News
WELLESLEY, MA – The global market for electronics conformal coatings and related equipment is expected to grow from $6.6 billion in 2008 to $9.1 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 6.8%.
The conformal coating equipment/spares segment has a larger share of the market than materials, worth an estimated $5.1 billion this year, says BCC Research. This is expected to increase to $6.9 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 6.2%, says the firm.
The materials segment is worth an estimated $1.5 billion in 2008, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% to $2.3 billion in 2013.
Conformal coatings are important for applications in consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace and medical devices. Applications for consumer electronics currently dominate the market and will continue to do so through 2013, says BCC.
Growth in the automotive segment will be driven by accelerated use of electronic monitoring, sensing and controlling devices, and computer systems in cars. Conformal coating application in aerospace is the most highly developed segment of the industry, while medical and biomedical device applications of conformal coatings will experience the highest growth of the market segments studied, according to the firm.
The conformal coating equipment/spares segment has a larger share of the market than materials, worth an estimated $5.1 billion this year, says BCC Research. This is expected to increase to $6.9 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 6.2%, says the firm.
The materials segment is worth an estimated $1.5 billion in 2008, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% to $2.3 billion in 2013.
Conformal coatings are important for applications in consumer electronics, automotive, aerospace and medical devices. Applications for consumer electronics currently dominate the market and will continue to do so through 2013, says BCC.
Growth in the automotive segment will be driven by accelerated use of electronic monitoring, sensing and controlling devices, and computer systems in cars. Conformal coating application in aerospace is the most highly developed segment of the industry, while medical and biomedical device applications of conformal coatings will experience the highest growth of the market segments studied, according to the firm.
BUCKS, UK – SMART Group, a UK-based electronics society, has elected Keith Bryant as chairman, superseding Paul Salmon.
Bryant is European sales manager for Dage X-Ray Systems.
Bryant says he brings “a healthy dose of commercialism to the position” and cited the group’s technical advice forum, training courses and new Web site as its strengths.
ARLINGTON, VA – The Consumer Electronics Association now projects fourth quarter wholesale shipment revenues will increase by 0.1% year-over-year. The original forecast issued in October anticipated 3.5% fourth-quarter growth over 2007.
ANGLETON, TX – Contract manufacturer Benchmark Electronics Inc. said, through an alliance with Silicon Graphics Inc., it helped create the computer system for which NASA achieved the ranking of third fastest supercomputer in the world.
Benchmark worked with Silicon Graphics to manufacture Pleiades, which SGI deployed at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. The supercomputer is expected to support the development of the space agency's next-generation space fleet, along with projects related to all other NASA mission directorates.
NASA's Pleiades system is a 51,200-core SGI Altix ICE 8200EX system, and is said to be capable of generating a theoretical peak of 609 trillion operations per sec.
Benchmark contributed product introduction services, PCB assembly, system integration and functional test to the program.
MACAO – Deswell Industries Inc. reported fiscal second-quarter nets sales of $32 million, down 16.1% year-over-year, mainly because of the continuing decline in business from the company's electronic and metallic segment.
The firm reported an operating loss of $1.7 million for the quarter, compared to operating income of $1.7 million for the same quarter of 2007.
Gross profit in the electronic and metallic segment was 11.1% of net sales, compared to 11.6% of net sales for the year-ago quarter.
Net sales for the six months ended Sept. 30 were $67.3 million, down 12.5% year-over-year.
Net income decreased $5.2 million to a loss of $382,000, compared to $4.9 million last year.
Deswell manufactures injection-molded plastic parts, components, electronic products, subassemblies and metallic products for OEMs and contract manufacturers.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – With car sales plunging, demand for automotive electronics is dropping as well, except for the key area of electronic stability control systems, whose sales are expected to continue to rise in the coming years. This will generate attractive opportunities for suppliers of microelectromechanical sensors used in these systems, according to iSuppli Corp.
iSuppli recently reported that 2008 is expected to be the worst year in nearly a generation for the U.S. car market, with shipments of just 13.3 million units, down 17.7% year-over-year. Western European auto sales are expected to decline to 15.4 million, down 8.2% compared to 2007.
However, worldwide penetration of ESC technology in new cars will grow to 57% in 2012, up from 28% in 2006, says the firm.
“Shipments of ESC systems and associated MEMS will continue to rise, despite the current downturn, due to government mandates requiring stability control in the United States and later in Europe. This provides opportunities for at least six players new to the ESC market, either in development or sampling gyroscopes, and likewise four companies developing product for accelerometers. We expect the new offerings may begin in the truck market before attacking the large automotive OEMs,” said Richard Dixon, senior analyst, MEMS for iSuppli.
VTI Technologies was the leader in MEMS accelerometers in 2007 with a 53% share of industry revenue. VTI supplies all the MEMS accelerometers used by Continental Automotive Systems, the leading supplier of ESC systems.
Bosch is in second place, supplying accelerometers for its own systems and to Mobis. It held a 29% share of ESC accelerometer revenue last year, according to iSuppli.
Systron Donner was the gyroscope market leader with a 44% share of revenue in 2007. Bosch was second last year, with 30% of revenue as a result of sales of gyroscopes for its own ESC systems.
However, the company to watch in this segment is Panasonic, says iSuppli, which held the No. 4 rank for ESC gyroscope revenue last year. The firm managed to surpass Silicon Sensing Systems in unit shipments, giving it the No. 3 ranking based on volume.
“Panasonic is on the rise in the ESC gyroscope market with a robust and inexpensive new gyroscope, and could jump several more places in the next five years,” Dixon said.
In 2007, Bosch led the pressure sensor market with 54% share of revenue. Sensata, a 2006 spin-off from Texas Instruments Inc., is the second major player with a 34% share of revenue, with Denso a distant third place, says the research firm.
