Latest News
SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The tepid semiconductor market isn’t slowing spending on chip research and development. First quarter semiconductor R&D grew 12% to $11.1 billion compared to the same period last year, says IC Insights.
WASHINGTON -- May orders to factories for manufactured
durables were flat, ending a two-month slump, on demand for aircraft and
computers, the Commerce
Department said today.
Orders for durable goods -- items that are designed to last three or more years -- showed no change in May, after falling 1% in April and 0.2% in March.
Orders for durable goods -- items that are designed to last three or more years -- showed no change in May, after falling 1% in April and 0.2% in March.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil's fiscal third-quarter net profit rose 519% to $38.4 million on sales of $3.09 billion, up just under 3%.
For the quarter ended May 31, Jabil cut its restructuring and impairment charges to $3.5 million, from $25.3 million last year. However, the EMS firm also pared its R&D expenses about 24% to $8 million in the quarter.
For the quarter ended May 31, Jabil cut its restructuring and impairment charges to $3.5 million, from $25.3 million last year. However, the EMS firm also pared its R&D expenses about 24% to $8 million in the quarter.
MANASSAS, VA – Austin American Technology Corp. and Zestron America have completed compatibility experiments for cleaning equipment and products.
The testing was conducted with current PCB defluxing inline and batch equipment, as well as stencil cleaning machines.
Completed at various concentrations and temperatures, the results confirmed excellent compatibility between all wetted parts that came in direct contact with Vigon and Atron cleaning agents, the companies say.
The testing was conducted with current PCB defluxing inline and batch equipment, as well as stencil cleaning machines.
Completed at various concentrations and temperatures, the results confirmed excellent compatibility between all wetted parts that came in direct contact with Vigon and Atron cleaning agents, the companies say.
SHENZHEN – Foxconn International Holdings will begin production in its Taiyuan, Shanxi and Langfang, Hebei facilities in the third quarter of this year, according to published reports, quoting a company department chief.
Foxconn intends to direct its focus on production in North China, and expects the Taiyuan and Langfang plants will have 50% more aggregate capacity than the its Shenzhen headquarters, according to the chief.
Foxconn expects to increase total production capacity 20% to 30% next year, the report said, with production at its Hungarian plant scheduled to start in August, Vietnamese production scheduled for year-end and expansion set for its Yantai, Shandong location.
Foxconn intends to direct its focus on production in North China, and expects the Taiyuan and Langfang plants will have 50% more aggregate capacity than the its Shenzhen headquarters, according to the chief.
Foxconn expects to increase total production capacity 20% to 30% next year, the report said, with production at its Hungarian plant scheduled to start in August, Vietnamese production scheduled for year-end and expansion set for its Yantai, Shandong location.
SAN JOSE – Flextronics’ decision to jump in the competitive
notebook PC market is paying off. Today, the EMS company announced a deal with HP
to design and manufacture a high-volume consumer notebook computer. No financial
or other contract details were announced.
HONG KONG – Byd Electronic Co., a provider of mobile handset components and electronics assembly services, reported 2007 revenues of 5.8 billion RMB ($823 million), up 89% year-over-year.
MINNEAPOLIS -- CyberOptics promoted Steven
DiMarco to vice president and general manager, Inspection Systems Business, responsible
for new systems product development and manufacturing center in Singapore as well as global sales and marketing and
service. He has been with CyberOptics since 2005, most recently as vice president
of sales and marketing.
The business unit produces AOI and solder paste inspection systems.
HSINCHU, TAIWAN -- Powertech Technology Inc. has licensed
IBM's MPS-C2 (Metal Post Solder-Chip Connection) technology, the company said today. No financial terms were disclosed.
MPS-C2 is a ultra fine pitch flip-chip package technology for chips with bond pad pitches of less than 80 microns.
It is useful in such applications as cell phones and other mobile applications where conventional wire-bond PoP, PiP or SiP packages might not work.
MPS-C2 is used to make bumps on pads with copper posts and SnAg solder. The bumps are formed on aluminum pads through a wafer plating process without redistribution. The bumps can then be connected to an organic substrate’s copper pads using conventional SMT reflow.
PTI is now the leading memory ODM package and testing house in the world.
