Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current Issue

News

HO CHI MINH CITY – Jabil Circuit Inc. has reported an initial investment of $30 million in a facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which is scheduled to be operational next month.

Located in Saigon Hi-Tech Park, the 55,000 sq. ft. facility (expandable to 120,000 sq. ft.) is the first plant in the country for Jabil.

WESTLAKE, OH – Nordson Corporation today announced that it has acquired YESTech Inc. and PICO Dosiertechnik (Picodostec) in two separate transactions totaling $53 million. Both companies will become part of Nordson's Advanced Technology Systems segment.

YESTech provides AOI and x-ray inspection systems and will be integrated into Nordson's Dage Holdings subsidiary. YESTech employs 23 people and is headquartered in San Clemente, CA.

Picodostec manufactures piezoelectric technology dispensing systems. The company is headquartered near Munich and employs 12 people; it will operate as part of Nordson's Asymtek subsidiary.

Together, YESTech and Picodostec had 2006 revenues of approximately $20 million. From 2004 to 2006, revenues grew at an average of 57% per year.

TAOYUAN, TAIWAN – Five BenQ executives have been indicted on embezzlement, money laundering and forgery charges, causing shares in the Taiwan company to fall sharply today.

A spokesman for the Taoyuan District Prosecutor's Office said BenQ chairman KY Lee, president Sheaffer Lee, and senior vice president Eric Yu were among those charged and face minimum jail terms of seven years. The three allegedly violated securities laws in the sale of $24 million of shares designated for employee stock options in 2003.

Financial officer Alex Liou and accounting manager DW Liu were also indicted. All five are also suspected of using employees as a front to sell shares shortly before BenQ disclosed heavy losses in March 2006 from its takeover of the mobile phone operations of Siemens AG.

BenQ calls the indictment "unacceptable,” but has hope for a fair trial.

The company today also announced $10 billion in revenue for April, down 8% from the same month last year. In the first quarter of 2007, BenQ’s 37- and 42-inch LCD TVs ranked number one, and overall LCD TV products ranked third in the Taiwan market.