ROGERS, CT - Rogers Corp. initiated a patent infringement complaint against Arlon Electronic Material Group for its sale in the US of Arlon TC-600 circuit board material.  
 
The complaint claims Rancho Cucamonga, CA-based Arlon is infringing on a 1996 Rogers patent: Ceramic Filled Composite Polymeric Electrical Substrate Material Exhibiting High Dielectric Constant and Low Thermal Coefficient of Dielectric Constant.
 
In the complaint, Rogers demanded Arlon, a division of WHX Corp., cease manufacture, sale and distribution of its TC-600 materials.
 
Rogers develops and manufactures high-performance specialty material products.
 

PEMBROKE, BERMUDA – Tyco Electronics will lay off 2,500 staff globally, with 70 cuts coming in its Wilsonville, OR, plant, where the conglomerate employs approximately 500 workers, according to published reports.
 
The communication equipment maker said in November business would slow in 2009 as a result of increasing costs and the state of the economy.
 

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Assembly equipment salary budgets rose on average 7.4% for hourly workers, 5.6% for salaried employees and 3.6% for management this year, IPC said.
 
The association’s recent salary and wage report presents aggregate data on 41 positions and their related job descriptions. However, IPC did not disclose how many companies responded to the survey, nor did it breakout the results by region.
 
Benefits costs in 2007 were, on average, 23% of total wages, according to survey respondents.
 
IPC also published an executive compensation study, published for the exclusive use of participating member companies.
 

EL SEGUNDO – Worldwide capital spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 2009 will decline to $35.2 billion, down 17.6% from 2008. This will mark the lowest level of spending since 2003, when semiconductor capital spending amounted to $33.8 billion, iSuppli Corp. said.
 
Following a dismal 2008, global spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 2009 will fall to its lowest level in six years, as a result of weakening conditions in the chip and electronic equipment markets, according to iSuppli.
 
The decline in 2009 revenue will extend the downturn seen in 2008. Through the first three quarters of 2008, capital expenditures were down 15.3% year-over-year. iSuppli anticipates capital expenditures will fall 21.1% year-over-year to $42.7 billion by the end of 2008.
 
While the market for semiconductor manufacturing gear was showing signs of weakness in the second quarter, the extent of the market vulnerability really became apparent as the worldwide economic and financial crises flared up in the third quarter, says the firm.
 
“At the start of the second quarter, semiconductor equipment providers were still reeling from the sharp cuts in capital expenditures from the major memory chip suppliers,” said Len Jelinek, director and chief analyst for semiconductor manufacturing at iSuppli.
 
“Because of this, capital expenditures in 2008 already were depressed, with virtually no semiconductor supplier continuing to spend at historical rates. However, by the end of the third quarter, market demand virtually stopped, as global uncertainty driven by the threat of the collapse of the financial markets threw consumers into a tailspin. Companies throughout the electronic supply chain began to report declining sales and falling profits. The impact on semiconductor manufacturing was immediately apparent, with falling factory utilizations and significant reductions in capital spending, especially for capacity expansions.”
 
For semiconductor equipment makers, the sudden market collapse comes as a major letdown compared to previous expectations.
 
While the semiconductor industry as a whole remained in an overcapacity position at the start of the second quarter of 2008, there remained a strong potential to achieve supply/demand equilibrium with just a modest increase in demand. Because of this, semiconductor suppliers and chip equipment makers were looking forward to 2009 with the anticipation of modest growth, says iSuppli. Leading-edge chip manufacturers were rushing toward the 28/30 nm process technology nodes. In the background, the migration to next-generation, 450 mm wafers was becoming a hot topic.
 
However, these expectations flew out the window as the severity of the economic and electronics downturn became apparent in the third quarter.
 
Beyond the downturn, an expected key growth driver for the global semiconductor equipment industry has failed to materialize: massive capital expansions for new capacity in China. China has been unable to establish a technological manufacturing base that requires the use of advanced technologies and expensive new semiconductor manufacturing equipment, says the research firm.
 

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. 

 

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EAST WINDSOR, CT – Friendlygreen.org today announced so-called green alternatives to tissue paper products.
 
The online resource offers links to articles and Web sites that provide information about the environmental impact of everyday products.
 
The pulp and paper industry, for example, which includes tissue product manufacturers, is among the world’s largest generators of toxic air, water pollutants and waste products. It is the third largest generator of global warming emissions, says the site, and those emissions are projected to increase 100% by 2020.
 
In North America, tissue products can be made from post-consumer recycled materials or agricultural waste, says Friendlygreen.org, sparing old growth forests.