Chinese multinational ZTE will plead guilty and pay $430.5 million to the U.S. government for illegally shipping U.S.-origin wireless and wireline infrastructure hardware to customers in Iran for almost six years, obstruction of justice, and “making a material false statement,” DOJ announced. In total, ZTE will pay the government $892.4 million, under the impending guilty plea and settlement agreements reached with the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ said. BIS suspended another $300 million in penalties, which ZTE will pay if it breaches its settlement with the agency, DOJ said. ZTE lied to federal investigators and “deceived their own counsel and internal investigators” about the illegal acts, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. An independent corporate compliance monitor will review and report on ZTE’s export compliance program over the next three years, during which the company will remain on corporate probation, according to DOJ’s announcement. “Criminal information” filed March 7 in federal court in the Northern District of Texas charged ZTE with one count of “knowingly and willfully” conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and one count each of obstructing justice and making a material false statement. ZTE then signed a plea agreement with the government, which the court must still approve, DOJ said. BIS four times extended the original June 30, 2016, deadline for a temporary general license for ZTE that maintains normal licensing requirements for exports, re-exports and in-country transfers to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun (see 1702230001), after announcing sanctions against the two entities and two affiliated firms on March 8, 2016 (see 1603070001). The current temporary general license expires March 29.

In a Facebook post Friday, Garmin said it's “devastated by ‘the senseless tragedy that took the life of one of our associates and friends, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and injured another, Alok Madasani.’” The two Garmin engineers, both 32 and originally from India, were shot Wednesday in a bar near Garmin’s U.S. headquarters in Olathe, Kansas, in what authorities are calling a possible hate crime. Alleged gunman Adam Purinton reportedly told the Garmin engineers to “get out of my country” before shooting the men, along with Ian Grillot, who was injured when he intervened, reported The Kansas City Star. It said Purinton was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kuchibhotla and with two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of Madasani and Grillot. Madasani was released from the hospital Thursday.

DTS parent company Tessera is changing its name to Xperi, with the Nasdaq ticker symbol XPER, effective Thursday, it said in an announcement. The change reflects the company’s “expanded capabilities, continued technological innovation and refined vision,” it said. Tessera bought DTS in September in a cash deal valued at $850 million (see 1609200027). It also owns digital imaging supplier FotoNation and Invensas, a supplier of semiconductor packaging.

Intel chose the White House as the setting for announcing its $7 billion investment in a new Chandler, Arizona, semiconductor plant because it backs the Trump administration’s policies to “make U.S. manufacturing competitive worldwide through new regulatory standards and investment policies,” CEO Brian Krzanich told employees in a Wednesday email. When complete, the plant “will produce the most advanced computer chips in the world,” Krzanich said. It also will create about 3,000 full-time Intel jobs and more than 10,000 jobs in Arizona to run and support the factory, he said. “Government policies play a critical role in enabling and sustaining American-driven innovation,” he said. “When we disagree, we don’t walk away. We believe that we must be part of the conversation to voice our views on key issues such as immigration, H1B visas and other policies that are essential to innovation.” Intel was among dozens of prominent tech companies signing an amici brief Sunday backing Washington and Minnesota in their fight to keep President Donald Trump’s now-suspended immigration executive order from being reinstated (see 1702060016).

LG Electronics finally broke ground Tuesday at its Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, location for a 350,000-square-foot North American headquarters building that had been mired for years in zoning obstructions leading to a 2015 redesign (see 1507060039). The $300 million project has been in the works since 2009 when LG proposed a 143-foot tower that was quietly approved by local officials in a zoning area that limits buildings to a height of 35 feet. Environmental groups and the New Jersey state Senate took up the issue as part of an effort to ban tall buildings along the New Jersey Palisades over the Hudson River opposite Manhattan. The tower was redesigned at a height of 70 feet “to protect the scenic views of the Palisades,” said LG in a news release. The design includes landscape, lighting and other design features to “further reduce visual impacts, while retaining the scale of the complex as home for LG's growing U.S. business,” said the South Korean electronics company. The building project will contribute an estimated $26 million annually to the local economy, said LG. The new corporate campus at 111 Sylvan Ave. will allow LG to double its local employment to more than 1,000 by 2019, it said.

Samsung continues to evaluate “new investment needs in the U.S. that can help us best serve our customers,” a spokeswoman emailed us Thursday in response to questions on reports the company is exploring a bigger U.S. manufacturing presence for major appliances. "The U.S. is an important market for Samsung Electronics and we have been making significant investments,” the spokeswoman said. She cited Samsung’s Austin semiconductor plant, where the company has invested $17 billion. An article in the English-language The Korea Herald Friday said Samsung officials in Seoul remained “confused” over a tweet by President Donald Trump praising the tech giant for considering a U.S. factory. After reports went viral on plans for the U.S.-based plant, Trump tweeted: “Thank you, @Samsung! We would love to have you!”

