ATLANTA, GA – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Magazine today announced Firstronic LLC as its EMS Company of the Year for 2017.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC crowned China’s Zhang Yi hand soldering champion at Productronica. Yi scored 473 out of 500.

LONDON – The global evaluation board market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.58% during the forecast period 2017 to 2021, says Technavio.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Smartphone shipments will grow 13% to 1.7 billion units in 2021 from 1.5 billion units in 2017, according to International Data Corp.

HAMPSHIRE, UK – More than 285 million ear-based wearables, or “hearables,” will be used in 2022, a nearly sevenfold increase over the 43 million expected to be in use by the end of 2017, says Juniper Research.

MOUNT PLEASANT, WI -- The Mount Pleasant Village Board will take on more than $750 million in new debt as part of its agreement for a new Foxconn campus within its borders.

MILPITAS, CA — The 90-day moving average sales among North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers was $2.02 billion worldwide in October.

KUALA LUMPUR -- EMS provider EG Industries plans to invest RM30 million ($7.3 million) to expand its Sungai Petani plant.

SUNGUVAR CHATHRAM, TAMIL NADU, INDIA -- The Tamil Nadu government has issued a “no objection certificate” to a Foxconn subsidiary, paving the way for the company to acquire and build on land in a special economic zone here.

ORADEA, ROMANIA – Celestica has expanded its operations here to increase manufacturing services for customers in Eastern Europe.

SANFORD, NC – Conveyor Technologies Inc. has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Alotech for an undisclosed sum.

MUNICH – Some 44,000 visitors from 85 countries walked the halls of Productronica this month, up almost 20% compared to the previous show two years ago.

The event, which was collocated for the first time with Semicon Europa, included 1,200 exhibitors from 42 countries. The focus was on the Internet of Things, as well as big data and miniaturization.