SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The worldwide semiconductor industry growth forecast for 2011 has been lowered from 10% to 5%, and the 2011 IC market forecast from 10% to 4%.

The primary cause for this downgrade is the weak performance of the worldwide economy in the first half of this year, says IC Insights.

Currently, the “debt ceiling” issue in the US has not been resolved. Moreover, the work to contain the European debt crises is ongoing, although some progress had been made with regard to the financial situation of Greece, says the firm. IC Insights' current forecast assumes these issues will be resolved and that neither of them will cause a serious negative financial situation for the worldwide economy in the second half of 2011.

Overall, the quarterly worldwide GDP growth figures have been on a fairly steep decline since reaching a very strong level of 4.6% in the second quarter of 2010. In fact, the second-quarter 2011 worldwide GDP growth estimate of 3.1% is down 33% year-over-year. Moreover, the 3.1% figure for the second quarter of this year is only 0.6 points above the global recession mark of 2.5% growth.

IC Insights expects second-half 2011 worldwide GDP growth to be better compared to the first half of the year. One reason behind this expectation is that Japan's GDP is forecast to be much stronger in the second half of 2011, as post-earthquake investment and rebuilding efforts gain momentum.

Moreover, the US economy is also expected to perform better in the second half of 2011 as a result of lower gasoline prices (as compared to the first half of the year), a pickup in automotive assembly production (rebounding from the negative effects from the Japan earthquake), and an increase in capital spending by US businesses before the expiration of various tax breaks at the end of the year, according to IC Insights.

Although worldwide GDP growth in the second half of 2011 is not forecast to revert back to the levels registered in the first three quarters of 2010, it is expected to show noticeable improvement over the first half of 2011. This improvement is forecast to help drive a moderately better second-half semiconductor market, as compared to the first half and a full-year 2011 growth rate of 5%.

HAMPTON, NH – Vitronics Soltec USA is moving its corporate headquarters to a new facility here, effective Aug. 1.

Management, engineering and R&D teams will work out of the new location.

All US manufacturing is now taking place at the company’s Camdenton, MO, facility. The transition of all production from Stratham, NH, to Camdenton took place between April and July.

Six XPM reflow systems have already been shipped to customers from the Camdenton location. 

Vitronics Soltec specializes in the design and manufacturing of mass soldering equipment for the global circuit board assembly market, including reflow, wave and selective soldering technologies.

SAN JOSE – Tessera Technologies reported second-quarter revenues of $70.7 million, down 5.2% year-over-year.

Micro-electronics revenue was $60.5 million, down 7.1% compared to the same quarter in 2010.

Total GAAP net income was $11.6 million, a decline of nearly 23% year-over-year.

For the six months ended June 30, total revenue was $138.5 million, nearly flat with the same period last year. Micro-electronics revenue was $114.1 million, down 5.6% year-over-year.

GAAP net income for the six-month period was $22.8 million, a drop of 8% compared to the year-ago period.

Early in the third quarter, Tessera hired Rich Chernicoff to lead the IP and micro-electronics division.

MINNEAPOLIS – CyberOptics Corp. today reported second-quarter consolidated sales of $16.9 million, up 2% year-over-year.

Net income was $1.4 million, up 44% compared to the year-ago period.

CyberOptics’ order backlog totaled $11.6 million at the end of the quarter, up from $10.6 million at the end of the first quarter. The majority of this backlog is scheduled to ship in the third and fourth quarters.

“Our second quarter revenues…benefited from strong sales of our QX500 automated optical inspection system, which drove total AOI sales to more than $4 million, a new record for CyberOptics, as well as a new record for total systems revenues. QX500 sales increased over 150% from the year-earlier period, paced by significant orders from several of the industry’s largest original design manufacturers in Asia. Sales of SMT alignment sensors were consistent with our second quarter outlook, although sales of solar wafer alignment cameras for the photovoltaic cell market were below forecasted levels, reflecting the impact of aggressive solar market production capacity expansion in recent months and resulting near-term inventory buildups,” said Kathleen P. Iverson, CEO and chair.

The firm is forecasting sales of $16.5 million to $17.5 million for the third quarter. Full-year sales are expected to be $60 million to $63 million.