CHICAGO -- Connector prices are expected to fall over the next six months, according to a poll of purchasers and engineers.

No data on the number of persons polled or the margin of error was released. The monthly poll is conducted by ConnectorSupplier.com.

According to the poll, 37.6% of respondents feel prices will stay the same over the next six months, while 33.3% of respondents feel prices will decline slightly. A quarter of respondents - 25.8% - believe prices will increase slightly.  About 31% of respondents felt prices declined slightly over the past six months, while 20.4% felt they rose slightly.

Lead times are expected to stay more or less the same over the next six months, the respondents say. Over 68% said they expect no change in lead time. About 20% said they expect lead times to increase slightly. The average lead time as of February was 4.8 weeks, according to those polled.

ConnectorSupplier.com is run by Bishop & Associates, a consulting firm for the connector industry.

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SAN FRANCISCO - Manufacture in-house or out? That's the decision OEMs constantly face and of late it appears the top makers of handsets will continue to opt for the former.

While SonyEricsson outsources production to Flextronics and has been gaining market share, other leading OEMs are expanding internal operations. Capacity expansions in Mexico and India by Nokia and others are the latest in a series of anecdotal evidence that gives merit to the in-house crowd. And that means less business for EMS companies.

Fourth quarter unit sales of the top tier handset OEMs grew 33% year-on-year, vs. 8% for the rest of the industry.  

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Tokyo, Japan  - Japan Unix has entered into a sales agreement with Christopher Associates Inc. (Santa Ana, CA) for distribution of their robotic soldering systems in North America, including laser soldering systems and soldering irons for lead-free.
 
Unix 414, the latest generation of the Robosol line, can be configured for conventional or lead-free processing. According to the manufacturer, Opto Laser ULD-730 laser robotic soldering system offers a non-contact, precision alternative for high-reliability applications. 
 

SAN JOSE - Sales of EDA software and services reached $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up 3% year-on-year. For the year, revenue hit a record $4 billion, said the EDA Consortium (edac.org).

"In 2004, The EDA industry crossed the $4 billion mark," said Walden C. Rhines, chairman of the EDA Consortium and chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics Corporation. "Every quarter saw consistent year over year growth for the whole industry, though the North American region, as well as the IC Physical Design & Verification segment, were both down for the year." 

For the quarter, product and maintenance revenue (excluding services) increased 3% to a record $1 billion. PCB and MCM layout tools hit $91 million, up 9%. CAE sales were up 9% to $523 million. IC physical design and verification fell 6% to $326 million. Semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) revenue was down 2% to $71 million.

Services revenue was $67 million, up 5%.

For the year, CAE revenue was up 5% to $1.9 billion. IC physical design and verification fell 4% to $1.2 billion. Sales of PCB and MCM layout tools rose 3% to $341 million. SIP revenue rose to $314 million from $281 million, due in part to new company participation. Services revenue totaled $280 million in 2004, a 12% increase.

North America, EDA's largest customer base, purchased $494 million worth of products and services in the fourth quarter, down 14% from a year ago. Western Europe jumped 33% to $268 million. Japan grew 14% to $188 million. The rest-of-world rose 23% to $128 million.

For the year, North American revenue down 4% to $1.95 billion, good for a 49% global share. Western Europe rose 12% to $820 million. Japan was up 2% to $783 million. Other regions combined to rise 22% to $466 million.

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