The Next Paradigm Shift In Mobile Telecommunications

Nvidia is shaking up the smartphone market with its new processor the Tegra 2. The Tegra 2 is a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that enhances the playback for games and video. It is an ARM-based Cortex A9 processor that renders faster web page loading times on a smartphone. The Tegra 2 smartphone processor has a clock speed of 1GHz and is a dual-core processor that will give gaming applications and videos higher playback qualities over the present single-core chips in smartphones.

Graduating over time from single-core smartphone processors to that of dual-core smartphone processors is a logical progression for insightful chipset manufacturers.
More and more people want to take their desktop functionalities that they have come to rely on at home, on the road with them. Smartphone manufacturers and software developers are in a unique position to extend the range of home computing to the mobile marketplace by offering solutions to the consumer that satisfies their appetite for mobility and functionality.

The dual-core, ARM-based Cortex A9 chipset, Tegra 2, fulfills this growing demand for more processing power, brought on by the increasing demands from consumers to run more complicated applications smoothly in a mobile environment. Nvidia is poised to become the company that can do that efficiently at a price point that is acceptable to the enduser. Nvidia, better associated with its GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) has taken the lead in bringing to market a dual-core chipset of influencing promise, that other chipset manufacturers will likely follow to compete in the highly-lucrative, mobile device market.

Contenders in the dual-core smartphone processor sectors are rather limited at the time of this writing, but expected to increase as demand increases.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)

Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia, is a powerhouse in the Graphics Processing arena and it’s the inventor of the GPU.

Texas Instrument, Inc. (NYSE: TXN)

Texas Instrument (TI) has introduced the dual-core, 1.5 GHz OMAP 4440 Chipset that will give mobile devices between a 30-50% overall increase in performance over its 1 GHz OMAP 4430 Chipset.

RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM)

Research In Motion’s Blackberrys will continue to use the Blackberry OS, but its tablet called Playbook, will use its QNS OS. The QNS OS is in wide use by the military, government agencies and hospitals and is well-suited for multi-core chipset devices.

Samsung Electronics (Korean Exchange: 005930)

Samsung is the world’s largest electronics company and manufactures the Orion chipset which is a 1 GHz, dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor. Samsung manufactures the A4 processor used in the Apple’s iPhone 4.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT)

Motorola’s Android 3.0 dual-core tablet will be using Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited) (NYSE: TSM)
(TSE: 2330)

TSMC will have a market for its 40 nm, dual-core chipsets as too will Nufront, a Chinese Technology Company (Private) and it’s NuSmart 2815, 40 nm dual-core Arm-based Cortex A9 SoC chipset that is clocked at 2 GHz for laptops, tablets and all-in-one (AIO) computers.


Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM)

Qualcomm’s 1.2 GHz, dual-core Snapdragon Chipset for the multi-core smartphone processor market. Snapdragon is manufactured by TSMC.

Many chipset manufacturers let other companies design their chipsets, with the exception of say, Intel, and have them produced at their factories, such as the former manufacturing arm of AMD, Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Global Foundries, Inc. (Private), so it is important to note, that there exist investment opportunities in both the dual-core chipset manufacturer and the end-user, such as Motorola, Qualcomm and RIM, to offer a few examples.

Keep in mind that all Dual-core smartphone processors are based on the ARM architecture, so they can be configured to operate in all sorts of mobile devices, such as netbooks, smartbooks, e-book readers, tablet computers and mobile Internet devices. The market for dual-core smartphone processors will only grow as more and more consumers demand the same video experience that they have at home with their mobile devices. Dual-core smartphones is the natural progression in solving the need to multi-task on the go and together with seamless video playback, will usher increased demand for the more efficient GPU processing inherently found within dual-core chipsets.

There are enormous investment opportunities as the competing smartphone chipset manufacturers come on board, thanks to consumer demand for smartphones and other mobile devices. Ultimately, the smartphone chipset manufacturer who prevails among all the others will be the system-on-a-chip (SoC) provider that is associated with the mobile device or devices that have the best overall performance and respectable battery life, while maintaining a wonderfully-intuitive user interface and user experience. The dual-core chipset manufacturer who has achieved that would do exceptionally well in the smartphone and mobile device marketplace.

