Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

TAIPEI -- BenQ Corp.'s German handset unit is considering filing for insolvency after its board decided to halt funding to the division. BenQ's cellphone units in Brazil and elsewhere are also reviewing their financial positions, according to reports.

WOODRIDGE, IL – Morey Corp. will build a state-of-the-art technical research and design facility next year near the EMS company's headquarters in Woodridge. The site will assist Morey’s telematics, controller, and display product lines.

Plans call for a 26,300-sq. ft., two-story facility to be located adjacent to the company’s headquarters.

SAN JOSE – MEPTEC, the MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council, will hold its annual packaging roadmaps symposium Nov. 16 in San Jose.

IC Packaging & Test Roadmaps: Device Trends Impact on Packaging & Test Technology and Supply Chain, the annual roadmap symposium, will overlay IC device trends with the associated current and future technology solutions for packaging and test and will also explore challenges associated with demands for full turnkey supply chain services.

For more information, visit www.meptec.org.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The U.S. in 2006 is expected to maintain its lead in the worldwide electronics equipment design with the nation’s activities in this area driving the most semiconductor purchasing of any country, according to new data from iSuppli Corp. However, China’s rapid growth in electronic-design-generated semiconductor purchasing activity is continuing and the country is closing the gap, the research firm said.

“Design of electronic goods leads directly to equipment production, which in turn drives semiconductor purchasing. Companies that engage in design of electronic equipment, such as PCs, mobile phones and televisions, also are responsible for specifying the use of particular chips in the products being developed,” said Min-Sun Moon, OEM spend analyst for iSuppli. “Thus, these companies and the nations where they operate have a major influence on global semiconductor spending.”

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit today beat revenue expectations, reporting fourth quarter sales of $3 billion, a 50% gain in revenue year-over-year. Full financial results for the quarter will be delayed due to ongoing investigations into the timing of past stock option grants.

The figures beat The Street's estimates of $2.8 billion. However, organic growth is expected to slow from 32% in fiscal 2006 to 11% in fiscal 2007, due in part to the end of a large contract with Philips.

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. won $8 million in contracts from Raytheon Missile Systems to provide cable assemblies and an integrated firing unit assembly for the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile. The company anticipates follow-on orders.

Production will take place at LaBarge's Joplin, MO, and Huntsville, AK, facilities and is expected to continue through October 2007.

LaBarge, an EMS provider, is a Raytheon preferred supplier and received Raytheon's 2004 Leadership Excellence Award for outstanding business practices.