EE Times Asia
"In the next five years, Brazil will have fabs," predicted Alan Marten, vice president and general manager of the memory business unit at Smart Modular. "The question is, who will be the first to build one?"
Without a doubt, Brazil boasts a booming economy. Information technology spending in the country is expected to increase from $20.5 billion in 2007 to $32.3 billion by 2011, according to research firm IDC. Brazil accounts for 46 percent of the total IT spending in Latin America, followed by Mexico (23 percent) and Argentina (6 percent), according to IDC.

In 2006, PC sales in Brazil increased by more than 23 percent. There are said to be 93 million cellphone users in the nation. Dell, Hon Hai, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, Smart Modular and other multinational companies have production bases in Brazil.

But Brazil finally may have found the right IC blueprint. A government-backed entity, the Excellence Center for Advanced Electronic Technology (Ceitec), has launched seven IC design centers in the country and claims to have taped out Brazil's first "homegrown" chips
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800483745_480100_NT_efe37
4db.HTM

The article from the EE Times shows that Brazil is walking to be a new player into the semiconductor industry.

The semiconductor market is one of the most dynamic and competitive on the planet. Semiconductors are at the base of the entire electronics industry and, over the past 30m years the sector has grown 15.5% p.y. well above average growth of the world economy as a whole.

Brazil as the 10th economy, also had been experienced a fast grow in Telecommunications industry with good benefits.

Automotive
The $16-plus billion worldwide automotive semiconductor business in 2004 will rise at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 9% through 2009 to nearly $25 billion. Brazil has 17 industries making cars for the local market and export.

Worldwide, in terms of value, MOS micro ICs and MOS memory are the two largest IC product segments. It is estimated 63% of all IC dollars will be spent in these two categories in 2009.

ICs will show the highest use growth-trend in safety (10.4%), followed by body and chassis, each with AAGRs of 9.8%. In these areas, there is need for accurate, closed-loop, real-time control, necessitating the processing of large volumes of data from multiple sensors.

Automotive safety represents a growing, and the most stable market for semiconductors due to influence from governments, consumers and the automakers themselves.

Automotive electronics are major criteria of differentiation in the automotive market. Car manufacturers use chips in increasing numbers to develop powerful electronic systems for driver information and communication, in-car entertainment electronics, power train and body control electronics as well as automotive safety and convenience electronics. By 2005, one quarter of the value of the average car will be comprised of electrical and electronics components; half of these will be semiconductors.

Maximizing business opportunities in the automotive semiconductor arena is a challenging task. The desperate efforts of companies to safeguard margins along the industry value chain dramatically have changed the competition pattern. Western Europe accounted for 23.3 percent of the 2007 worldwide vehicle production by volume, extends its range of emerging market and is working on new designs at its Brazilian operations.

Cattle
With the major world cattle population, Brazil also exports meat.  Now there are several actions to implement the tracing for the all cattle, so there is a opportunity for (ear rings) tags, monitoring supplier locally.

Mems Microphones
Currently Brazil has 128 million mobil phones subscribers, using MEMS microphones and cameras.   

Silicon microphones are among a broad range of devices known as micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), an emerging field in which various sensors and mechanical devices are constructed on a single wafer using processes developed for making Integrated Circuits (ICs). The chief advantage of micromachining silicon microphones is cost. Several sensors can be processed on a chip simultaneously and can be integrated with passive and active electronic devices. Silicon micro-machined microphones (also known as silicon microphones or MEMS microphones) have begun to emerge as a competitor technology to the electrets condenser microphone (ECM).

Many of these new miniature silicon microphones for consumer and computer communication devices are approximately one-half the size and operate on just one-third the power of conventional microphones.

The MEMS microphones market is an attractive, and still growing, multimillion-dollar market characterized by very high production volumes of MEMS microphones that are extremely reliable and low in cost. So far, the development of the MEMS microphone market has been technology-push oriented. The ECM is entrenched, inexpensive ($0.50 or less), and in terms of traditional metrics such as frequency response and sensitivity, it captures sound relatively faithfully.

PC/Internet
From the second half of 2006, Brazil has become a battleground over WiMAX licenses and triple play regulations, the issue being whether the country’s fixed-line incumbents should enter these markets, or whether their participation would stifle competition. Meanwhile, the government is preparing to introduce digital terrestrial TV in December 2007, having selected the Japanese standard.

Brazil is the regional broadband leader in terms of subscriber numbers, but trails neighboring Chile and Argentina in terms of penetration. Broadband technologies available in Brazil include ADSL, cable modem, wireless, satellite, and dedicated lines. ADSL is losing market share to cable modem, but remains the leader with 75% of all broadband accesses. WiMAX networks have been deployed by the government and by several operators, and a WiMAX auction is expected in 2008. Brazil is considered by many a world leader in terms of e-government, especially in the areas of e-participation, electronic voting, online tax filing, and e-procurement.

After the implementation of Brazilian policies for set-up semiconductors facilities in Brazil, the government has been signed agreements with industries, research institutes, universities from strong players in the world economy as Germany Japan and France.

Germany as the 3th economy has important role in the semiconductor industry not only by the fabs but also because the high top level research institutes. Germany is the 3th country in register patents. In such frame the Institute Fraunhofer IZM for applied research and already installed in Brazil, is one of the main drivers of the technology for the local industry.

Due the important role of the German scientists, the next Seminar and Exhibition Minapim 2008 is been focusing in Micro and Nanotechnologies Made in Germany".

The meeting will be between 11 and 13 September 2008 in the Suframa´s auditorium, in Manaus Brazil, and will focus on the latest advances in Micro e Nanotechnology in Germany and state of art industrial solutions, that are able for the automotive, consumer electronics, aerospace, environment, health, naval, information technology and other industrial applications.

Also the Brazil chapter of the II NANOFORUMEULA Workshop, organized by the Nanoforum European and Latino America Nanotechnology consortium, involving Germany, Brazil, Spain, France, Netherlands and Mexico, and managed in Brazil by Suframa, will be realized together.

MINAPIM 2008 will feature the latest laboratory discoveries, in MEMS, MOEMS and intelligent systems solutions integrating Micro and Nanotechnologies, and be attended by highly regarded scientists and businessmen.

The Superintendence of the Manaus Free Trade Zone (SUFRAMA) and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade are offering free entry to the exhibition and seminar.

The aim of the MINAPIM seminar is to promote the exchange of knowledge and the dissemination of information that can effectively accelerate the economic bases for the development of industries based on Micro and Nanotechnologies.