Sharp’s new Sharp Home Electronics Co. of America (SHCA) division announced Wednesday is an extension of Foxconn’s two-thirds investment in Sharp, which is about “reviving the Sharp brand and putting Sharp on a solid financial footing,” SHCA President Jim Sanduski told us Thursday. SHCA integrates Sharp’s SEMCA (Sharp Electronics Marketing Co. of America), SMCA (Sharp Manufacturing Co. of America) and SSG (Services and Solutions Group), into a single division, headed by Sanduski, formerly president of SEMCA. SSG, now split between a facility in Montvale, New Jersey, and a Sharp microwave drawer and steam oven assembly plant in Memphis, handles servicing of Sharp TVs from model 2015 and earlier, before Hisense’s buy of Sharp’s TV business (see 1508030046) in what has been said to be a five-year deal. The Foxconn infusion of $3.5 billion-$3.9 billion will allow Sharp to “expand the assortment of products that we have in the marketplace,” said Sanduski. With Foxconn’s investment and the consolidation of production, sales and marketing and servicing, Sanduski’s charge is to take what today is primarily a microwave oven business for Sharp and continue to expand it. That includes: “How do we look at other segments in the home appliance space that would make sense to extend the Sharp brand to?” When we asked Sanduski about expansion beyond appliances into areas where it already has expertise, he said it would be “foolhardy” to speculate beyond the Hisense TV deal because “right now there is no TV business.” He highlighted the new division’s name with its focus on home electronics and said, “Appliances are not our only mandate,” but they’re the "single consumer-oriented business today.” Sanduski also referenced Sharp’s business-to-business operations that includes copiers and professional displays, which are outside the coverage of the Hisense TV agreement. Microwave ovens are the consumer division’s focus today, but “nothing is ruled out for the future in terms of segments of electronics outside of home appliances, but for now it is home appliances,” he said.

Lifestyle audio sales led a 10 percent sales surge in Harman's Q2 ended Dec. 31, said the company in a Thursday earnings release. Consumer and car audio sales jumped 19 percent in Q2 vs. the year-ago quarter, and higher demand for automotive services bumped up connected services sales by 13 percent. Connected car sales grew 4 percent on stronger production and expansion of recently launched programs, while professional solutions sales were up 3 percent on stronger Asia sales. Overall sales grew 10 percent to $1.9 billion, it reported, as net income fell 12 percent to $99 million. “The pending acquisition of Harman by Samsung will accelerate connected and autonomous driving innovation and technology deployment faster than if Harman were to remain a standalone company,” said CEO Dinesh Paliwal. The transaction remains on track to close mid-year, he said.

Logitech said all regions and “almost all categories” contributed to better-than-expected FY 2017 Q3 results in a Wednesday preliminary earnings report. The company had a 31 percent drop year over year in tablet and accessory sales, to $25 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, but gaming and video conferencing products led growth at 38 percent and 37 percent, it said. Mobile speakers posted 25 percent growth over Q3 2016 to $107 million, on par with gaming revenue, and audio PC and wearables revenue grew 17 percent to $67 million. Home control sales grew 5 percent year on year to $27 million, said the company, pointing devices were up 2 percent to $142 million and keyboards and combos increased 8 percent to $125 million. Total retail net sales in the quarter grew 12 percent to $667 million vs. the 2016 quarter, and net income rose 38 percent to $92 million, said the company. Logitech raised guidance to 12-13 percent retail growth for the year to a range of $225 to $230 million, up from its prior range of $195 million to $205 million. Shares closed up 13 percent Wednesday to $29.

Samsung’s chip business propped up earnings in Q4, offsetting flat CE sales hit by the Galaxy Note7 recalls and production shutdown in October. Overall sales hit 53.3 trillion Korean won (US $45.6 billion) in the quarter, with earnings of 7.1 trillion won ($6.1 billion), said the company's Tuesday earnings release. In mobile, operating profit grew to 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) on sales of core smartphone products, while the S7 and S7 edge sales grew “slightly,” it said. Samsung predicts a slowdown in the smartphone market for 2017, “but new services such as AI [artificial intelligence] will become a new opportunity for differentiation,” it said. TV unit sales grew in the quarter, but earnings fell year on year due to increased panel prices, said the company. Sales of Samsung’s premium SUHD TVs jumped 36 percent vs. Q4 2015, curved TV models were up 60 percent and 60-inch and larger models shot up by 56 percent, the company said. In 2017 Samsung will push differentiated and “innovative products” it launched at CES (see Ref:1701040074]) including its quantum dot QLED TVs, one-cable connector design and no-gap wall mount. In Q1, shipments “may decrease” due to higher TV prices resulting from higher panel costs, it said.