Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

SAN JOSE -- The Semiconductor Industry Association today applauded congressional action to provide a significant increase in federal funding for the National Science Foundation in 2006.

Congress appropriated $5.65 billion for the NSF, an increase of 3.3% over last year.

PALO ALTO, CA -- IPCore Technologies Corp., China's largest design service company, has selected the Agilent Technologies 93000 SOC series for testing digital, mixed-signal and RF devices.

Agilent is also collaborating with IPCore on test-program and load-board design.

"[We] found that the Agilent 93000 system offered a scalable platform with the flexibility, accuracy and speed we require," said Randy Cao, senior director of turnkey operations, IPCore. "Agilent has demonstrated its strong commitment and support capability to the high-end SOC test market in China."

Agilent has installed more than 1,000 9300 systems worldwide.

SHANGHAI -- Third quarter handset sales in China reached 20.97 million units, a record, according to a media report today.

The shipments were valued at 31.8 billion yuan (RMB8.2:US$1), according to a report from Chinese Sina.com, quoting sources at China-based CCID Consulting.

Handset shipments are forecast to top 88 million units this year, CCID predicted, up 20.5% over last year.

Nokia was the top vendor, with a 19.3% share, followed by Motorola (12%), Samsung Electronics (9.5%), Ningbo Bird (8%), and Lenovo (5.1%).

Foreign OEMs are pushing out domestic brands: Chinese phone makers reported a 41.3% share for the quarter, the lowest mark of the year, the report said.

JACKSON, MI -- Sparton Corp. on Wednesday was awarded a $3.6 million judgment by a jury that determined the EMS provider did not breach its duties in the manufacture of product for a pair of defendants.

The jury awarded Sparton damages in the amount of $3.6 million, $1.9 million of which was for raw materials. An appeal by the defendants, Util-LINK LLC and National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, remains possible.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- SensArray Corp. has relocated from Fremont, CA, to a larger site in Santa Clara, the company said today.

The new headquarters, located at 5451 Patrick Henry Drive, is 70% larger than the previous site.

SensArray makes front- and back-end process optimization tools and measurement systems for collecting and analyzing data for semiconductor processing and flat panel fabrication.

SEATTLE -- With sales of the Xbox 360 gaming console expected to top 3 million in the first three months after its launch, the EMS firms building the units are primed for a busy quarter.

The XBox 360 is scheduled to reach stores on Nov. 22. Microsoft said yesterday said it expects to sell 2.75 million to 3 million units in the first 90 days after the launch date.