MPS-C2 is a ultra fine pitch flip-chip package technology for chips with bond pad pitches of less than 80 microns.
It is useful in such applications as cell phones and other mobile applications where conventional wire-bond PoP, PiP or SiP packages might not work.
MPS-C2 is used to make bumps on pads with copper posts and SnAg solder. The bumps are formed on aluminum pads through a wafer plating process without redistribution. The bumps can then be connected to an organic substrate’s copper pads using conventional SMT reflow.
PTI is now the leading memory ODM package and testing house in the world.
BRUSSELS – The European Commission has approved Foxconn’s purchase of two Sanmina-SCI plants.
The agreement covers plants located in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, and Guadalajara, Mexico, which perform EMS and repair services.
The deal is said to be worth between $80 million and $90 million, Sanmina said, according to published reports.
In a statement, the EC wrote, “After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.”
The deal is expected to be final by the end of June.
The agreement covers plants located in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, and Guadalajara, Mexico, which perform EMS and repair services.
The deal is said to be worth between $80 million and $90 million, Sanmina said, according to published reports.
In a statement, the EC wrote, “After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.”
The deal is expected to be final by the end of June.
WASHINGTON – When it rains, it pours … tech jobs.
Some 51 of 60 “cybercities” added high-tech jobs in 2006, according to the latest AeA survey of the US tech world.
Seattle led the nation, adding 7,800 net jobs. The next largest net gains between 2005 and 2006 occurred in metro New York (6,400) and Washington (6,100).
On a percentage basis, Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, saw the fastest job growth in 2006, at 12%. (2006 data are the most recent available at the metropolitan level.)
Christopher Hansen, president and CEO of AeA, said, "High-tech jobs make critical contributions to local economies in terms of innovation. They also pay extremely well – the average tech industry wage is 87% higher than the average private sector wage. Fifty-six cybercities had wage differentials higher than 50% and three cybercities – Austin, San Diego and Sacramento – had differentials higher than 100%.”
The leading metro areas by high-tech employment for the year were metro New York (316,500 jobs), Washington (295,800 jobs), San Jose/Silicon Valley (225,300 jobs), Boston (191,700 jobs), and Dallas-Fort Worth (176,000 jobs).
San Jose/Silicon Valley led the nation in concentration of high-tech workers, with 286 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers. Boulder ranked second, with 230 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers. Huntsville, Durham and Washington rounded out the top five.
San Jose/Silicon Valley dominated the manufacturing sectors. It ranked near the top in seven of the nine high-tech manufacturing categories. Metro New York led in many of the tech service sectors, with the highest employment in telecommunications, Internet services, R&D and testing labs, and computer training services. Washington led in computer systems design and related services and engineering services, with nearly three times as many industry workers in these fields as San Jose/Silicon Valley.
Some 51 of 60 “cybercities” added high-tech jobs in 2006, according to the latest AeA survey of the US tech world.
Seattle led the nation, adding 7,800 net jobs. The next largest net gains between 2005 and 2006 occurred in metro New York (6,400) and Washington (6,100).
On a percentage basis, Riverside-San Bernardino, CA, saw the fastest job growth in 2006, at 12%. (2006 data are the most recent available at the metropolitan level.)
Christopher Hansen, president and CEO of AeA, said, "High-tech jobs make critical contributions to local economies in terms of innovation. They also pay extremely well – the average tech industry wage is 87% higher than the average private sector wage. Fifty-six cybercities had wage differentials higher than 50% and three cybercities – Austin, San Diego and Sacramento – had differentials higher than 100%.”
The leading metro areas by high-tech employment for the year were metro New York (316,500 jobs), Washington (295,800 jobs), San Jose/Silicon Valley (225,300 jobs), Boston (191,700 jobs), and Dallas-Fort Worth (176,000 jobs).
San Jose/Silicon Valley led the nation in concentration of high-tech workers, with 286 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers. Boulder ranked second, with 230 high-tech workers per 1,000 private sector workers. Huntsville, Durham and Washington rounded out the top five.
