News
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Worldwide hard disk drive unit shipments grew 18.9% last year, according to iSuppli Corp.
Annual HDD shipments crossed the half-billion-unit threshold for the first time, and revenue rose 4.6% year-over-year to $32.8 billion, says the research firm.
Beyond strong demand growth from notebook PCs and consumer electronics products, HDD makers benefited from a second-half cease-fire in the price war that had dictated market conditions over the past three years.
Although the price war continued to rage in the first half of the year, the second half brought a rebound and an appreciation of the value of HDDs. Pricing was supported by the arrival of high-capacity 1Tbyte HDDs, a key milestone in the face of technology challenges from NAND flash memory, says iSuppli.
Seagate Technology maintained its lead in the global HDD market, with its share of shipments rising to 34%, from 33.1% in 2006. The company shipped 175 million HDDs in 2007, up 22% year-over-year.
Second-ranked Western Digital shipped 113 million HDDs and increased its share to 22%, from 19.6%. The company benefited from its foray into the enterprise secondary storage market with its premium-priced RAID edition drives, says iSuppli.
No. 3 Hitachi Global Storage Technologies increased its share to 17.3%, from 16.1% in the prior year. Hitachi reversed its operating loss of $93 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 to achieve an operating profit of $95 million in the same period of 2007.
Despite the competitive threat posed by NAND-type flash memory in products ranging from MP3 players to notebook computers, the industry's strong performance in 2007 indicates HDD isn't ready to quit any time soon.
Still, the threat of NAND is going to haunt the industry in the coming years. Only cost reductions and the continued advancement in HDD technology, driven by profit-funded research and development activities, will keep the industry afloat, says the firm.
Annual HDD shipments crossed the half-billion-unit threshold for the first time, and revenue rose 4.6% year-over-year to $32.8 billion, says the research firm.
Beyond strong demand growth from notebook PCs and consumer electronics products, HDD makers benefited from a second-half cease-fire in the price war that had dictated market conditions over the past three years.
Although the price war continued to rage in the first half of the year, the second half brought a rebound and an appreciation of the value of HDDs. Pricing was supported by the arrival of high-capacity 1Tbyte HDDs, a key milestone in the face of technology challenges from NAND flash memory, says iSuppli.
Seagate Technology maintained its lead in the global HDD market, with its share of shipments rising to 34%, from 33.1% in 2006. The company shipped 175 million HDDs in 2007, up 22% year-over-year.
Second-ranked Western Digital shipped 113 million HDDs and increased its share to 22%, from 19.6%. The company benefited from its foray into the enterprise secondary storage market with its premium-priced RAID edition drives, says iSuppli.
No. 3 Hitachi Global Storage Technologies increased its share to 17.3%, from 16.1% in the prior year. Hitachi reversed its operating loss of $93 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 to achieve an operating profit of $95 million in the same period of 2007.
Despite the competitive threat posed by NAND-type flash memory in products ranging from MP3 players to notebook computers, the industry's strong performance in 2007 indicates HDD isn't ready to quit any time soon.
Still, the threat of NAND is going to haunt the industry in the coming years. Only cost reductions and the continued advancement in HDD technology, driven by profit-funded research and development activities, will keep the industry afloat, says the firm.
HERNDON, VA – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative has scheduled a workshop in Leuven, Belgium, to review work on its 2009 roadmap.
The all-day workshop will be held June 18 at IMEC. This workshop is one of three regional meetings; other workshops are scheduled in North America (May 14) and Asia (July 28).
A review of drafts of select roadmap chapters will give participants the opportunity to discuss key product sectors and technology and infrastructure areas, and to provide input to the roadmap.
Chapters to be covered include medical product sector; portable/consumer product sector; environmentally conscious electronics; solid-state illumination and photovoltaics; organic and printed electronics; board assembly; final assembly; interconnect substrates: organic and ceramic, and packaging.
