BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PCB shipments fell 2.6% in January and bookings dropped 18.7% year-over-year, the IPC said. The book-to-bill ratio remained under parity at 0.91.
Rigid shipments were down 3.5%, and bookings were down 19.2% year-over-year. Flexible circuit shipments were up 14.3%, while bookings were down 10.6%.
The rigid book-to-bill ratio was 0.91; the flex circuit book-to-bill ratio edged up to 0.93.
Rigid PCBs make up an estimated 85% of PCB sales in North America.
The results include 11% of foreign-produced boards.
SAN JOSE – A call for papers has been issued for the International Wafer-Level Packaging Conference scheduled for Sept. 17-19, in San Jose. The conference program will include workshops, and business and technical sessions on wafer-level packaging, 3D/stacked packaging and test. The organizers seek 200-word abstracts with proposed topics. Abstracts should be submitted before Apr. 10 to Melissa Serres at melissa@smta.org. Full details may be found at http://www.smta.org/iwlpc.
MINNEAPOLIS – The 2007 Medical Electronics Symposium will be held May 2-3 in Bloomington, MN. A tabletop exhibition will take place on May 2, and a half-day workshop symposium on May 1 will cover issues of reliability in medical electronics and medical device applications. Other topics of the symposium include RoHS/WEEE impact on design; wireless telemetry; process development case studies; substrate materials for medical electronics; design challenges; environmental constraints; emerging technologies; advanced cleanliness requirements; advanced packaging for medical electronics; reliability assessments; software security; safety & risk management; warranty analytics; risk communication and software regulation. The keynote, Neuromodulation – Approaching the Tipping Point, will be presented May 2 at 11:30 am by Christopher Chavez of Advanced Neuromodulation Systems. For more information, please visit http://www.smta.org/education/symposia/symposia.cfm#medical.
CUPERTINO, CA -- Apple Inc. is seeing continued demand for its Macintosh PCs and expects strong sales of the new iPhone, the company told analysts this week.
Analysts say the company's revenue estimate of $5.1 billion for the June quarter will likely prove conservative.
MINNEAPOLIS -- The SMTA seeks nominations for its board of directors.
The trade group is accepting nominations through April 27 for the term that
begins in October. Candidates must be SMTA members who have demonstrated commitment to the
association.
Candidates should have valuable skills and ideas to continue the association's mission of helping members succeed in electronics assembly and related business operations.
Those interested or who know of potential board members may submit a nomination form online under the Board Nominations section at smta.org.
Contact SMTA administrator JoAnn Stromberg (joann@smta.org) or Nominating Committee Chair Irene Sterian (isterian@celestica.com) for further information.
To learn more about the nomination process, click here.
TAIPEI -- Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the parent of Foxconn, will reportedly up its investment in Vietnam by $4 billion
Last month, Hon Hai chairman Terry Guo signed a letter of intent to invest $1 billion in a high-tech industrial park in Bac Ninh Province. According to several reports, Hon Hai will invest the additional funds in other industrial parks and some urban-development projects.
The company plans to build cameras, cellphones and accessories, PCBs, connectors and other electronics related items in Vietnam, the reports said.