EL SEGUNDO, CA – Acer Inc. supplanted rival Lenovo as the world’s third largest PC supplier in the first quarter, according to iSuppli Corp.
Acer also posted the best growth performance among the Top-5 PC suppliers on a year-over-year basis. PC shipments at the Taiwanese company rose 45.8% to 4.2 million units, up from 2.9 million last year.
The company also achieved the largest percentage increase in unit shipments among the Top-5 suppliers in the fourth quarter, posting a 42.7% rise year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, Acer displaced Toshiba for third in worldwide notebook PC market.
Acer and No. 1 Hewlett Packard. were the standouts among the Top-5 PC suppliers, with year-to-year growth rates surpassing those of Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell.
Dell was the only PC OEM among the Top-5 to suffer a decline in units compared to the same period last year. The one-time leader saw units drop 6.8%, to nine million.
Dell’s performance pales against its competitors. During the quarter, collective unit shipments by the Top-5 PC makers increased 14.2% compared to last year, exceeding overall industry growth of 8.7%.
However, Dell announced a plan in the second quarter to sell PCs through Wal-Mart in North America. The company also restored founder Michael Dell to the role of CEO, and added Michael Cannon, the former CEO of Solectron.
Dell’s moves may be bearing fruit, said iSuppli. Although company unit shipments were down 6.8% in the first quarter, the decline was less than the 8.6% decrease in the fourth quarter.
Acer also posted the best growth performance among the Top-5 PC suppliers on a year-over-year basis. PC shipments at the Taiwanese company rose 45.8% to 4.2 million units, up from 2.9 million last year.
The company also achieved the largest percentage increase in unit shipments among the Top-5 suppliers in the fourth quarter, posting a 42.7% rise year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, Acer displaced Toshiba for third in worldwide notebook PC market.
Acer and No. 1 Hewlett Packard. were the standouts among the Top-5 PC suppliers, with year-to-year growth rates surpassing those of Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell.
Dell was the only PC OEM among the Top-5 to suffer a decline in units compared to the same period last year. The one-time leader saw units drop 6.8%, to nine million.
Dell’s performance pales against its competitors. During the quarter, collective unit shipments by the Top-5 PC makers increased 14.2% compared to last year, exceeding overall industry growth of 8.7%.
However, Dell announced a plan in the second quarter to sell PCs through Wal-Mart in North America. The company also restored founder Michael Dell to the role of CEO, and added Michael Cannon, the former CEO of Solectron.
Dell’s moves may be bearing fruit, said iSuppli. Although company unit shipments were down 6.8% in the first quarter, the decline was less than the 8.6% decrease in the fourth quarter.
SAN JOSE -- Two of the largest EMS firms in the world will join forces as No. 2 Flextronics International this morning announced it would acquire No. 3 Solectron Corp. for $3.6 billion in cash and stock.
The combined company will have about 200,000 employees and annual revenue of more than $30 billion, ahead of the current market leader, Hon Hai (Foxconn).
The combined company will have about 200,000 employees and annual revenue of more than $30 billion, ahead of the current market leader, Hon Hai (Foxconn).
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- In the second largest EMS acquisition of the day, Nu Visions Manufacturing and San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden Gate Capital bought Veritek Manufacturing Services for an undisclosed amount.
San Marcos, CA-based Veritek has plants in San Jose and Longmont, CO.
SPOKANE VALLEY, WA – ACE Production Technologies has acquired all Drop-Jet Spray Head technology and its related products from Castle Controls & Automation.
ACE will offer the flux head as an option on its selective soldering products, and will announce standalone and inline fluxing products in the coming months.
No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.
ACE will offer the flux head as an option on its selective soldering products, and will announce standalone and inline fluxing products in the coming months.
No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – A top stencil manufacturer has devised a process for eliminating wave soldering.
A recent paper authored by Photo Stencil vice president of technology Dr. Bill Coleman outlines a procedure called intrusive reflow, said to improve Pb-free material printing.
One objective of the study was to maximize the amount of solder paste printed into the through-hole. With proper squeegee speed and squeegee angle, 100% hole fill was achieved for 0.063"-thick boards and 85% hole fill for 0.093" -thick boards with a 0.006"-thick stencil. This reportedly resulted in good top and bottom fillets and continuous solder fill around the pins with a 0.006"-thick stencil for 0.063" and 0.093"-thick boards for resistors, DIPs and four-row header arrays.
X-rays of paste hole fill and cross-sections of through-hole pins after reflow are shown in the paper. To download the paper, visit www.photostencil.com/techpapers.htm.
A recent paper authored by Photo Stencil vice president of technology Dr. Bill Coleman outlines a procedure called intrusive reflow, said to improve Pb-free material printing.
One objective of the study was to maximize the amount of solder paste printed into the through-hole. With proper squeegee speed and squeegee angle, 100% hole fill was achieved for 0.063"-thick boards and 85% hole fill for 0.093" -thick boards with a 0.006"-thick stencil. This reportedly resulted in good top and bottom fillets and continuous solder fill around the pins with a 0.006"-thick stencil for 0.063" and 0.093"-thick boards for resistors, DIPs and four-row header arrays.
X-rays of paste hole fill and cross-sections of through-hole pins after reflow are shown in the paper. To download the paper, visit www.photostencil.com/techpapers.htm.
STAMFORD, CT – Gartner Inc. cut its 2007 worldwide semiconductor forecast to $269.2 billion, a mere 2.5% increase from 2006.
Gartner previously predicted a 2007 revenue increase of 6.4%.
The research firm attributes the negative outlook to dramatic declines in DRAM average selling prices and continued price competition in the compute MPU segment.
Gartner said first quarter semiconductor sales were more than 5% lower than in the previous quarter, which was worse than expected.
The firm said it expects the industry to return to annual growth of 8.7% and 7.2% in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
