CHICAGO – Premier Farnell, distributor of electronic components, has launched an international design competition called Live Edge: Electronic Design for the Global Environment. Newark, a Premier Farnell business, will support the competition throughout the Americas.

Electronics engineers, students and academics are invited to submit designs that utilize electronic components and have a positive impact on the environment by increasing energy efficiency or reducing carbon emissions, for example.

The closing date for registration is Oct. 31; entries must be submitted by Nov. 30.

The winning entrant will receive a cash prize of $50,000 and a support package, estimated to be worth an additional $50,000, to help produce the design. The winner will be announced in Jan. 2008.

Full details are available at www.live-edge.com/info.

Up to five entrants will be eligible for honorable mentions, each receiving a cash prize of $5,000.

Industry judges will be announced soon. Live Edge will be largely Web-based to readily accommodate entrants on an international level.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Jabil Circuit Inc. has announced profits of $164.5 million based on revenue of $10.3 billion through their fiscal end of August 2006.

Despite a $28 million reduction in profits from Jabil's restatement of earnings in 2005, overall profit remained lower in 2006. Jabil earned $203.9 million, based on revenue of $7.5 billion in 2005, according to SEC restated numbers.

NEW YORK – Credit Suisse analyst William Stein gave the EMS industry an “underweight” rating while initiating coverage of the sector. This rating means the industry is expected to perform worse than the broad market standard during the next year.

Called a “tough industry,” EMS companies have been impacted by congestion in expensive regions, particularly in the U.S. and Western Europe leading up to 2000, said Stein. He continued, “EMS companies … generate positive cash flow, and have enough liquidity to weather any reasonable industry downturn," even though they have some fundamental problems.

"Industry-wide utilization rates of approximately 60% in high-cost regions drive hyper competition, affording these companies no pricing power over their OEM customers," Stein explained.

When Credit Suisse started coverage of EMS providers, Flextronics International Ltd. received an "outperform" rating, while Stein rated Jabil, Sanmina-SCI, Benchmark Electronics, Inc., and Plexus Corp. "neutral." Solectron Corp. and Celestica Inc. were rated "underperform" by the analyst.

SAN JOSE, CA – In the first quarter of 2007, total worldwide silicon wafer area shipments were about 11% above the same period last year, says SEMI. Shipments remained stable in the first quarter, with a 1% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2006.

"In a traditionally seasonal weaker quarter, demand for silicon was effectively unchanged compared to Q4 of last year. In addition, an ongoing inventory correction throughout the supply chain impacted the market. Nevertheless the growth trend for 300 mm wafers remained intact,” said chairman Dr. Volker Braetsch. ”Not coming really as a surprise, Asia maintained its strong momentum making up for weaker silicon area growth in the other regions.”