San Jose/Silicon Valley dominated the manufacturing sectors. It ranked near the top in seven of the nine high-tech manufacturing categories. Metro New York led in many of the tech service sectors, with the highest employment in telecommunications, Internet services, R&D and testing labs, and computer training services. Washington led in computer systems design and related services and engineering services, with nearly three times as many industry workers in these fields as San Jose/Silicon Valley.
This is the AEA’s first national Cybercities report since 2000.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Apple’s second-generation iPhone is expected to carry an initial hardware bill of materials and manufacturing cost of $173, according to preliminary analysis by iSuppli Corp.
In advance of the release, iSuppli has performed a virtual teardown; once the 3G iPhone becomes available, iSuppli will perform an actual, detailed teardown of the components and cost structure. (The new iPhone is due out July 11.)
“At a hardware BoM and manufacturing cost of $173, the new iPhone is significantly less expensive to produce, despite major improvements in the product’s functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli. “The original 8 Gb iPhone carried a cost of $226 after component price reductions, giving the new product a 23% hardware cost reduction due to component price declines.”
“The original 2G phone was sold at an unsubsidized price of $499,” Rebello noted. “However, at a retail price of $199 for the low-end 8 Gb version of the new 3G model, wireless communications service carriers will be selling the product at a subsidized rate, using a common business model for the mobile-handset market. The size of the subsidy paid by the wireless carriers to Apple will be about $300 per iPhone, iSuppli estimates. This means that with subsidies from carriers, Apple will be selling the 8 Mb version of the second-generation iPhone to carriers at an effective price of about $499 per unit, the same as the original product.”
For the first version, Apple was given a portion of the wireless carriers’ revenue from service subscriptions. With the second, Apple is not garnering any service revenue, making it more imperative the company cut a profit on the actual hardware through the carrier subsidies, says iSuppli.
“Two-thirds of Apple’s revenue from the iPod still is derived from hardware,” said Rebello.
iSuppli has observed iPod and iPhone products typically are priced about 50% more than their BoM and manufacturing costs. With the new iPhone sold for $199 and the estimated subsidy of $300, Apple will achieve an even higher BOM/manufacturing margin, the research firm says.
The 3G iPhone’s BoM costs will decrease as component prices decline; the BoM/manufacturing cost will decrease to $148 in 2009, down 37% year-over-year, according to iSuppli.
“If the 3G iPhone design is unchanged, the cost will decline to $126 in 2012,” said Tina Teng, wireless communications analyst at iSuppli.
In advance of the release, iSuppli has performed a virtual teardown; once the 3G iPhone becomes available, iSuppli will perform an actual, detailed teardown of the components and cost structure. (The new iPhone is due out July 11.)
“At a hardware BoM and manufacturing cost of $173, the new iPhone is significantly less expensive to produce, despite major improvements in the product’s functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli. “The original 8 Gb iPhone carried a cost of $226 after component price reductions, giving the new product a 23% hardware cost reduction due to component price declines.”
“The original 2G phone was sold at an unsubsidized price of $499,” Rebello noted. “However, at a retail price of $199 for the low-end 8 Gb version of the new 3G model, wireless communications service carriers will be selling the product at a subsidized rate, using a common business model for the mobile-handset market. The size of the subsidy paid by the wireless carriers to Apple will be about $300 per iPhone, iSuppli estimates. This means that with subsidies from carriers, Apple will be selling the 8 Mb version of the second-generation iPhone to carriers at an effective price of about $499 per unit, the same as the original product.”
For the first version, Apple was given a portion of the wireless carriers’ revenue from service subscriptions. With the second, Apple is not garnering any service revenue, making it more imperative the company cut a profit on the actual hardware through the carrier subsidies, says iSuppli.
“Two-thirds of Apple’s revenue from the iPod still is derived from hardware,” said Rebello.
iSuppli has observed iPod and iPhone products typically are priced about 50% more than their BoM and manufacturing costs. With the new iPhone sold for $199 and the estimated subsidy of $300, Apple will achieve an even higher BOM/manufacturing margin, the research firm says.
The 3G iPhone’s BoM costs will decrease as component prices decline; the BoM/manufacturing cost will decrease to $148 in 2009, down 37% year-over-year, according to iSuppli.
“If the 3G iPhone design is unchanged, the cost will decline to $126 in 2012,” said Tina Teng, wireless communications analyst at iSuppli.
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