PS, LG (Private) is introducing the LG Optimus 2x will feature the Tegra 2 chipset and it will be available at T-Mobile stores in the U.S in early spring of 2011. The LG Optimus 2x will be available in Europe and Asia as early as the beginning of 2011.

iPad, Second Generation, The Future Unfolding

Apple Daily the Hong Kong and Taiwan daily newspaper stated that Quanta Computer Inc., (TPE: 2382) based in Taiwan has been awarded a contract from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to manufacture Apple’s Second Generation iPad. Earlier we reported that Hon Hai Precision Industry (TPE: 2317) through their subsidiary, Foxconn (TPE: 2354). Quanta Computer will be the second manufacturer for the Second Generation of Apple’s iPad. Quanta Computer and Foxconn has extensive experience in manufacturing high-end electronics and manufacturing operations in Mainland China. To read more about the second generation Ipad, stop by My Touch Tablet.

China and Russia Dump The Dollar

What happens to the dollar when China and Russia use their respective currencies for bilateral trade?

China and Russia have announced that they will use their respective currencies to settle bilateral trade accounts between them. Previously, China and Russia settled their accounts using other currencies, specifically the dollar.

Those in the know, state that the decision of China and Russia to use their own currency to settle their trade accounts with one another is largely based on their closer relations and a step towards protecting their domestic economies.

The Chinese yuan trades against the Russian rouble in the interbank market. China and Russia is sure to solidify additional trade agreements beyond that of their currencies and together, they are a powerhouse with a sufficient economy to support their endeavors.

Investments abound in the areas of energy, telecommunications and banking. For those who have the risk tolerance and the willingness to learn more, will profit greatly from their China-Russia interests.

The dollar’s slide against other currencies has cause much debate within many countries to reconsider the dollar. If, enough countries chose to segregate themselves from the dollar, the consequences are unforeseen for them and uncertain for the dollar, but one thing is for sure, speculation breeds a lot of activity in the financial markets. Profit from your understanding!

Tyson Foods Route To Profitability

Can a business raise their prices on a product that consumers are buying less of and declare an increase in profits? A rational individual with a sense of economics will probably tell you no, but Arkansas-based, Tyson Foods Inc. (Public, NYSE: TSN), United States no. 1 meat producer defies economics and raises its prices on chicken anyway. What do you think the consequences will be for Tyson in the short-term and also, in the long-term?

Overwhelming since the demand for Tyson’s products are essentially a result of consumer spending and consumer spending is based on the needs and wants of the consumer and the availability of products that are substitutes, Tyson may be in for a future profit shock.

During periods of economic uncertainty and immeasurable volatility in the markets, business that have pent up cash are holding on to it, since interest rates are at historical lows. Most businesses are skeptical of hiring or expanding their enterprises until they feel better about the economic outlook.

Persistent unemployment, underemployment and chronic unemployment fuels the instability in the economy. The inability for many to sell their houses and move to an area where there is employment opportunities, continues to drag down the housing market as the number of foreclosures continue their tumultuous spiral.

Who competes with Tyson?

Cargill, Inc. (Private) based in Minnesota.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Public, NYSE: PPC) based in Colorado.


Smithfield Foods, Inc. (Public, NYSE: SFD) based in Virginia.


What is Tyson’s market share?

Tyson is the largest producer of meat products in America.


When will Tyson’s profits start declining?

Tyson may experience declining profits if grain profits rise in the future and is unable to pass on the increase costs to its consumers. Tyson’s future profitability is also threaten by a plentiful supply of chicken at a time when demand for chicken is uncertain. An oversupply of chickens is also a possibility if other major poultry producers expand their operations.


Where will Tyson produce an increase in volume?

Tyson had increases in pork sales. The question we have to ask is whether or not the increase in pork sales related to seasonal demand, that is the holidays? Americans generally indulge in traditional Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas meals of pork, beef, chicken and turkey.


How will Tyson sustain profitability?

