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ARLINGTON, VA – The Consumer Electronics Association now projects fourth quarter wholesale shipment revenues will increase by 0.1% year-over-year. The original forecast issued in October anticipated 3.5% fourth-quarter growth over 2007.

ANGLETON, TX – Contract manufacturer Benchmark Electronics Inc. said, through an alliance with Silicon Graphics Inc., it helped create the computer system for which NASA achieved the ranking of third fastest supercomputer in the world.

Benchmark worked with Silicon Graphics to manufacture Pleiades, which SGI deployed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. The supercomputer is expected to support the development of the space agency's next-generation space fleet, along with projects related to all other NASA mission directorates.

NASA's Pleiades system is a 51,200-core SGI Altix ICE 8200EX system, and is said to be capable of generating a theoretical peak of 609 trillion operations per sec.

Benchmark contributed product introduction services, PCB assembly, system integration and functional test to the program.

MACAO – Deswell Industries Inc. reported fiscal second-quarter nets sales of $32 million, down 16.1% year-over-year, mainly because of the continuing decline in business from the company's electronic and metallic segment.

The firm reported an operating loss of $1.7 million for the quarter, compared to operating income of $1.7 million for the same quarter of 2007.

Gross profit in the electronic and metallic segment was 11.1% of net sales, compared to 11.6% of net sales for the year-ago quarter.

Net sales for the six months ended Sept. 30 were $67.3 million, down 12.5% year-over-year.

Net income decreased $5.2 million to a loss of $382,000, compared to $4.9 million last year.

Deswell manufactures injection-molded plastic parts, components, electronic products, subassemblies and metallic products for OEMs and contract manufacturers.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – With car sales plunging, demand for automotive electronics is dropping as well, except for the key area of electronic stability control systems, whose sales are expected to continue to rise in the coming years. This will generate attractive opportunities for suppliers of microelectromechanical sensors used in these systems, according to iSuppli Corp.

iSuppli recently reported that 2008 is expected to be the worst year in nearly a generation for the U.S. car market, with shipments of just 13.3 million units, down 17.7% year-over-year. Western European auto sales are expected to decline to 15.4 million, down 8.2% compared to 2007.

However, worldwide penetration of ESC technology in new cars will grow to 57% in 2012, up from 28% in 2006, says the firm.

“Shipments of ESC systems and associated MEMS will continue to rise, despite the current downturn, due to government mandates requiring stability control in the United States and later in Europe. This provides opportunities for at least six players new to the ESC market, either in development or sampling gyroscopes, and likewise four companies developing product for accelerometers. We expect the new offerings may begin in the truck market before attacking the large automotive OEMs,” said Richard Dixon, senior analyst, MEMS for iSuppli.

VTI Technologies was the leader in MEMS accelerometers in 2007 with a 53% share of industry revenue. VTI supplies all the MEMS accelerometers used by Continental Automotive Systems, the leading supplier of ESC systems.

Bosch is in second place, supplying accelerometers for its own systems and to Mobis. It held a 29% share of ESC accelerometer revenue last year, according to iSuppli.

Systron Donner was the gyroscope market leader with a 44% share of revenue in 2007. Bosch was second last year, with 30% of revenue as a result of sales of gyroscopes for its own ESC systems.

However, the company to watch in this segment is Panasonic, says iSuppli, which held the No. 4 rank for ESC gyroscope revenue last year. The firm managed to surpass Silicon Sensing Systems in unit shipments, giving it the No. 3 ranking based on volume.

“Panasonic is on the rise in the ESC gyroscope market with a robust and inexpensive new gyroscope, and could jump several more places in the next five years,” Dixon said.

In 2007, Bosch led the pressure sensor market with 54% share of revenue. Sensata, a 2006 spin-off from Texas Instruments Inc., is the second major player with a 34% share of revenue, with Denso a distant third place, says the research firm.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – With economic conditions remaining shaky through most of 2009, personal computer sales are forecast to suffer a rare-but-modest decline next year, and PC unit growth is expected to slow down to about half the rate seen in 2008, according to IC Insights.

In 2009, however, shipments of portable notebook computers are expected to exceed desktop PCs for the first time ever. Notebook PC shipments are projected to rise 13% to 156 million systems in 2009, versus a 3% decline for desktop systems to 143 million, says the research firm. Worldwide shipments of notebook computers are expected to reach 264 million in 2012 compared to 178 million desktop PCs.

Overall PC dollar volumes are forecast to decline 3% next year to $240 billion. While market conditions will remain weak through much of 2009, IC Insights does not believe the PC segment will suffer a protracted downturn, as was the case in the 2001-2002 recession. Supply-chain inventories did not grow out of control in 2008, and PCs are more pervasive than they were at the start of this decade. Growing demand for low-cost systems in developing regions is also helping offset some weakness in the U.S., European, and Japanese markets. PC revenues are now forecast to rebound by more than 9% in 2010 to about $263 million. PC unit growth is also expected to surge back in 2010 with shipments rising 15% to 350 million systems worldwide compared to a projected 5% increase in 2009.

During the 2009 slowdown year, PC integrated circuit sales will fall 6% to $66.4 billion, the firm says. IC sales for PCs dropped 3% in 2008 to an estimated $70.4 billion after slipping 4% in 2007 to $72.3 billion, mainly as a result of price erosion in DRAMs and x86 central microprocessors sold by Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices. IC sales are expected to rebound in 2010, reaching an annual record high of $83 billion in 2011.

EAST WINDSOR, CT – Friendlygreen.org today announced so-called green alternatives to tissue paper products.

The online resource offers links to articles and Web sites that provide information about the environmental impact of everyday products.

The pulp and paper industry, for example, which includes tissue product manufacturers, is among the world’s largest generators of toxic air, water pollutants and waste products. It is the third largest generator of global warming emissions, says the site, and those emissions are projected to increase 100% by 2020.

In North America, tissue products can be made from post-consumer recycled materials or agricultural waste, says Friendlygreen.org, sparing old growth forests.