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The sites set for closure are in Malaysia and the Philippines. About 500 workers will be laid off in Malaysia, and 60 more in the Philippines.
PEMBROKE, BERMUDA -- Tyco Electronics reported first-quarter sales dropped 21% from a year ago, and the GAAP operating loss swung to a loss on lower demand and poorer margins.
RICHARDSON, TX – Elcoteq will lay off 96 workers including all its employees in engineering services here, according to reports.
The layoffs will take place between late March 24 and early April 7.
The event will be held Feb. 19 in San Jose.
Ronald Steger, partner-in-charge of global semiconductor practice, KPMG, will keynote the symposium, discussing the consumer electronics boom – how semiconductor and consumer electronics companies can improve cost, time-to-market and product quality.
Other presentation topics include time-to-market and consumer semiconductor packaging; signal integrity: getting it right the first time; modeling package thermal behavior in advanced process technologies; time-to-market is everything; cost-of-ownership challenges for consumer products; a fabless semiconductor's point of view: IC package technology development and the total cost of ownership; an OSAT provider's point of view for consumer applications: IC package development and total cost of ownership challenges; solutions for consumer product miniaturization; STATSChipPAC – evolution of package on package; selecting the right packaging technology: finding the optimum balance between device and system level considerations in consumer applications; trends in low profile packaging; advancing technologies for consumer electronics; new tornado: adoption of MEMS processes by IC industry; microbatteries for integrated autonomous microdevices; the future of MEMS chem-bio sensors, and mobile projection displays based on biaxial scanning MEMS mirrors.
NEW YORK – IBM’s cautious outlook for server and storage hardware suggests lower revenue for its EMS suppliers, including Celestica, Sanmina, Flextronics, Jabil and Benchmark, Deutsche Bank said.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – China’s semiconductor industry is expected to contract in 2009, the first time a significant decline has occurred since iSuppli Corp. began gathering statistics on the market – and perhaps for the first time in the history of the nation’s chip business, the firm says.
China’s semiconductor market is expected to decline 5.8% year-over-year to $72 billion in 2009, says iSuppli. The only previous decline iSuppli recorded was in 2008, when revenue decreased a scant 0.1%, essentially a flat year.
“Such a downturn is remarkable for a region long regarded as a vigorous and reliable growth driver for the global semiconductor market,” said Kevin Wang, senior manager of China research at iSuppli. “Even during the disastrous 2001, when global semiconductor revenue plunged by 28.6%, China’s industry managed to surge by 24.4%. With global semiconductor revenue expected to decline by 9.4% in 2009, and with consumer confidence at risk of falling further, China’s semiconductor outlook could dim even more than iSuppli presently forecasts.”
Despite this, iSuppli predicts growth will rebound 9% in 2010, followed by an 11% increase in 2011.
“China’s economy has been increasingly affected by the financial crisis in developed countries since the third quarter of 2008,” Wang said. “Many small consumer electronics factories in Guangdong province closed because of lower sales orders and cash flow problems. Market conditions became even more negative in the fourth quarter of 2008. Most small firms saw their business decline by more than 40%, especially at low-tech, labor-intensive and export-oriented companies.”
To stimulate the economy, the Chinese government cut interest rates four times within two months, beginning in October. Moreover, a stimulus package estimated at around $570 billion will be implemented during the next two years. The government’s Home Appliances for Rural Areas project is an example of just one measure intended to stimulate domestic demand.
Meanwhile, the central government is in the process of making major structural changes in its industrial and commercial sectors through new corporate income tax and labor laws, plus the updated No. 18 Document of the State Council. The No. 18 Document has focused on building China’s high-tech electronics industries since 2000, especially semiconductors and IT. The government plans to further expand support for domestic high-tech and high value-added industries. These new policies will greatly affect future foreign direct investment in China, says iSuppli.
Moreover, the Chinese government will continue implementing an increasing number of national technical standards. In doing so, the central authorities hope to protect the country’s economic stability and national security. Domestic standards also are intended to help shield Chinese companies from their more established international competitors.
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