Tyson will counter the increase in grain costs in its chicken business by becoming more efficient in its operations and increasing prices.

Tyson is noted to have a very efficient pork processing model that rivals the industry. Demand for its pork products are expected to rise domestically and overseas against an already tight supply. Beef, Chicken, Pork and Prepared Foods are some of Tyson’s pillar products.

When a business seeks to remain profitable by raising its prices to counter the price increases of its inputs (commodities), if the public has no other alternatives or substitutes, then it is a business model that may be able to sustain itself. In a competitive industry such as Tyson’s, consumers have a choice and many will choose to exercise it, if they feel they can get better value somewhere else.

Increasing operational efficiency while admirable, may not be enough to sustain profitability at the same time you’re raising prices. Americans may decide to consume less meat and export demand is largely depended on the health of the economy, both domestically and internationally.

National Security and Investment Security

Who would have ever thought that the U.S. would use their National Security laws to prevent or restrict what component or components, that can or can not be used in a network or product. Well, that happened this week and it is reason of concern, not so much from a physical security standpoint, but from an investment security point of view.

Anytime the U.S. government restricts a corporation from providing critical components for the infrastructure being built in the United States, it is like the government once again intervening in the free market and the free market becomes less free, but more and more affected by government intervention.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is building out its 4G Network, both Wimax and LTE and will be excluding Huawei and ZTE from its contracts on the premise of in the interest of National Security. The United States Defense Department is asserting that they are concerned about the close ties between Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corporation’s and the Chinese government and military. The concern is that there are security issues when you allow Huawei’s and ZTE’s components into the U.S. infrastructure.

On the surface this sound like a plausible argument, in that if the U.S. allows Huawei and ZTE components into U.S. infrastructure, the Chinese government and military could extract critical information by disruption or interception and use that information for their competitive advantage, commercially and militarily.

The U.S. government gave ZTE it’s government security approval and certificate for its network infrastructure, making ZTE the first Chinese vendor to receive this coveted certification. The certification is handed down from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). You can read more about ZTE’s government certification here.

If, the U.S. government blocks Huawei and ZTE from supplying the necessary equipment for America’s 4G, Next-Generation infrastructure,will Cisco and French-based Alcatel-Lucent, Hewlett-Packard and Juniper Networks become the beneficiaries. What about Sycamore and Corning, what role will they play? In part it’s going to be interesting to see how the U.S. government directly imposes restrictions on Huawei and ZTE, because indirectly Huawei and ZTE will continue to supply its numerous subsidiaries, such as Futurewei Technologies in Plano and its vast network of vendors, such as NTCH Inc. in Los Angeles.

There are so many companies and telecoms in America who depend on ZTE and Huawei products for their network and no amount of regulating is going to totally stop Huawei and ZTE from doing business in America, because Huawei and ZTE supplies everyone we do business with who don’t have Chinese names, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Verizon, T-Mobile, MetroPCS and a dozen or more regional wireless companies. You would have to shut down the entire Internet in America and also the wireless carriers to render any kind of restriction on Huawei and ZTE, because their equipment is already so embedded in our infrastructure that the Defense Department is just waking up to realize the potential threat.

Don’t forget that many of the components that make up CDMA networks, WIMAX and LTE networks are sourced from China by Huawei and ZTE subsidiaries and other vested vendors. Here are some little known handsets supplied by Huawei and ZTE.

MetroPCS sells several Huawei handset models, the Huawei M750, M328 and the Huawei Ascend.

T-Mobile’s Tap smartphone is the Huawei U7519.

Verizon’s Salute smartphone is from ZTE, as is many components that Verizon is using for its network infrastructure. MetroPCS offers several phones by ZTE, the ZTE Essenze, C78 and the ZTE Agent.

More than a few components and critical equipment used to run the Internet now and in the future is supplied by Huawei and ZTE and there is little the U.S. government can really do about it unless it wants to shut down the Internet and the wireless telecommunications and landline infrastructure. The bottom line for the U.S. government is National Security and the bottom line for corporations are profits. Anything that hampers the free hand of trade and the free market corporations will oppose directly or indirectly and last time I checked, corporations pretty much fuel politics in America and the rest of the world, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

P.S. Don’t forget that we sold the Hummer division that GM used to own to Sichuan-based, Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company. Tengzhong is a giant of a construction and equipment company in China. What do you think they’re going to do with our former Hummer division?

