

The acquisition, which took effect on 1 January, marked the formation of a new company, FME Embedded Solutions in Austria, a wholly-owned subsidiary of FME. Fujitsu is clearly admitting that changing market conditions have pushed it into providing more software solutions as customers demand a move from pure silicon to integrated systems solutions. Roos said that the new company forms part of FME’s long-term strategy to expand its software capability to support customers’ ongoing requirements.  

Fujitsu was founded in 1935 as an offshoot of the communications division of Fuji Electric. In 1946, it came out with the Japanese standard for rotary dial phones. During the late 1960s, Fujitsu started a small R&D facility in Silicon Valley. In the 1990s, it acquired Poqet PC and started its tablet style, vertical market oriented, PC division. During that time, it introduced the first 3.5-inch, two and four gigabyte magneto-optical disks.

But hard drive manufacturing is also a support-intensive field. In the economic downturn, it appears Fujitsu has decided to concentrate on empowering the silicon side of its business. X