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EL SEGUNDO, CA – After six months of domination by the once unknown brand Vizio Inc., the North American LCD-TV market in the fourth quarter saw the return of more established names to the top sales ranks, says iSuppli Corp.

For the quarter, LCD-TV shipments in North America rose 41% sequentially to 7.9 million units. Plasma set demand rose 36% to 1.3 million units.

Samsung Electronics became the No. 1 seller of LCD-TVs in North America, with its unit shipment market share rising to 14.2%, up from 12.8% in the third quarter. The company was ranked No. 2 in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Sony increased its share to 12.5% in the fourth quarter, up from 10.8% sequentially, good for the No. 2 spot in North America, up from No. 4 during the previous quarter, says the research firm.

Vizio, which had shocked the North American television market with its rise to No. 1 in the second and third quarters, fell to third with a 12.4%, down from 13% sequentially.

Vizio had risen to the top spot because of a combination of low pricing and high visibility sales channels. However, Samsung and Sony struck back in the fourth quarter, according to iSuppli.

“Samsung and Sony employed very aggressive pricing and promotion strategies to take advantage of the key holiday buying season,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television systems for iSuppli.

He added, “Consumers in the television industry are not as brand conscious as they once were, as evidenced by the popularity of Vizio,” Patel said. “However, when the difference in pricing between a value-brand television and a premium-brand set is within the 10% range, consumers often will go for the premium brand.”

Panasonic padded its dominance of the plasma market with a share of 37.1%, a 9.

AUSTIN, TX – Applications for 3-D TSV, including image sensors, flash, DRAM, processors, FPGAs and power amplifiers, will be adopted, but the timing for mass production depends on how the cost compares with that of existing technologies, says TechSearch International in a new report.

Image sensors for camera modules are already in volume production, but for other applications, the adoption time is longer than originally predicted, as is common with the introduction of many new technologies, the company says. Design, thermal and test issues remain a barrier to TSV adoption in some applications, though progress is being made.

The report, “Through Silicon Via Technology: The Ultimate Market for 3D Interconnect,” provides a timeline for the adoption of TSV in these applications. The report forecasts market size in units and number of wafers for each application area.

Driven by the need for improved performance and reduced timing delays, methods have been developed to use short vertical interconnects instead of the long interconnects used in 2-D structures. The industry is moving past the feasibility (R&D) phase for TSV technology and into commercialization, where economic realities will determine which technologies are adopted, says the firm. Low-cost fine via hole formation and reliable via filling technologies have been demonstrated; process equipment and materials are available.

TAIPEI – The world’s No. 3 PC maker, Acer Inc., reported its fourth-quarter net profit was $71.88 million, up 77% year-over-year, with its purchase of Gateway. Profit fell 21.8% sequentially.

BRIDGEWATER, MA – Chase Corp. has named Adam Chase president and chief operating officer.

Chase, grandson of the company’s founder, joined the firm in 1998 and has held the positions of controller, general manager and vice president, among others.

Chase manufactures tapes, laminates, sealants and coatings for high reliability applications, and provides contract assembly services.

JACKSON, MI – EMS provider Sparton Corp. reported 2008 second-quarter net sales of $55 million, up 3.6% year-over-year. The net loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose to $1.9 million, from $1.4 million in 2006.

SOUTHAMPTON, UK – ACW Technology Ltd. and Silicon Forest Electronics have formed a partnership under which the two companies will share certain facilities around the world with each other’s customers.

SAN JOSE – Flextronics today announced plans to acquire the FRIWO Mobile Power business unit of CEAG AG. No other financial terms were disclosed.

ATLANTA – Jim Raby, a 50-year industry veteran, and founder and technical director at STI Electronics, will keynote the Atlanta SMTA Expo on April 17.

Raby, who has spent his entire career in electronics manufacturing, will offer his perspectives of the past and future. His accomplishments include patents for wave soldering, work on the Saturn/Apollo Program, initiating the Zero Defect Program for wave soldering and development of the famous China Lake soldering schools.

Raby was also instrumental in developing the IPC soldering certification curriculum and initiating the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility. He is also known as the person behind the Lights Out Factory concept that revolutionized the modern electronics manufacturing facility.

The 12th annual Atlanta SMTA Expo will be held at the Gwinnett Civic Center in Duluth, GA. For more information, visit http://www.smta.org/education/vendor_days/vendor_days.cfm#ga.

VERNON HILLS, IL – Zebra Technologies will consolidate its supplier base and transfer thermal printer assembly to Jabil Circuit. The companies did not disclose the value of the deal.

CAMBRIDGE, MA – In 2008, the value of the entire RFID market will be $5.29 billion, up 6.8% year-over-year, according to IDTechEx.

This figure includes tags, readers and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs and all other form factors. The majority of this value is a result of large national RFID schemes for transportation and national ID, incorporating contactless (RFID) cards, says a report.

China has almost finished issuing each citizen with a national ID RFID card. The tagging of pallets and cases as demanded by retailers (mostly in the U.S.) will use approximately 325 million RFID labels in 2008, but IDTechEX sees strong take off in retail outside mandates, such as from Marks & Spencer, who have used more than 100 million RFID tags to date.

The tagging of animals is increasing, as it becomes a legal requirement in many more territories, with 90 million tags being used in 2008, according to the report. In total, 2.16 billion tags will be sold in 2008, up 19% year-over-year.

By 2018, the market value will be more than five times the size of the market compared to 2008, but the number of tags supplied will be more than 300 times that of 2008, driven by the development of lower cost tags and installed infrastructure that will enable high volumes of articles to be tagged, says IDTechEx.

At the start of 2008, the cumulative number of RFID tags sold was just over 6 billion.

TAIPEI – Hon Hai Group, the parent of Foxconn, expects sales to increase 30% this year to $81.3 billion.

KELSO, SCOTLAND – Plexus UK has invested nearly $1.6 million in equipment for its Kelso manufacturing site.

The investment includes two Electrovert Elektra wave solder machines and an Agilent Medalist x6000 3-D AXI.

“2007 was a year of growth and expansion for Plexus, with the extension of the design center in Livingston and the addition of staff at all levels throughout the organization,” said managing director Willie MacKinnon.

He added that recent funding from Scottish Enterprise will enable further investments.