The Arm-based Market Heats Up & Investment Opportunities Abound

Two notable semiconductor technology companies to keep an eye on are Marvell Technology Group, LTD (NASDAQ: MRVL) based in California, Texas, and China and a leader in ARM-based CPU’s that are used in servers employed for cloud-computing. Smooth Stone is based in Austin, Texas and is focused on producing ARM CPU’s used also in servers for cloud-computing.

Marvell Technology Group, LTD and its semiconductor company, Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. make ARM-based, low-powered chip for eReaders, Smartphones, Mobile Internet Devices (MID’s), Digital Photo Frames, Open RD (an open-source technology platform), Dual-Band Access Point (802.11n wi-fi with multiple antennas), and Plug Computers (low-powered computers that are always on, such as set-top Internet boxes).

Smooth Stone has the industry support of ATIC (Advance Technology Investment Company. ATIC is the same company that came to the rescue of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc) (NYSE: AMD) when they were in dire straits.

What Smooth Stone and Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. hope to do is to bring greater energy efficiency and computing density to the data industry. In the data industry and most notable in the server sector, energy efficiency is the key to containing costs and improving the bottom line.

Technology advances has taken care of most of the hardware issues involving computing power, but the need to keep energy cost at bay has been a challenge for the data industry. Any technology that addresses the energy concerns will be sincerely welcomed.

ARM processors are generally found embedded in smartphones, but the Next-Generation Internet demands an even more social Internet and that means Social Media will demand more interaction and video online and these demands from the Internet users will only put additional strains on energy efficiencies. The data centers that can provide for the needs of the Next-Generation Internet will do well and those data centers that struggle with energy concerns, may find there days numbered.

The adoption of the low-powered, ARM CPU’s are a certain game-changer for the data industry and the server sector in particular. Most data centers use Intel or AMD CPU’s that are high-powered, Xeon or Opteron (codename: Magny-Cours) processors to render server functions when they could be using a low-powered, ARM CPU to do simple page loading and reduce their electrical consumption and space requirements by up to 75%. Intel owns about 90% of the server chip market and has the Atom processor which are also low-powered and can be used also in servers.

Overwhelmingly, data centers compete with one another based on performance and few data centers are willing to give up performance even if it cost them more in energy costs. Most data centers would rather cut costs on something else than sacrifice performance. Some data centers have adopted instead of using hard drives, have opted for DRAM or Flash memory for their storage needs which help to boost performance, although are more expensive to implement. If, Marvell, Smooth Stone can do what they say, they can license their technology to Intel and AMD for full-scale production.

The Top 5 Contract Notebook Manufacturers

Being a notebook aficionado, I own several Apple products, a netbook, a pocket computer, a mobile Internet device (Archos 8), a touch tablet computer, a smartphone, a smartbook and a USB VOIP SIM card reader and softphone. Surprisingly, most of what I have were made by just a handful of electronics giants.

An advocate of Infrastructure Investing, I firmly believe that your most consistent earnings will come from the suppliers of the materials that make up the gadgets that consumers want by expressing their insatiable appetite for whatever that trendy mobile device or technology item happens to be. If, you're fortunate to invest early in those industries or niches before the growth of that entity softens, you will be happy you did. Since it isn't always possible for whatever reasons to get in early, you can at least to strive to ride the wave of earnings from those companies that supply or contract manufacture the items the public desires.

Here are the Top 5 Contract Manufacturers in the Notebook Industry and you will note that many if not all of these companies, specialize in other mobile devices and entertainment products as well.

#1) Quanta Computer, Inc. (TPE: 2382) based in Taipei, Taiwan is the largest contract notebook manufacturer in the world. Quanta Computer also makes GSM mobile phones, WLAN related products, PDA’s and LCD’s.