The workshop fee of $300 is waived for iNEMI members and workshop speakers.
The registration deadline for the European workshop is June 12.
For more information, visit
http://www.inemi.org/cms/calendar/2009_RM_Euro08.html.
The all-day workshop will be held June 18 at IMEC. This workshop is one of three regional meetings; other workshops are scheduled in North America (May 14) and Asia (July 28).
A review of drafts of select roadmap chapters will give participants the opportunity to discuss key product sectors and technology and infrastructure areas, and to provide input to the roadmap.
Chapters to be covered include medical product sector; portable/consumer product sector; environmentally conscious electronics; solid-state illumination and photovoltaics; organic and printed electronics; board assembly; final assembly; interconnect substrates: organic and ceramic, and packaging.
The workshop fee of $300 is waived for iNEMI members and workshop speakers.
The registration deadline for the European workshop is June 12.
For more information, visit
http://www.inemi.org/cms/calendar/2009_RM_Euro08.html.
NEWARK, NY – IEC Electronics Corp. received a $4.7 million order from one of its military and defense customers.
The customer, which the EMS company declined to name, may increase the award by an additional $3 million or more based on end-market demand.
Deliveries will commence toward the end of IEC’s fourth quarter, ending Sept. 30, and will continue throughout the first half of calendar year 2009.
The customer, which the EMS company declined to name, may increase the award by an additional $3 million or more based on end-market demand.
Deliveries will commence toward the end of IEC’s fourth quarter, ending Sept. 30, and will continue throughout the first half of calendar year 2009.
SANTA CLARA, CA – EMS provider Hunter Technology has opened an additional design center in San Diego.
Opening the center will aid the company’s plan to provide PCB design and engineering services nationally through its subsidiary CADParts & Consulting, Hunter says.
Hunter plans to add additional service centers around the U.S. during the next few months.
Present locations include Northern and Southern California, New Jersey, Colorado, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Design services are available for CAD platforms of tools that include Altium, Cadence, Mentor and Zuken. Engineering services have been added, including original design, cost reduction engineering and mechanical design services.
Opening the center will aid the company’s plan to provide PCB design and engineering services nationally through its subsidiary CADParts & Consulting, Hunter says.
Hunter plans to add additional service centers around the U.S. during the next few months.
Present locations include Northern and Southern California, New Jersey, Colorado, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Design services are available for CAD platforms of tools that include Altium, Cadence, Mentor and Zuken. Engineering services have been added, including original design, cost reduction engineering and mechanical design services.
SAN JOSE – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.16 billion in orders in March and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.89, according to SEMI. Bookings are down 4% from February and about 18% year-over-year.
SEVENOAKS, UK – GPS unit sales will hit $1 billion in 2012, according to tech analyst Future Horizons. Between 2007 and 2012, GPS unit sales will grow from 286 million to 938 million annually, a CAGR of 26.8%.
GPS chipset shipments are expected to rise 47% in 2008, with the handset and PDA segment showing the strongest growth at 55%. In 2009, the low cost, low power segment will show strong annual growth of 38.5%, says Future Horizons.
Upcoming applications, according to the research firm, will be mobile phone GPS applications such as local traffic and location information services.
The firm forecasts unit sales will continue to rise; however, chipset revenue will peak during this period as ASPs fall. GPS circuits eventually will become part of more complex radio accessory chips, including Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.
GPS chipset shipments are expected to rise 47% in 2008, with the handset and PDA segment showing the strongest growth at 55%. In 2009, the low cost, low power segment will show strong annual growth of 38.5%, says Future Horizons.
Upcoming applications, according to the research firm, will be mobile phone GPS applications such as local traffic and location information services.
The firm forecasts unit sales will continue to rise; however, chipset revenue will peak during this period as ASPs fall. GPS circuits eventually will become part of more complex radio accessory chips, including Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.
