MELAKA, MALAYSIA – Goh Seng Chong and a Singaporean group have made a $40 million bid for Cubic Electronics, a manufacturing segment of Creative Technology Ltd.

Goh, former VP and GM of Cubic Electronics, and his partner have acquired 80.1% interest and control of the company.

Cubic is the largest manufacturing facility for Creative Technology with 1.2 million sq. ft. and approximately 2,500 employees.

Acquisition reportedly should be completed by the end of May.

SINGAPORE − Advanced Interconnect Technologies, a provider of semiconductor assembly and test services, announced that it has received JEDEC approval for its QFN-style Etched Leadless Package.

AIT’s patented ELP is a Quad Pb-free staggered and inline multi-row package with metallized terminals along the edges of the bottom surface. The package is offered in two- or three-row configurations. ELP reportedly offers a small footprint, low cost and design flexibility for higher I/O count.

NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. said that F. Gordon Bitter will retire from his role as senior vice president and chief financial officer this year.

COLORADO SPRINGS – Photo Stencil has been awarded the Best Printing Stencil Award 2006 by the Universal SMT Lab, now known as the Advanced Process Laboratory of Unovis Solutions. Photo Stencil’s AMTX E-FAB electroformed stencil placed first in the lab’s study, with the company’s NicAlloy stencil placing second.

The lab’s 2006 study isolated the stencil printing tool to determine which stencil improves the process and decreases the number of defects. The test group included five electroform stencils and seven laser stencils supplied by four leading manufacturers.

A yield analysis program determined the yield loss as a result of open defects of BGA and uBGA packages directly attributed to the stencil. The results show that, compared to the best stencil, the increase in repair costs varies from an additional $658 for the second best, to several thousand more for poor performing stencils because of higher rework. The repair cost analysis assumes a 20,000-piece board run and a cost of $75 to repair a defective board.