NEEDHAM, MA – Shipments of smartphones will decline 3.5% to 1.31 billion units in 2022, according to International Data Corp. After three consecutive quarters of decline and increasing challenges in both supply and demand, IDC has significantly reduced its forecast for 2022 from the previous projection of 1.6% growth. However, IDC expects this to be a short-term setback as the market rebounds to achieve a five-year CAGR of 1.9% through 2026.

NEEDHAM, MA – Worldwide shipments of hardcopy peripherals decreased 12.3% year-over-year to 22.4 million units in the first quarter, according to International Data Corp.

MILPITAS, CA – Global semiconductor equipment billings grew 5% year-over-year to $24.7 billion in the first quarter, SEMI said. Sequential billings in the seasonally soft first quarter declined 10%.

MARKHAM, CANADA – Align Capital Partners has acquired StenTech for an undisclosed sum.

PASADENA, CA – Commodity supply tightness and cost inflation are impacting most inputs across electronics categories, according to new data from Supplyframe. Continuing category challenges at the beginning of this quarter suggest there will only be pockets of relief through the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 for many commodities.

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – The metaverses offer myriad opportunities not just for users but for developers of computing devices. As that market takes off, what novel innovations in materials and production will be needed for printed circuit designs to meet the requirements for weight, size, and functionality?

BANNOCKBURN, IL – Total North American EMS shipments in April were up 4.3% compared to the same month last year and down 10.7% sequentially.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — Total North American PCB shipments in April were up 2.1% year-over-year and down 20.4% sequentially.

PENANG – EMS firm Cnergenz reported first quarter revenue of RM36.9 million (US$8.4 million), with primary contributions from sales of SMT equipment constituting 60.9% of total revenue. Sales from the integrated solutions segment contributed 31.2%.

SUDBURY, MA – Delo posted sales of €182 million (US$195 million) in fiscal year 2022, up 9% year-over-year.  

Have big box stores learned lessons that can be applied by electronics manufacturers?

One of the big takeaways from the Future Compute conference on the campus of MIT in May was a definitive “yes!”

There, we heard about how some of the large retail chains like Target use software, hardware and data in all kinds of customer experiences.

Almost every employee has handheld devices tracking the billions of sensors and cameras in use across some 1,900 stores and 50 regional distribution centers. At each store, it runs about 100 different software applications. They look at traffic trends: When is the peak? When is the lag? And how can they be modulated?

Now consider an electronics manufacturing operation. There could be hundreds of operators, thousands of PCBs, millions of components, billions of solder joints, each one needing traceability.

MUNICH — To better support IPC’s European members’ interests, the association formed IPC Electronics Europe.