SANTA ANA, CA – The Americas lags the world in HDI production, according to a new presentation delivered by Matt Holzmann last week.
Speaking at the IPC HDI Technology Conference in Dallas, Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, said high density interconnect substrates production was $202 million in the Americas in 2006, far behind Southeast Asia ($3.6 billion), Japan ($1.5 billion), and Europe ($352 million). While the compound average growth rate of HDI in the Americas will be 7% through 2011, it will remain a distant fourth regionally, Holzmann said, citing data from Prismark Partners.
HDI is used in a wide range of end-products, ranging from cellphones to PC peripherals, medical gear and even aerospace. Cellphones make up nearly 40% of HDI board use, followed by IC package substrates at roughly 35%. Those two segments will remain the largest consumers by far through 2011.
Of the 3,600 laser drills installed worldwide, only 150 are in North America, Holzmann said. That reluctance to invest is one reason more than 80% of current demand filled from overseas sources, Holzmann said.
MINNEAPOLIS – HEI reported fourth quarter sales of $11.8 million, up 133%
over last year.
For the period ended Aug. 30, the company reported $473,000 in net profits,
easily topping its previous earnings year-to-date. The company had a
net loss of $723,000 in the year-ago quarter.
ELKHART, IND – CTS Corp. will reduce headcount by about 60 positions as part
of an operational restructuring, the company said. The company will
also consolidate certain operations and to improve its cost structure.
SHENZHEN -- Huawei, one of China's largest electronics OEMs, took its cellphone manufacturing group off the market, saying the world financial situation must first be resolved.
"Given the current global market conditions and prevailing economic
uncertainty the interests of the company are best served by postponing the sale
process," Huawei said in a press release.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC has published a standard said to be the first for power conversion.
IPC-9592, Requirements for Power Conversion Devices for the Computer and Telecommunications Industries, covers product attributes, including specifications and document requirements; design; qualification testing; and manufacturing conformance testing.
"With the release of IPC-9592, the power supply industry will have a standard that will facilitate communication between the customer and supplier at a level that is unprecedented in this industry," said Dr. Scott Strand, senior technical staff member, integrated technology delivery quality, IBM, in a press release.
“IPC-9592 harmonizes the requirements for design, qualification, and production test practices,” said Jerry Strunk, technical manager of qualification and compliance, Lineage Power. “Suppliers that adopt this standard will be better able to provide customers reliable products.”
The committee is now working on the first revision of the document.
IPC members may request a free copy of IPC-9592 within 90 days of its publication.
TAIPEI – Delta Electronics Inc. reported September consolidated sales revenues totaled NT $13.9 billion, up 11% year-over-year, and up 2% sequentially.
The component maker’s consolidated sales revenues year-to-date were NT $110.73 billion, up 17% compared to the same period between January and September last year.
The components business group represented 18% of sales, the company said in a release.