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News

SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductors in February were $20.44 billion, up 1.5% year-over-year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Sales fell 4.9% sequentially, in line with normal seasonal patterns for the industry.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- The worldwide market for consumer electronics products continues to be strong and will continue to expand through 2011, reports research firm In-Stat. Shipments of PCs and peripherals, traditional consumer electronics products and communications products will grow from 2.7 billion units in 2007 to 3.1 billion units in 2011, the firm says.

“Traditional consumer electronics devices continue to be led by the conversion from analog to digital television,” said Brian O’Rourke, In-Stat analyst. “PCs will maintain their strong growth pattern with a compound annual growth rate of 9.7% through 2011, with growth being driven by increased sales in Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Asia/Pacific regions.”

In-Stat found:

India and China are driving the mobile phone handset segment, as low-cost handsets have been developed to meet the market requirements in less developed countries.
Asia/Pacific and Rest-of-World (including Africa, the Middle East and South America) regions will lead in overall annual growth rates.
PCs shipments will be driven by a continued transition from desktop to mobile units.

GLENVIEW, IL-- Illinois Tool Works made it official today, announcing the acquisition of VS Acquisition Holding Inc., the parent company of Vitronics Soltec. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

VS Acquisition Holding Inc. will be a wholly owned business unit of ITW and part of the company's existing power systems and electronics businesses, ITW said in a press release, and will operate as a separate business under the Vitronics Soltec name.

SAN JOSE -- Tessera Technologies this morning announced that it has been informed that the International Trade Commission has overturned a recent court decision to stay the company’s patent infringement action against Motorola, Freescale, Qualcomm and others.

Tessera said it was notified orally of the decision, and that a written notice should be available soon.

LONDON -- China's consumer electronics market is expected to grow at a compound annual average of 12% from 2007 to 2011, says research firm Report Buyer.

That's a tick higher than the 11.71% CAGR China posted from 2002 to 2006.

BOSTON – A new report notes that the semiconductor design IP sector grew to $1.5 billion in revenue in 2007, up approximately 11% year-over-year, a slower growth than in previous years.

Yet in a twist, the success of IP for RF and wireless applications has indirectly contributed to slower growth for the semiconductor design IP sector overall, says a new report.

Research firm Strategy Analytics claims, “Getting even a fraction of the IP cores on offer by more than 90 firms to work together, especially in SoCs for wireless devices, is a difficult challenge, but one made easier if done under one roof.”

ENDICOTT, NY – Endicott Interconnect Technologies has entered into a sales and manufacturing agreement under which Unimicron Technology will produce CoreEZ organic substrates. No financial terms were announced.

Under terms of the agreement, EI maintains control of design and technical support for CoreEZ. Unimicron will manufacture substrates at one of its Taiwanese facilities.

The two companies will handle sales jointly.

LAS VEGAS – Christopher Associates will have a drawing at 5:00 pm on April 1 at its Apex booth for three pairs of tickets to the 7:00 pm Blue Man Group show at the Venetian Hotel.

The Blue Man Group stage show combines percussion-driven music, flashy special effects and instruments made from plastic piping into a visual extravaganza.

All trade show visitors are invited to leave a business card at the company's booth (1439) for the drawing. Winners must be present to claim the tickets.

BOSTON – Global wireline equipment sales grew nearly 21% in the fourth quarter of 2007, and were up 18% for the full year, reports research firm Ovum.

The optical networking, switching and routing, and cable TV segments were each up at least 19%, and the DSLAM segment managed a 3% gain.

Wireline service provider capex was $32.6 billion, up 15.1% year-over-year; optical networking segment revenues were $4.4 billion, up 30.4%; switching and routing segment revenues were $3 billion, up 19%; cable TV equipment segment revenues were $850 million, up 24.4%, and broadband equipment revenues were $1.1 billion, down 4.2% year-over-year.

“Fears that service providers would reduce spending preemptively due to recession worries proved unfounded,” said John Lively, vice president, network infrastructure at Ovum. “Global spending on wireline equipment grew by nearly 9% in the fourth quarter of 2007, as service providers like AT&T, Comcast, KDDI, KPN, Swisscom and TeliaSonera continued to invest in network capabilities in support of new services. ”

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the factory.

With the industry still reeling in some circles from the after-shocks of the RoHS Directive, a proposed list of nearly 50 additional substances has touched off an uproar over Europe’s apparent desire to obliterate modern electronics. In the latest volley, IPC is calling on the organization charged with assessing potentially hazardous substances for possible inclusion in supplemental legislation to the RoHS Directive to table its efforts until further scientific evidence is available to support a ban.

SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group today announced Emad S. Isaac, chief technology officer of The Morey Corp., will keynote PCB East 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO – High-tech products make up four of the top 10 border seizures, while one of every 10 IT products is counterfeit.

So says Design Chain Associates senior vice president Tom Valliere, in a Webinar today on counterfeiting in the electronics supply chain.