HONG KONG, Oct. 12 -- Kingboard Chemical Holdings Ltd. plans to seek a majority stake in Elec & Eltek International Holdings, Dow Jones reported today.

Kingboard, which makes PCBs and laminates, currently owns 27.7% of Elec & Eltek International Holdings. If it succeeds in gaining a majority share in the company, Kingboard will then offer to buy the firm's Singapore-listed Elec & Eltek International Co. Ltd.

Elec & Eltek currently provides boards to Intel and IBM.

Kingboard said the deal will enhance the economies of scale of its PCB as the two companies' business and customers are complementary, Dow Jones reported.

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ANAHEIM, CA, Oct. 8, 2004 -- DDi Corp. will lay off up to 175 employees at its Milpitas, CA, manufacturing facility and take cash charges of $1 million as it attempts to lower its costs. The losses will be partially offset by the expected addition of a small number of employees across DDi's other facilities, bringing the total staff reduction to approximately 7% of DDi's worldwide workforce.

Some orders will be moved to DDi facilities in Toronto and Virginia, taking advantage of those plants' lower production costs, said Bruce McMaster, DDi's CEO.

Following the restructuring, the company will continue to employ more than 1,800 people. As a result of the workforce reduction, DDi expects a cash restructuring charge of approximately $1 million to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2004 and to realize annualized cost savings of between $6 and $7 million.

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KNOXVILLE, TN, Oct. 18 - SMTC Corp. will supply electronics manufacturing services and logistics services to Radio Systems Corp. under a new long-term agreement, the companies jointly said today.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

SMTC will supply engineering, printed circuit board and final product assembly services starting in the current quarter with volumes ramping in 2005.

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