LEICESTERSHIRE, UK – The Center of Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at the University of Maryland in concert with Loughborough University will cosponsor the 6th International Symposium on Tin Whiskers here in November.

The symposium will focus on research on tin whisker growth, experiments and result; failure characterization; and risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.

The event takes place Nov. 27 and 28 in Leicestershire, UK.

Send technical abstracts to Dr. Michael Osterman at osterman@calce.umd.edu. The deadline is Aug. 23. For more information, visit http://www.calce.umd.edu/symposiums/ISTW2012.htm.

TEL AVIV – Jabil Circuit is opening an office here, where it will partner with fellow EMS firm R.H. Technologies, according to published reports.

Jabil said it would focus on products for startup and emerging companies, as Israel has the largest number of startups in the world per capita, say reports.

R.H. Technologies has a manufacturing plant in Nazareth-Illit that will serve as Jabil's Israeli manufacturing site.

No financial terms were disclosed.

ROME, NY – Indium has acquired a new manufacturing facility here, near its existing plant. The plant is currently being outfitted to expand production capacities of compounds, including indium-, gallium-, germanium-, and tin-based materials.

KWIDZYN, POLAND -- Jabil reportedly is laying off 350 full-time workers at its electronics manufacturing facility here, its second big cut this year.

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Raven Industries today reported record fiscal 2013 first-quarter sales up 16% year-over-year to $117.9 million.

EGHAM, UK – Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2% decline year-over-year, says Gartner. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that the market exhibited a decline, the firm notes.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – The market for dynamic random access memory is expected to partially reverse the drastic losses it incurred in 2011 and achieve revenue growth this year, the result of balanced supply and demand following the exit of major manufacturer Elpida Memory, says IHS iSuppli.

Global DRAM industry revenue this year is forecast to reach $30.6 billion, up 3.3% year-over-year. The expansion is a welcome development given the stunning 25% last year, the firm says.

The overall picture will continue to brighten during the next few years, with DRAM revenue exceeding $30 billion each year for the next five years and reaching $40.2 billion in 2016.

DRAM prospects started looking better after the bankruptcy filing in February of Japan’s Elpida. Elpida was part of the elite echelon of DRAM manufacturers that includes Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea, as well as US-based Micron Technology. The industry is expected to benefit from Elpida’s exit, with the market lifting on signs of supply rebalance, says the research firm.

The DRAM space can look forward to continued strong expansion in the next few years because of three growth drivers: ultrathin PCs, smartphones and tablets, according to IHS iSuppli.

Ultrathin PCs, including Intel’s ultrabooks, the MacBook Air from Apple and ARM-based lightweight PCs – will present plenty of new opportunities for low-power DRAM, especially when ultrathins comprise the majority of shipments by 2016.

For high-end ultrabooks in particular, PC manufacturers are projected to have enough margin to afford the installation of low-power double data rate 3 DRAM in their products, adding to overall DRAM industry revenue. LPDDR3 will account for as much as 19% of the total DRAM market in 2014.

In the case of smartphones, increasing shipments during the next five years, coupled with growing memory content per phone, suggest rosy prospects as well for DRAM. Average DRAM content in smartphones this year will amount to 5.1Gb, up from 3.5Gb last year and from 2.3Gb in 2010.

WASHINGTON – A top executive of TechAmerica lauded a US House committee for amending a bill that puts the onus for maintaining a counterfeit-free supply chain on the suppliers.

Senior vice president for National Security and Procurement Policy Trey Hodgkins thanked the Armed Services Committee for adopting an amendment to the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization bill that will aid in the adoption of criteria now under development designed to detect and avoid counterfeit parts in the Department of Defense supply chain.

The amendment shares the risks of remediating counterfeit parts under strict circumstances where the vendor has adopted requirements established by the DoD, acquired the parts from a DoD-approved authorized or trusted supplier, and complied with all specified reporting requirements.

The amendment was adopted by the committee on voice vote.

SAN JOSE -- SMTC has completed its integration of ZF Array and a subsequent expansion at its manufacturing facility here.

SAN JOSE -- Sanmina-SCI's defense sales have stabilized following a drop last year and the EMS company is "optimistic" that the military growth engine will start to rev up later this year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Longtime Fabrinet customer Opnext is broadening its supply base for optical components and networks.

NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. said it intends to construct a 410,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility here.

The site will replace two existing leased facilities and will consolidate approximately 1,000 employees into the new building.

The facility is expected to cost approximately $50 million, with construction expected to begin in July, with a completion date of fall 2013.

Plexus is eligible for $15 million in enterprise zone tax credits through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. These tax credits will be distributed over a seven-year period. Incentives from the City of Neenah are also contemplated, subject to approval by city officials, the firm says.