TAIPEI -- Hon Hai Precision Industry yesterday forecast  first-quarter sales to rise 30% over last year, thanks to sustained demand from the holiday season.

Quoting chairman Terry Gou, the Taipei Times reported, "Overall, we feel the first quarter is quite good, compared to the same period last year as Christmas demand for consumer gadgets has not subsided as it did in the past," adding that a similar situation has occurred in other electronic segments.

"The first quarter will not be as slow as it was before," he said.

Hon Hai's fourth quarter sales were up 27% to NT$136.8 billion, from NT$107.8 billion year-on-year. For the year, the company said sales grew 26% to NT$413.4 billion.

Foxconn International Holdings, the company's handset unit, could gain as much as $432.6 million when it goes public on the Hong Kong exchange later this year, the Taipei Times reported. The company plans to spend 54% of the sale's proceeds to expand production in China, Hungary and South America.

Foxconn earned $134.5 million on sales of $2.1 billion in the nine months ended last September.

SAN DIEGO -- Kyocera Wireless Corp. will move its mobile-phone and telemetry manufacturing operations to Tijuana, Mexico, and layoff 450 manufacturing personnel in San Diego, the company said.

"Wireless is among the most competitive of all consumer electronics segments, and in order to compete today, manufacturers must leverage all resources available to them globally," said James Kelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. "Because manufacturing in La Jolla is cost prohibitive, we're fortunate to have the manufacturing expertise and state-of-the-art facilities of our sister company KMX, located less than an hour away. Taking advantage of this opportunity is not only good for the company, it's also good for the San Diego/Tijuana region as we're maintaining over 1,500 jobs north of the border, while supporting the growing economy south of the border with our manufacturing operations."

Kyocera also plans to cut another 150 jobs in San Diego as it spreads its service and repair business to other regions. Sales and marketing, human resources, finance and R&D will remain at Kyocera's headquarters in San Diego.

The move makes Motorola as the sole company building mobile phones in the U. S., according to RCR Wireless News. Nokia Corp.  maintains a final assembly plant in Fort Worth, TX, and LG Electronics this month opened an R&D lab in the U.S.

FRANKLIN, MA - Speedline Technologies will expand its business network in Asia through a new distribution agreement with Schmidt & Co., (H.K.) Ltd.

Hong Kong based Schmidt & Co., a provider of manufacturing process technology
and technical services, will provide sales and services support for Speedline's Electrovert line of wave soldering, reflow soldering and cleaning equipment and its MPM line of stencil and screen printing systems in Taiwan and mainland China.

Schmidt will focus on Taiwanese customers in those regions, Speedline said.

WALLINGFORD, CT - Amphenol Corp. said that fourth-quarter earnings rose on strong performance in its core business, and the company declared its first-ever quarterly dividend.

The company said net income for the quarter was $45.6 million, up from $33 million a year ago.

Sales rose to $404 million from $342 million. Amphenol said sales at its interconnect products segment, which accounts for 87% of total sales, were up 20% from a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting the company to earn 49 cents in the latest quarter on sales of $393.6 million.

For the year, net income rose to $163.3 million from $104 million. Sales rose to $1.53 billion from $1.24 billion.

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