ST. LOUIS – For the third quarter of fiscal 2008, EMS firm LaBarge Inc. expects net sales of $75.4 million, up 27% year-over-year, beating previous guidance.
In March, the company projected net sales of $70 million to $72 million.
LaBarge reported first-half net sales of $126.2 million.
The company also updated fourth-quarter guidance, stating it expects sales and earnings to be comparable to this year’s preliminary third-quarter results, up substantially from the prior-year fourth quarter.
“Third-quarter results were better than we had previously anticipated due to some customers accelerating deliveries and broad-based strength in our end markets. That strength is continuing and we anticipate fourth-quarter results will be comparable to the preliminary third-quarter results announced today,” said Craig LaBarge, CEO and president.
Full third-quarter results will be announced May 1.
In March, the company projected net sales of $70 million to $72 million.
LaBarge reported first-half net sales of $126.2 million.
The company also updated fourth-quarter guidance, stating it expects sales and earnings to be comparable to this year’s preliminary third-quarter results, up substantially from the prior-year fourth quarter.
“Third-quarter results were better than we had previously anticipated due to some customers accelerating deliveries and broad-based strength in our end markets. That strength is continuing and we anticipate fourth-quarter results will be comparable to the preliminary third-quarter results announced today,” said Craig LaBarge, CEO and president.
Full third-quarter results will be announced May 1.
KOKOMO, IN – With cleaning on the up-tick due to more aggressive fluxes and greater concern over residues, a test method for localized extraction has been proposed to the IPC Ionic Conductivity/Ion Chromatography task group.
SAN JOSE – Dr. Luke P. Lee will describe a new 3-D optical lithography for waveguides self-assembly in the MEMS Packaging Symposium keynote next month.
In the presentation, Lee, a professor in the University of California Berkeley department of Bioengineering, will reveal the process, which uses self-aligned microlenses and self-writing in photopolymers.
His talk takes place May 22 in San Jose.
After the keynote, Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group, will present findings and recommendations from the MEMS Industry Group members’ annual meeting.
Symposium segments include consumer, automotive, biomedicine, and WLPs and 3-D ICs, among others.
To register, visit www.meptec.org.
In the presentation, Lee, a professor in the University of California Berkeley department of Bioengineering, will reveal the process, which uses self-aligned microlenses and self-writing in photopolymers.
His talk takes place May 22 in San Jose.
After the keynote, Karen Lightman, managing director, MEMS Industry Group, will present findings and recommendations from the MEMS Industry Group members’ annual meeting.
Symposium segments include consumer, automotive, biomedicine, and WLPs and 3-D ICs, among others.
To register, visit www.meptec.org.
RICHARDSON, TX – Test Research Inc. will integrate ASSET InterTech’s boundary scan technology into its line of in-circuit testers.
Under the terms of the extended agreement, ASSET will be the preferred supplier of boundary scan systems and related intellectual property to TRI and its customers. No financial terms were disclosed.
Under the terms of the extended agreement, ASSET will be the preferred supplier of boundary scan systems and related intellectual property to TRI and its customers. No financial terms were disclosed.
ATLANTA – After 50 years in electronics, Jim Raby believes the industry’s greatest invention was not the transistor, but the plated through-hole.
The guru of electronics, Raby led what an audience member called a “fireside chat” at yesterday’s Atlanta SMTA Expo. He warmly shared stories from the dawn of the modern electronics industry. Raby, founder of STI Electronics, and a few others brought an Electrovert wave soldering machine from Canada with fake “Made in the USA” stickers on it.
ATLANTA – Lead-free doesn’t seem new, but many myths still pervade industry thinking. One expert tried to dispel them.
In a presentation during the Atlanta SMTA Show Thursday, Chrys Shea, R&D applications engineer manager at Cookson Electronics, posted statements about Pb-free and asked whether the audience thought they were fact or fiction. She made some strong points about the myths of Pb-free, showing a distinct passion for her research. Here are the key points of her presentation:
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