SANTA CLARA, CA – Momentum behind tablet (slate) PC shipments is growing, with a year-over-year increase of nearly 200% to 55.7 million units expected in 2011, according to DisplaySearch.

Though growth rates will slow during the forecast period, the slate PC share of the overall mobile PC market, which also includes notebooks and mini-notes, will rise to nearly 35%, or 172.4 million units, by 2014, says the firm. Total shipments of the mobile PC market are expected to reach 503.8 million units by 2014.

DisplaySearch expects 7" wide, 10" standard, and 10" wide to be the dominant screen sizes used by new products in the coming years.

Mobile PC shipment growth is expected to be in the double-digit range throughout the forecast period, peaking in 2011, at 30.4% year-over-year, and gradually declining to 17.7% growth in 2014.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Alpha said it has established a licensing agreement with Alcatel Lucent to complete Alpha’s suite of global sublicenses required to offer SnBiAg low-temperature solder paste. 

Alpha has engineered CVP-520 SnBiAg Pb-free solder paste based on IP and will continue to use SnBiAg alloy in the development of other soldering products. 

Alpha’s SnBiAg products will enable the use of a low-temperature second-side reflow process that can eliminate wave soldering of many multi-technology electronic assemblies that still require wave-soldered joints. 

JASPER, IN -- Top 20 EMS firm Kimball International today reported net sales in its contract assembly operations rose 9% to $181.4 million in its fiscal second-quarter.

MALMÖ, SWEDEN -- Swedish EMS firm PartnerTech will consolidate its UK operations to its Cambridge facility and take a restructuring charges of up to SEK 10 million ($1.54 million).