The clean-technology industry has taken its lumps this year—both on Wall Street and Capitol Hill—but a few segments are raking in investments and managing to turn a profit.
At the top of the list are companies involved in commercial-energy management, energy-maintenance software and the so-called smart grid, which involves high-tech innovations for utilities.
“Those are all booming,” CleanTech OC President and Chairman Gregory Trimarche recently said at the group’s annual conference and expo at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.
The conference reflected a more sober tone than in preceding years amid broad criticism of the U.S. Energy Department’s loan program. Recipients included Solyndra LLC, a solar-panel maker in Fremont that shut down operations last year after getting a $535 million loan. Solyndra is among a handful of companies now seeking bankruptcy protection after getting significant backing from the federal agency under a green industry initiative.
“The Solyndra fiasco has had substantial ripple effects,” Trimarche acknowledged.
Critics also have singled out Anaheim-based hybrid luxury automaker Fisker Automotive Inc., which has received $193 million of a $529 million federal loan. The balance has been withheld pending questions about production and sales goals and other matters.
Manufacturing companies involved in solar and wind power, and hybrid vehicles have been among the worst-performing clean technology segments during the past year.
“Expectations were too high,” Roth Capital Partners LLC analyst Brian Kremer said during the CleanTech conference’s panel session on the state of the industry.
The Newport Beach-based investment bank isn’t raising money for solar companies, Kremer said.
“We’re in a down cycle for clean tech,” said panelist Shanin Farschi, principal of New York-based Lux Capital.
More than 500 industry in siders, financial executives and entrepreneurs attended the trade group’s third annual event. OC is home to an estimated 300 clean-tech companies with 20,000 employees.
More Broadcom
Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 has more components from Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. than in previous models, according to tear-down specialists at ifixit.com.
Tekkies at the San Luis Obispo company unearthed new Broadcom sockets in the latest version, as well as similar communications chips from the company found in older versions of the wildly popular smart phone.
The new chip, also found in Apple’s MacBook Air, is believed to be part of iPhone 5’s touch controller function and could translate into added revenue in the coming quarters, according to investment analysts.
“While we do not know the average selling price of this incremental Broadcom part, we can probably assume that Broadcom’s dollar content is higher in the new iPhone,” wrote Ross Seymore, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.’s managing director of U.S. Semiconductor Research, in an investor note.
Its communication chips in the latest iPhone reinforce Broadcom’s leading position in Apple devices, he added.
“Broadcom continues to be the preferred supplier for connectivity combo chips in premium smartphones, despite unsuccessful attempts by competitors to take meaningful share,” Seymore said.
Apple was Broadcom’s biggest customer in 2011, holding the designation for a second-straight year.
The Cupertino-based consumer-electronics company accounted for 13.1% of the company’s nearly $7.4 billion in revenue, according to Broadcom’s annual report. That means Apple accounted for almost $970 million in revenue for Broadcom last year.
A large portion of Broadcom’s annual gains came in the mobile and wireless segment, where annual sales grew 20.6% to $3.4 billion last year.
Broadcom makes communications, radio and touch-screen chips that go into Apple’s iPods, iPhones and iPads, among other products.
The iPhone 5 sold more than 2 million units it first 24 hours on the market.
TTM Financing
Santa Ana-based printed circuit board maker TTM Technologies Inc. has secured a $540 million financing package from an eight bank syndicate led by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. The largest printed circuit board maker in the U.S. plans to use the proceeds to replace an existing $582.5 million credit line for its Asia Pacific operations.
The financing comes in three parts: a four-year, $370 million loan; a 42-month, $90 million revolving credit line and a four-year $80 million credit line.
Partnership
Aliso Viejo-based TechSpace, which leases office space with IT services, inked a partnership with CEO Advisor Inc. under which the Newport Beach-based firm will provide TechSpace’s OC customers consultations and seminars.
TechSpace offers flexible, pre-wired office space with Wi-Fi and other technology services for startups, early stage and growth companies. TechSpace has operations in Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa and Westwood in Southern California and three locations in New York City.
