Gary Lerude, MWJ Technical Editor

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Cree is selling its lighting business to Ideal Industries for $310 million. The deal will enable Cree to focus on Wolfspeed’s opportunities for SiC and GaN semiconductors and better meet Wall Street’s financial expectations.

Tim Jenkins, a former colleague from my TriQuint days, has written two books chronicling his travel adventures working in sales and marketing for various high-tech companies. Each book contains a series of short and humorous stories, likely to stir memories of your own experiences. I called Tim to learn the backstory of the books and a few of his travel hacks, recording our conversation for fellow travelers to listen to.

Industry analyst Earl Lum recently mapped Verizon's 5G sites in Sacramento. In our latest chat about the wireless industry, he talks about his findings, the FCC's regulations streamlining small cell siting, Huawei's troubles and the broader implications for national security.

AT&T said it has initiated discussions with technology suppliers to start testing and building commercial equipment for Project AirGig, its concept to distribute high speed data by propagating millimeter wave signals along the surface of power lines. AT&T is also planning another field trial.

Wolfspeed, the strategic growth engine for Cree, set a quarterly revenue record in fiscal Q2, presaging the growth of electric vehicles (EV) and adoption of SiC as the preferred technology for the power electronics in the EV.

Except for iPhone sales, Apple’s fiscal first quarter financial results reflect positive trends for the company. Apple’s total revenue, $84.3 billion, was down 5 percent from the prior year’s quarter. iPhone revenue drove the decline, down 15 percent from the prior year’s quarter, while all other segments grew.

After 176 rounds, the first U.S. millimeter wave spectrum auction for 5G, for two bands at 28 GHz, concluded Friday (January 24), raising $702.6 million for 2,965 licenses. The FCC will now auction spectrum at 24 GHz.

Following Apple and Samsung, Skyworks has reduced its revenue guidance for the December quarter to $970 million, 4 percent below the midpoint of the prior guidance. The revenue shortfall will impact earnings, with revised EPS projected between $1.81 and $1.84, compared to the prior guidance of $1.91 (at the revenue midpoint).

5G has become an arms race, with the U.S. and China the protagonists. The core issue is a longstanding concern about Huawei and ZTE enabling the Chinese government’s espionage, concern the two companies’ infrastructure equipment has, or could have, back doors to China.

The FCC has approved rules for 2019 “high-band” auctions, which will provide an additional 3.4 GHz of spectrum for 5G services using bands at 37, 39 and 47 GHz.