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TAIPEI -- BenQ will roll out a line of low-cost, branded notebooks and seeks a five percent market share within two years.

The firm will have company in the low-cost PC race, however, as it joins Asustek, Acer and Dell in the budding "netbook" market. The global netbook market if forecast to hit 50 million units in 2009. BenQ has set a goal of 30% share (15 million units).

SCHAUMBURG, IL – IPC Midwest opened Wednesday to modest attendance and plenty of concern over the economy.

TAIPEI -- Asustek yesterday issued a statement denying any talks regarding a stock swap sale of its PC manufacturing arm.

Speculation in recent days centered on Foxconn as a potential buyer for Pegatron, Asustek's contract manufacturing division.

DRESDEN, GERMANY -- Plastic Logic has begun volume production of displays at its new, state-of-the-art plastic electronics manufacturing facility here.

The fully automated and integrated facility will begin building the company's forthcoming electronic reading product, scheduled to come to market in early 2009.

Plastic Logic holds patents on plastic electronics technology said to cover the manufacture of high-resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates at low temperatures. The process is said to be simpler than conventional glass silicon processes, and produces active matrix displays that are thinner, lighter and more robust than glass.

LOS ALAMITOS, CA -- Practical Components, a leading supplier of dummy components, has been notified that its supplier of dummy flip chips will not be taking any orders after Sept. 26.

Components affected by this are FA10, PB18 and PB08 series and all flip chip type components in both SnPb and Pb-free versions.

BANGALORE-- Flextronics' design services unit is drawing interest from Tech Mahindra Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., according to a report today in the Economic Times.

Flextronics previously announced plans to sell the Bangalore-based group, which employs 250 workers.

Neither party would comment on the report.

TAIPEI -- Foxconn Technology will relocate certain PC production to Hungary from the Czech Republic, a Hungarian business paper reported this week.

TAIPEI – Foxconn Electronics is said to be considering acquiring the operations of Pegatron Technology in an all-stock exchange, the Economic Daily News reported this week.

The companies are rivals in the PC assembly market.

Pegatron was formed earlier this year by Asustek, which moved to split itself into three operations. Pegatron builds PC-related gear; the other two companies – Unihan Technology and Asus – handle enclosures, non-PC contract manufacturing, and branded notebooks and smartphones.

Foxconn declined comment, the paper said. However, "several first-tier OEMs have been in negotiations" with Asustek to acquire Pegatron, the paper said.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – IC Insights Inc. has slashed its 2008 semiconductor revenue forecast by $6 billion, according to published reports.

The market research firm now expects the industry to grow 4% to $244.3 billion this year. In June, the firm predicted 2008 growth of 7% to $250.3 billion.

However, the firm said long-term trends would sustain pricing stability, resulting in a CAGR of 10.6% between 2007 and 2012.

This change is attributed to the inventory correction of the logic market and the pricing collapse of the NAND flash market.

Overall, IC unit growth is set to increase 8%, with average selling prices down 4% this year.

Long term, trends supporting reduced capital spending will help increase fab utilization rates, stabilizing chip ASPs, the firm says. Overall chip ASPs decreased 5% last year and 8% in 2006.

Overall, capital spending will decrease 18% this year as a result of leading chipmakers easing up on expansion, according to IC Insights.

Capital spending as a percentage of semiconductor sales will be roughly 17.5%, the lowest in five years. During the past four years, it has been between 20 to 22%, and historically has been 20 to 30% since 1995, says the firm.

For 2009, IC Insights expects semiconductor capital spending to be likely in the 8 to 10% range.

The revised forecast calls for the memory market to decrease 10% year-over-year, with the DRAM segment down 10%.

The firm now expects the logic market to increase 13% in 2008 after previously forecasting 16% growth.

SHENZHEN – The organizers of Nepcon/EMT South China trade show reported a record 25,912 attendees for its 14th annual show held earlier this month.

The show “exceeded my expectation in terms of visitor numbers. Although the market is not so strong this summer, [it] still attracted so many visitors. This is very impressive,” said Erik van de Ven, senior director of business support and marketing for Asia Pacific at AssemblÃ©on, in a press release.

Next year’s show takes place Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre. The show is sponsored by Reed Exhibitions.

MONTREAL -- Midland Baring Financial Group has acquired Level Vision Electronics in an all-stock transaction.

Level Vision is a consumer electronics manufacturer and distributor.

HELSINKI – Elcoteq's senior vice president of group operations and sourcing, Petteri Laaksomo, is leaving the company to become senior vice president, supply chain management at Ruukki.

He will also become a member of Ruukki's Extended Management Board.
The search for a replacement is ongoing.

Laaksomo, who was also a member of Elcoteq's Management Team, had held the position since January. He was previously vice president of global operations and quality at Elcoteq, and also held positions as director of supply chain management and sourcing for Elcoteq's CNE Division and general manager of Elcoteq Asia Ltd.

Ruukki supplies metal-based components, systems and integrated systems to the construction and mechanical engineering industries.