#2) Compal Electronics, Inc. (TPE: 2324) is the 2^nd largest notebook manufacturer in the world. Compal Electronics is based in Taipei, Taiwan, with offices in the U.S., U.K., Mainland China and South Korea. Compal’s leading manufacturer facility is located in Kunshan not far from Shanghai.

Compal Electronics manufactures select models from Acer, Dell, Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Fujistu and Siemens. Compal also manufactures 3D televisions, IP-televisions and “all-in-one” computers.

#3) Wistron Corporation (TSE: 3231) is the 3^rd largest contract notebook manufacturer in the world. Wistron Corporation is an electronics manufacturer based in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

#4) Pegatron Corporation (TPE: 4938) is the 4^th largest contract notebook manufacturer and also produces consumer electronics (game consoles) and communications devices (mobile phones). Pegatron is based in Taipei, Taiwan. Pegatron was formerly Asustek, the maker of the Eee netbook computer.

Pegatron Corporation also makes smartbooks, MID’s (mobile Internet devices), motherboards, VGA (video graphics array), MP3 players, E-book readers and DPF (digital photo frames).

#5) Inventec Corporation (TPE: 2356) is the 5^th largest contract notebook manufacturer and based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Your strategy should be to examine each computer manufacturer as well as the brand (Dell, Acer, Toshiba, etc.) to determine which shows the most promise for continued growth. Keep in mind also that between the top 4 contract notebook manufacturers, the notebook brands that contract with them generally don’t show loyalty to any one-contract manufacturer when their bottom line is at stake. Notebook brands generally go with whichever contract notebook manufacturer affords them the best margins, so choose wisely among them. Due your research and profit from your understanding.

Infrastructure Investing

Infrastructure Investing is breaking down a leading technology company's product or service components and pinpointing who their suppliers are and then analyzing those suppliers and if those suppliers meet your investment risk tolerance, investing in those suppliers.

Take as an example the wonderful smartphone product from Apple, Inc. who owns the very popular iPhone that is perhaps the most popular selling smartphone worldwide. What do we know about the suppliers of the iPhone? Well, we may or may not know that the iPhone is manufactured by Foxconn of Taiwan, but what makes the iPhone unique is its digital ecosystem, such as its operating system, iOS and the 200,000 plus applications (apps) available.

A cadre of companies supply the iPhone:

• Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Supplies the iPhone's GPS chipset.
• Balda AG (ETR:BAD), Manufactures the scratch-resistant, multi-touch sensitive control modules that give its touchscreen magical-like behavior when you interact with the screen.
• Infineon Technologies AG (ADR) (Public, PINK: IFNNY), supplies the iPhone's baseband, which is the core chipset to handle voice and data.
• Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), makes the Nor Flash Chips which makes the iPhone system software easy to update.
• Samsung Semiconductor (Private), makes the integrated circuit for the video processors.
• Sharp (ADR) (PINK: SHCAY) & Sanyo Epson (aka, Wolf Microelectronics PLC) (LON: WLF), supplies the display.
• Skyworks (NASDAQ: SWKS), makes the mobile radio amplifier.
• Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU), makes the CMOS chip.
• Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR PLC) (LON: CSR), makes the bluetooth Chip.
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (ADR) (NYSE: TSM), the world's largest contract chip company by revenue makes the chip for the iPhone.
• United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) (ADR) (NYSE: UMC) is the second largest contract chip company in the world also makes iPhone chips.
• National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) & Novatek Microelectronics Corporation (TPE: 3034), make the iPhone's display driver chip.
• Quanta Computer (TPE: 2382), assembles the iPhone & will be making RIM"s tablet computer, "BlackPad."
• Foxconn (ADR) (PINK: FXCNY), also assembles the iPhone, Wii, Playstation & Apple's ipod Touch.
  

This is the key to investing in the infrastructures that make up the most highly-sought after products today and if you go with a balance of the dominant manufacturers in their industry or niche, you will be okay, but for the truly spectacular margins, have a look at the rising technology manufacturers. As always, do your due diligence and profit from your understanding!

iPad & The Paradigm Shift

The ipad is poised to cross the threshold of the next paradigm shift of personal mobile Internet consumption and e-book reading. Apple, Inc, created a paradigm shift in the way music was distributed worldwide with its iTunes platform and is poised to the same for the e-book market while at the same time, giving Internet surfers their very own mobile handheld device to communicate with their favorite social networks.

