Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Fry’s Metals Inc. and Cookson America Inc. have received official ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) registration.

They are the parent companies of Cookson Electronics Engineered Products, a business unit of Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group.

ITAR regulates the manufacture, export and transfer of defense articles, information and services.

“The Military, Defense and Government segments constitute an important market for Cookson Electronics Engineered Products’ US business,” said Ravi Bhatkal, vice president and general manager, engineered products. “With this ITAR registration, we are pleased to provide our value-added stencil technologies that can help defense electronics companies develop and commercialize products quicker and help improve first-pass yields.”

SAN JOSE – Sun Microsystems will cut up to 18% of its global workforce – an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 jobs – in a move aimed at cutting annual costs by $700 million to $800 million.

MONTREAL – XDry Corp. has opened a Ville St-Laurent facility near Montreal to support sales and service in the Americas.

The new site merges the warehouse, inspection and testing facilities and is more than double the size of the company’s previous offices.

Kevin McCarten, president of Xdry, said the move “allows us to combine our operations under a single roof, optimizing the space and reducing the time needed to custom-configure desiccant dry cabinets.”

The company also named Edward Billingsley warehouse manager.

STAMFORD, CT – Gartner Inc. today issued a revised 2009 capital spending forecast of $39 billion, and dropped its capital equipment sales forecast to $26.8 billion.

HELSINKI – Nokia today said the global cellphone market would fall this quarter and throughout 2009.

The world’s leading cellphone provider dropped its 2008 forecast to 1.24 billion units worldwide, down from 1.26 billion. The handset market volumes and the overall telecom equipment market are expected to fall next year, the company added.

Nokia also lowered its industry outlook for the fourth quarter, forecasting volumes of 330 million, about 16 million lower than the average market forecast revealed in a Reuters poll earlier this month.

In a statement, Nokia said, "In the last few weeks, the global economic slowdown, combined with unprecedented currency volatility, has resulted in a sharp pull back in global consumer spending.” The company later said developed markets will fare worse, and developing markets will fare better.

Smartphones are expected to be the exception in 2009, putting companies like Apple and RIM in a better position versus their peers.