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News

HELSINKI -- Nokia posted strong first-quarter results, reporting revenues of €12.66 billion, up 28% year-over-year. Operating profit rose 20% to €1.53 billion.

CARLSBAD, CA -- Palomar Microelectronics has tripled the size of its cleanroom assembly space and increased its prototyping, applications engineering, process development, assembly, and test services capabilities.

The company, a unit of Palomar Technologies, opened 2,500 sq. f. class 100K and 500 sq. ft. class 10K cleanrooms, said to enable rapid prototyping and turnaround of advanced wire bonding, gold ball bumping, and precision component placement for semiconductor packages, high power LEDs, MEMS devices, microwave and RF components, optoelectronic packages, multichip modules, and hybrids.

“The new cleanroom space allows us to provide microelectronic services for many of the emerging technologies in areas such as MEMS, high bright LEDs, and other advanced packaging applications and to speed delivery of these services to our customers,” said Donald Beck, operations manager for Palomar Microelectronics.

STAMFORD, CT -- Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending will drop 19.8% to $47.5 billion this year, says Gartner Inc.

In December, the research firm forecast a 10% drop for the year.

The company blamed lower capital spending for memory chips. “Since our last update in late December, reported DRAM spending plans have declined to the point where we are now projecting a drop of almost 47% in DRAM spending and 29% in total memory in 2008,” said managing VP Klaus Rinnen. The firm expects a recovery will begin in the second half.

Global packaging and assembly equipment spending is now forecast to drop 18.1%, extending last year's 3.7% decline. Automated test equipment is expected to drop 13% this year, following last year's 14% decline. Gartner said market conditions for those segments should begin to turn up this summer.