Whenever an industry or niche pushes the envelope to the point that others in the same sector have to take notice and adopt quickly or lose considerable market share, is a good thing for consumers. Consumers benefit from the shakeup in the disruption in the market because there will be complimentary choices in the future and applications that will give them and even more personalized experience.

The ipad wifi and the ipad 3g will solidify loyalties among Apple followers and improve Apple's dominance in bringing to market, fun and creatively-thought out mobile devices that consumers love and want. The ipad apps market will continue to swell as Apple has made it even more convienent for iPhone users to migrate to the iPad platform without any additional learning curve.

The ipad is sure to bring Apple, Inc. new converts and with it, profits that make it an attractive company to follow and invest in. Anothr company to follow is Foxconn, Taiwanese manufacturer of the iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTouch, Playstation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and a host of other products. Foxconn's competing electronics giant is the Seoul, South Korea giant, Samsung. Keep your eye on these two megagiants and follow their principal suppliers for their raw materials and as consumer demand swell for the iPad and iPhone and Samsung's Tegra 2, iPad-like table computer, very handsome margins are to be had. Until next time, profit from your understanding!

Next Generation Internet Investments

The Next Generation Internet is ripe for introducing faster technologies and greater capacities that will make our lives more entertaining and the Internet more addictive than it is now. Imagine the whole entire population of China, Video calling their friends all at the same time and experiencing no degradation in the bandwidth or service.

Imagine downloading all the movies ever made in the world, in just under four minutes. That's the future, when Cisco fully implements its Carrier Routing System, CRS-3 Routers, which have immense more capacity than previous routers. This is the vision of Cisco's CEO, John T. Chambers and the unrealized dreams of billions of people who seek to make the Internet more accessible and more affordable, while at the same time, increasing its capacity for the Internet's Next Generation and its world of all things video.

It's just a matter of fully implementing the CRS-3 Carrier Routing System worldwide and the benefits will be phenomenal. Internet users will demand it and gamers will obssess over it. Video Aficionados will demand the increase capacity and will ignite the demand for the CRS-3 Routers. Cisco is in a prime position to take advantage of this explosive growth of video online and will carve out a nice niche for itself by dominating this aspect of the Next Generation Internet's infrastructure.

The question that has yet to be answered of course is, how does this affect what Google is doing and to what extent may Google compete with Cisco in this specialized hardware space? No matter how the competition heats up, there will be winners and there will be losers, and overall, there is an opportunity to make profits on all of them.

Video will continue to influence the direction of the Internet and the online surfers will flock to what they consider to be the best applications the Internet has to offer. Remember people on the Internet tend to go where their friends go, to communicate, to collaborate and to share ideas and experiences and guess what? Where do the search engines robots go? Yep, wherever folks are congregating and interacting online, the search engines follow.

As more and more Internet users come online to take advantage of the many experiences that video offers, so too will the search engines be there to categorize, list, compile and archive all that is going on, hoping to influence the purchasing decisions of those users with their ads and other items.

So, where should you put your money? My money is on the suppliers of the infrastructure for the hardware, such as Cisco and Xilinx, because Xilinx, is a worldwide leader of programmable logic and programmable system solutions. My money is on the suppliers of the video technology and standard that is likely to prevail over the current standard which is Adobe's Flash. Remember the off-line video battle between "Betamax" and "VHS?" We all know who won and we all know that neither "Betamax" or "VHS," is as exciting as "BluRay."

Do your due diligence and look at the dominant players for each hardware and/or software standard and when you're comfortable, get with your investment advisor to choose which if, any you are comfortable with. A change is coming for the Internet and there will profits to be had, by those sharp enough, or interested enough to do their homework.

P.S., In the interest of full disclosure, I am not an investment advisor, nor do I play one on television or online. I at the time of this writing, hold no shares in Cisco or Xilinx.