Astec Power (www.astecpower.com) is moving its design facility in Pasig Kapitolyo, Philippines, to the Eastwood City CyberPark in Quezon City. Situated on the northeastern side of metro Manila, Astec's new leased facility will encompass 65,000 ft.²

Flarion Technologies (www.flarion.com) established sales and marketing operations in Tokyo, Japan. In addition, the company appointed Mr. Hiroyuki Kawabata as Country Manager of Flarion Japan. Kawabata leads all aspects of Flarion's customer engagements, sales, and marketing in Japan. Previously, he held sales and management positions with leading data and telecommunications companies including New Century GlobalNet, Stratus Computer, and British Telecom.

CSMC Technologies Corp. (www.csmc.com.cn), a Chinese 6-in. IC-foundry-services company, closed a $67 million first investment round with international investors. The round was led by 3i and Crown Crystal Investments Limited (CCI).

Aeroflex, Inc. (www.aeroflex.com) acquired the Racal Wireless Solutions Group. It will pay $38 million cash and a deferred payment of up to $16.5 million in either cash or Aeroflex common stock. The choice depends on whether the group achieves certain performance goals for the year ending July 31, 2004.

To increase its support of the Japanese electronics market, Virage Logic Corp. (www.viragelogic.com) appointed Richard Lanham as Director of Japan Business. Lanham has 30 years of EDA and semiconductor-IP business experience in Japan. The company also is establishing a dedicated customer-support function based in Japan.

Magma Design Automation, Inc. (www.magma-da.com) and China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (www.smics.com) released a validated reference flow. The flow was developed and validated using SMIC's 0.18-µm process technology and two system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. Mutual customers can download the complete foundry design kit from either of the companies' web sites.

Novilit, Inc. (www.novilit.com) launched its entry into China with a series of presentations. The company also signed a distributor agreement with GenNext Software, which covers the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

With the opening of a Shanghai office, Birdstep Technology (www.birdstep.com) established its presence in China. The office will be located in the Zhangjiang High-tech Park in Shanghai's Pudong district.

International Rectifier Corporation (www.irf.com) broke ground on a manufacturing site in Xi'an, China. The assembly and test facility is expected to become operational in early 2005.

Data I/O Corp. (www.dataio.com) appointed Robert C.M. Li, Ph.D., as President of Data I/O China. Since 1993, Dr. Li has been Principal of Virtus Consulting. He has provided general management and mentoring for high-technology companies.

To provide local support in the Japanese market, Microfabrica, Inc. (www.microfabrica.com)—formerly MEMGen Corp.— joined forces with Itochu Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. Under the terms of the agreements, Itochu and Sumitomo will serve as certified distributors of Microfabrica's EFAB micro-manufacturing technology.

Picsel Technologies (www.picsel.com) opened its Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Malaysia.