EL SEGUNDO, CA -- After a decline in the second quarter of 2013 and a tepid expansion in the third, demand for touch-screen panels used in notebook PCs is set to rebound to double-digit growth during the last three months of the year. Shipments of touch panels for notebooks will amount to 4.9 million sheets in the fourth quarter, up 10% from 4.4 million in the third quarter, according to data from IHS. This follows a marginal 2% increase in the third quarter and a 5% drop in the second.

NAMPA, ID -- Plexus plans to spend $3 million to upgrade its manufacturing facility here. Improvements to the Boise Microelectronics Center of Excellence should be complete by the end of April.

DUBLIN -- Global consumer electronics sales are expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2018 and will remain strong over the next five years, driven by rising demand in Asia and other emerging countries.

DUBLIN -- The medical electronics market is expected to reach $372.4 billion by 2018, driven by medical therapeutics and imaging systems, a new study says. Research and Markets says those two segments account for approximately 52.9% of the market and are expected to support the medical electronics industry going forward.