SEOUL – A new iNEMI initiative will define ways to increase the effective supply of rare earth metals through coordinated research into alternative materials, recycling, restoring technical know-how and development of end-to-end supply chains.

Rare earth metals (REMs) are used in electronics and alloys for products for the automotive, military and consumer industries, among others.

REMs are comprised of 15 lanthanide metals plus yttrium and scandium. China is the source of 97% of the world’s supply, although India, Vietnam, Canada, Brazil, Australia and the US have supply as well. There are concerns that China’s mass consumption will limit their availability to other geographies.

A petition to gain international consensus regarding the critical issues of ensuring adequate supply and open access to REMs was sent to leaders of the G20 meeting in Seoul, says iNEMI. The letter is supported by industry trade associations from Canada, Germany, Korea and the US. Meanwhile, in the US, a number of pieces of legislation are working their way through Congress in an effort to increase the sources of US supply.

If interested in the initiative, contact Jim Arnold at jim.arnold@inemi.org.

ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems Group today reported third-quarter contract electronics assembly net sales were $50.4 million, up 15.4% sequentially and 40% from a year ago.

NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics reported September quarter net income of $1.6 million, up 78% from a year ago.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Third-quarter global PC shipments were up 7% sequentially and 10.3% year-over-year to 88.1 million units, according to iSuppli Corp.

Shipments for all three major types of PCs – desktops, notebooks and entry-level servers – rose on both a sequential and a year-over-year basis in the third quarter.

Desktop PCs generated the strongest sequential growth, with shipments up 11% sequentially, reflecting relatively strong demand in the corporate sector.

In contrast, mobile PC shipments rose at more tepid 4% sequential growth rate, and up a more impressive 15% from a year earlier. Those rates, however, were down from 41% and 42% increases in the second and first quarters, respectively, due to consumer confidence issues, says the firm.

iSuppli predicts global PC shipments will continue to rise in the fourth quarter, with a mid-single-digit increase over fourth-quarter 2009 shipments.