NORTHBROOK, IL, Aug. 27 -- Orders for rigid boards upticked in July and demand for flex circuits continues to be strong, according to the latest 90-day moving average of North American manufacturers.

For all board types, shipments rose 31.1% and bookings were up 42.2% vs. a year ago, said IPC, which administers the monthly poll. The figures may include some sales of products built offshore and brokered by the surveyed companies.

The July book-to-bill was 0.99 for rigid, up 0.04 points sequentially. The B2B for flex circuits remained even at 1.57.

The book-to-bill for all board types rose to 1.10, up 0.04 points sequentially.

The ratio is calculated by averaging the number of orders booked over the past three months and dividing by the average sales billed during the same period. A ratio of 1.06 means that for every $100 in shipments, $110 worth of PCBs were booked. An increasing ratio is generally considered a sign of a market poised to rise.

Shipments are up 34.8% year-to-date, bookings 43%. Combined July shipments fell 18.1% sequentially, while bookings inched up 1.9%.

July rigid shipments were up 17.6% and bookings 20.5% over last year. Year-to-date, rigid shipments are up 25.5% and bookings are up 23.1%. Among those surveyed, rigid shipments fell 21.2% sequentially and bookings dropped 7.5%.

July flex shipments were up 76.1% while bookings reversed last month's decline, rising 71.1% vs. last year. Year-to-date, flex shipments are up 77.8% and bookings 133.2%. Sequentially, flex shipments fell 3.7% and bookings were up 56.1%.

Flex sales, which include some value-added services, make up about 17% of total PCB sales in the IPC poll.

The data come from a sample of North American rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers.

The EMS provider assembles thin-film diode LCD modules for Seiko.

In a statement, Isomu Koike, president of Seiko Epson's Philippine plant, said, "This is the first time we have embarked on a close cooperation with another company and I believe that this partnership with IMI will be lasting and fruitful."

Based on server revenues, IBM remained the top vendor, with sales up 10.8% to $3.5 billion, good for a market share of 30.7%. Dell's revenue rose 20.1% to $1.1 billion, making it fastest growing OEM among top-tier vendors.

H-P led the way in shipments, with 463,489 units. Sun Microsystems showed the highest growth rate, with shipments up 38.4%, to 90,487 units.

Following a scheduled mid-quarter conference call, Flextronics CFO Bob  Dykes said, "Growth continues very strongly and our business is looking very solid."

Flextronics reiterated July guidance for Q2 earnings of 15 to 18 cents per share before items.

In recent weeks several analysts had expresssed concern over rising inventories, particularly among makers of telecom and communications gear. On the call, chief executive Michael Marks pooh-poohed the negative sentiment, saying "concerns about inventories were way overblown in our industry."

Later, to a news service, Dykes said, "The September and December quarters are strong ones for us and therefore inventories will rise along with that."