BANNOCKBURN, IL - (NOTE: DATA REVISED MARCH 8) - The January 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 9.2% year-on-year, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Aided by a boost in demand for rigid circuits, bookings were strong, up 20.2%. This was on the heels of a climb of 30% in December.
However, a large percentage of the "production" includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, which takes the poll, 35% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.
The domestic book-to-bill ratio was up 0.04 points to 1.08. It was the second month in a row the key indicator was above 1.0.
The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.
Separately, the ratios were 1.0 for rigid PCBs and 1.36 for flexible circuits.
Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up 75% of all domestic PCBs, were up 12.4% in January vs. a year ago. Bookings were up 9% for the month. Flex sales grew 46.9%, and bookings more than doubled, up 160%.
Sequentially, flex bookings dropped 37% and shipments fell 2%. Rigid shipments were up 5% and bookings climbed 10% sequentially.
Domestic production accounted for 75% of rigid and 31% of flex circuit shipments in January, IPC said.
Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.
In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.
Seica's offering is based on the VALID Module Test Unit (MTU), a self-contained board level subsystem hosted and controlled by the Series 6.
EADS provides commercial avionics testing. According to a press release, the company is the leader for French weapon systems testing, supplying the French MoD with multi-purpose, high performance testers.
Boston - Teradyne today dispelled a report that it plans to close its backplane manufacturing operations.
In a statement to Circuits Assembly, Tom
Pursch, vice president of Teradyne Connection Systems and manager of its
printed circuit board business, said: "Teradyne is committed to our
printed circuit board business. Credit Suisse First Boston's reporting of a
'hint of a possibility' that we may exit this business is just plain wrong. Our
strategy to lower our costs, reduce idle capacity and focus on the high-end
domestic market is working."
On Thursday, Forbes reported a leading investment bank suggested the maker of semiconductor and assembly test gear and PCBs might be looking to exit the PCB business.
El Segundo, CA - Worldwide contract manufacturing revenues will reach nearly $300 billion by 2008, says a research firm.
Sales of EMS and ODM services are on track to hit $298.4 billion, a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% through 2008, iSuppli Corp. said yesterday.
Last year, sales of EMS and ODM firms were $190 billion, up 20.1% year-on-year. The surge was a marked improvement over 2003, in which revenues climbed 5.4%.
SAN JOSE -- North
American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.01 billion in
orders in January and a book-to-bill ratio of
0.80, according to SEMI.
The data reflect a three-month average and are 18% below the revised December level of $1.24 billion and 18% below last year.
A book-to-bill of 0.80 means that $80 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The January three-month average of worldwide billings was $1.27 billion, down 4% from December but 23% higher than last year.
"The three-month average bookings figure for new semiconductor equipment is now at the lowest level since November 2003," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Total bookings declined sharply in January and are now about 37% below the cyclic peak observed in June 2004."
"The modest sequential sales decline is an encouraging sign," said SIA president George Scalise, in a statement. "January is historically one of the weakest months of the year for the microchip industry. We are encouraged by recent signs of strength in the overall U.S. economy, as evidenced by the 3.8% growth in GDP in the fourth quarter.
Dan Hutcheson of VLSI Research has noted that when GDP grows by more than 3% ,semiconductor sales have shown healthy growth except when there are excesses of inventory or production capacity. At the present time, neither production capacity nor inventory excess is a problem.
"The excess inventories that slowed growth in the second half of 2004 have been largely depleted," Scalise said. "According to iSuppli, excess inventories declined from $1.6 billion at the end of the third quarter to $1 billion at year end. In some market segments, inventories are now below target levels, thus we are confident that inventory issues will not be a significant factor in semiconductor sales beyond the first quarter."
Factory utilization continued to decline, as expected, throughout the second half of 2004. Overall utilization was at 86% in the fourth quarter, and leading-edge capacity utilization was at 93%. Industry capital spending increased to approximately $47 billion - roughly 22% of total sales - in 2004.
"In a year of record industry sales, this level of capital spending is in line with capacity needs going forward and should not lead to either excess capacity or severe price pressures," said Scalise.
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