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AUSTIN – The total e-paper display market will grow to 1.8 billion units and $9.6 billion in revenues by 2018, a CAGR of 41% for revenues and 64% for units, says DisplaySearch.

E-book displays currently account for the majority of e-paper revenues. Nearly all e-book devices currently in the market use E Ink’s electrophoretic display technology, with a small number – such as Fujitsu’s FLEPia – using cholesteric LCD technology. Other electrophoretic display suppliers, SiPix and Bridgestone, will also commercialize e-book displays, according to the research firm.

The number of e-book/e-textbook models went from one model in 2003-2004 to three in 2006, to about five in 2007. In 2009, the number of models jumped to about 20. The e-paper display market for e-books and e-textbooks (5" to 10") is forecast to grow from about 1 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2018.

Color e-book displays recently entered the market with Fujitsu’s 8" FLEPia e-book. Because of the high price and technical challenges, DisplaySearch forecasts color e-books will not reach high volumes before 2011.

Electrophoretic was the leading technology in 2008, and DisplaySearch forecasts the technology will continue to lead the e-paper display market growth for this forecast period, and reach $5.8 billion by 2018.

Bi-stable LCD was the second largest e-paper display technology by revenues in 2008, and is forecast to reach $2.5 billion by 2018.

MEMS display technology will expand from small-size mobile phone displays to color and medium-size e-book displays over the next few years.

Electrochromic displays are targeting low-cost, high-volume smart label and card display applications. DisplaySearch forecasts electrochromic will become the leading technology in terms of unit volume for e-paper displays by 2013.

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s industrial output grew 12.4% year-over-year in July, as the key electronics sector continued to recover.

Singapore’s electronics manufacturing output dropped 5.6% for the month, a big improvement on the 19.2% drop in June.

Sequentially, industrial output grew a seasonally adjusted 23%; this contrasts with a revised 9% drop seen in June.

Year-to-date, industrial output fell 10.3% compared to the same seven months in 2008.

ST. LOUIS-- Northrop Grumman has awarded LaBarge Inc. $2.6 million in add-on orders for electronics subsystems for the Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array radar.

ST. PAUL, MN – Accu-Tronics Manufacturing Inc., a contract assembly based here, has gone out of business and is selling its assets.

JUAREZ, MEXICO – LG Electronics selected Flextronics to manufacture LCD TVs at its Juarez, Mexico facility, the company said today.

TAIWAN – Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) is denying rumors it would acquire Sony's LCD TV plant in Mexico.

WESTLAKE, OH -- Nordson reported sales of $206 million and net income of $24 million for its fiscal third-quarter ended July 31.

VANCOUVER, BC -- Northstar reported second-quarter revenues of $879,565, up 64.9% from a year ago.

SEATTLE – Industry veteran and cleaning expert Dr. Carl Tautscher died July 20 from complications from knee surgery. He was active in the electronics industry for more than 40 years.

Tautscher received his doctorate in general chemistry from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He was chairman of the IPC Cleaning and Contamination Control Subcommittee for five years. He was also the chairman of the Aqueous Post Solder Cleaning task group and served on the MIL-F-14256 task group.

During his career, Tautscher authored more than 50 articles and presentations on joining, cleaning, coating and related subjects, plus two textbooks and four minitexts on cleaning, coating and contamination effects.

In 1980, he received the E-Systems Creativity Award for a unique soldering process, and won a Best Article Award from Insulation Circuits in 1978 for his paper "Contamination Introduced by the Soldering Process.”

He also received the Special Recognition Award from IPC in 1996 for years of service and leadership in the efforts to complete IPC-AC-62A, the "Aqueous Post Solder Cleaning Handbook."

ATLANTA – Beginning Oct. 13, Circuits Assembly seeks participants for its annual Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for EMS providers and electronics assembly equipment, material and software suppliers.

Now in its 18th year, the SEAs honor companies in electronics manufacturing for excelling in the critical area of customer service, permitting participants to benchmark customer service against their peers.