SAN JOSE — Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment orders rose 4% year-over-year to $9.32 billion in the third quarter, SEMI said.

FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Looming software advacements underpin IDC's annual list of worldwide manufacturing predictions, released late last week.

SAN DIEGO – Robbie Bach, former president of entertainment and devices at Microsoft, will present the opening keynote at IPC Apex Expo here Feb. 24 about the history of the Xbox.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Total production value of electronic systems is projected to increase 5% in 2014 to $1.49 trillion and climb to about $1.82 trillion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% since 2013, according to a new report.

CHENGDU, CHINA – Intel said it would invest $1.6 billion to upgrade its chipset manufacturing factory here.

ANAHEIM, CA -- Lark Engineering has expanded its manufacturing capacity for wire, cable and harness assemblies.

BANGKADI, MUANG, PATHUTHAMI, THAILAND -- SVI Public Co. today said preproduction operations have commenced at its Chaengwattana EMS site and full production will start by month's end.

WASHINGTON – Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $29.7 billion in October, up 9.6% year-over-year, and up 1.5% sequentially, says the Semiconductor Industry Association.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – SMTA seeks abstracts for the following events taking place in 2015:

HERNDON, VA – iNEMI’s Component Specifications for Medical Products Project has published a report on its work to identify and define a set of component-level reliability qualification methods for critical electronic components used in implantable and wearable medical devices.

BATH, ENGLAND – Environ has received the Elektra European Electronics Industry 2014 Environmental Award for its Environmental Compliance 4 Products tool.

TAIPEI – Notebook computer shipments will grow 0.6% year-over-year in 2015 to 174.6 million units, while tablet shipments will decline 3.5% to 185.6 million units, says TrendForce.