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MADISON, AL — STI Electronics' sales rose 32% in 2008, the company said.

The privately held EMS company, which also offers training and analytical services, recently moved into a new, larger facility to accommodate the growth.

"I expect to keep the same focus in 2009 to keep us strong and our new facility to give us the opportunity to work with more customers and grow well beyond where we are now,” said David Raby, president and CEO, in a statement. “I’m very excited about 2009 and beyond for STI.”

NEW YORK – New York canceled a $2 billion, 20-year contract with M/A-Com Inc., to build a statewide wireless emergency network, citing failures in the initial systems.

ST. LOUIS – LaBarge Inc. has received $2.9 million in contracts from BAE Systems to manufacture electronics assemblies for A3 Bradley Combat Systems vehicles.

The company has manufactured electronics for the Bradley program since 1982.

Production is expected to continue through June at LaBarge's Huntsville, AR, facility.

TAIPEI -- Foxconn today issued a statement saying its net profit for 2008 will show “a significant decline” from 2007.

TAIPEI – Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Court has declined a preliminary injunction request by Isola Group against Taiwan Union Technology Corp. over the latter’s alleged patent infringement.

Nevertheless, Isola says, the decision was handed down because the materials at issue – TUC’s TU-662 and TU-752 laminates – have been on the market for “quite some time,” thus superseding an “urgent need” for the preliminary injunction.

According to Isola, the Taiwanese court concluded the Isola patent has novelty and inventive step and thus is valid.

TUC, however, issued a statement saying the decision “proves TU-662 and TU-752 do not infringe Isola’s patent in-suit.” TUC reiterated its stance that the claims against it are “meritless” and “malicious,” and added it has filed a civil complaint in Taiwan IP Court seeking redress for the damage to its business and reputation.

Isola has about 10 days to appeal to the Taiwan IP Court. The company said it plans to initiate civil action and will present positive evidence that will clearly demonstrate TU-662 and TU-752 infringe Isola’s patents. Isola has also filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission seeking a ban on imports of those products.

TOKYO -- Reeling from its worst downturn in 30 years, Sanyo Electric will cut up to 1,200 jobs and close one to two chip factories, the company said.

Sanyo also revised its fiscal year guidance, lowering it to flat profits from previous guidance of a profit of $393 million.

SANTA ANA, CA -- TTM Technologies, North America's largest printed circuit board manufacturer, will close its Redmond, WA, facility and lay off up to 14% of the company's overall workforce.

LIVINGSTON, SCOTLAND -- Jabil Circuit will lay off 79 workers at its manufacturing plant here, the company said.

The cuts will take the workforce to 367 staffers. A little over three years ago, Jabil cut 287 positions at the plant, which opened in 1993.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Global IT spending will be flat in 2009 on diminished demand for hardware, a top analyst said today.

IT hardware revenues are forecast to drop 8% year-over-year, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote in a research note.

WALLINGFORD, CT -- Amphenol Corp. reported fourth quarter sales fell 3% year-over-year to $755.3 million on lower demand for automotive and communications products.

For the period ended Dec. 31, net profits fell 1% to 98.7 million with an operating income margin of 18.9%. Sales were down about 9% sequentially for the company, which makes circuit boards and connectors.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Sales of automatic test equipment for PCBs topped $1.16 billion in 2007 and are expected to reach $1.85 billion in 2014, up 60% over the forecast period, according to a Frost and Sullivan report.

The research firm says its findings show greater use of combination testers because of the versatility of this approach when applied to high density circuit boards and components. Manufacturers using a combination of methods can optimize yields. The combination of functional testing and boundary scan testing has become popular in spite of high equipment cost because it can reduce the overall cost of testing.

“In today's electronic industry, it is highly imperative to have sufficient test coverage to improve product quality, reduce time-to-market and improve manufacturing yields,” says Frost research analyst Sujan Sami. “Especially in a situation where device complexity, functionality of chips and circuit board architectures are on a rise; cost-effective and efficient test solutions will be the key, and the right combinational testers expect to play a major role.

“The need for more sophisticated products, especially in the extremely demanding automotive and medical industries drives the need for better quality oriented test equipment. The modular functionality of integrating various types of test equipment expects to surpass the need for individual hardware and software testing moving forward.”

HELSINKI -- Elcoteq today said it plans to cut 5,000 workers, or about 25% its global workforce, and shut plants around the world.

The EMS firm, the world's sixth largest according to the Circuits Assembly Top 50, said it would close plants in the US, Romania and Russia, while consolidating its China operations to Beijing.