BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PCB shipments rose 5.1% year-over-year in May, but orders fell 4.2%.

Through May, shipments are up 6.2%, while bookings are 7.5% higher. Compared to April, shipments were down 0.7% and bookings were down 5.2%. The book-to-bill ratio fell to 0.96.

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COPENHAGEN -- Lego Group is taking its toys and going home. Europe's largest toy maker will end its outsourcing deal with Flextronics next year and bring manufacturing back in-house, the company said today.

"During the past year it has become increasingly obvious to the two parties that it would be more optimal for the Lego Group to manage its global manufacturing set up," Lego said in a statement.

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SAN DIEGO – Pulse, an electronics component and subassembly designer and manufacturer, announced its Sonion Division will operate under the Pulse name, effective today. Sonion will undergo a name and legal entity change over the coming months.
 
The Technitrol Co. subsidiary’s activities related to hearing instrument components, pro-audio and medical device components will continue as a new group called MedTech. The mobile terminal components and MEMS microphone activities will become part of Pulse’s existing Wireless group.
 
Technitrol acquired Sonion on Feb. 28 and became part of the firm’s Electronic Components Segment. 
 
Sonion is based in Roskilde, Denmark and has facilities in Poland, China, Vietnam, the US, and the Netherlands. 
 
 

 
 
 
 

ROMULUS, MI – The right combination of materials, finishes and solders can have a marked effect on bare board cost and reliability.
 
Indeed, according to Jim Kelch, director of sales/marketing, at PWB fabricator Saturn Electronics Corp., the right recipe can cut board costs as much as 30%.
 
In a Webinar Monday, Kelch, along with representatives from Isola Group and Florida CirTech, laid out how.
 
The move to Pb-free creates a host of indirect cost drivers, said Kelch, including increased scrap rate (due to delamination and decreased solderability) and the need for additional storage and handling steps (generally, pre-baking).
 
The response, according to Kelch, is designers are calling out FR-4 laminates with 180° Tg and 340° Td (time to decomposition at temperature).  But while FR-4 is RoHS compliant, it is not always right for Pb-free assembly, he explained, while 180° Tg does not guarantee adequate Td.
 
Saturn’s proposed solution: mid-grade Pb-free capable laminates that meet IPC-4101/99 (filled) or IPC-4101/124 (unfilled), with a minimum 150° Tg and 325° Td.
 
The benefits, he says, are a 15 to 20% cost savings on raw materials; lower moisture absorption (0.10 to 0.25%); higher interlaminate adhesion (peel strength = T-288 >10 min.), and high copper-to-laminate peel strength.
 
Dave Coppens, technical account manager at laminate supplier Isola, discussed test results for the company’s IS400 product, which reportedly performed well under tests for TGA, DSC, Td, weight loss % by TGA, peel strength and 6X reflow.
 
Next, Glenn Sikorcin, sales manager at Florida CirTech, which is one of the North American licensees for Nihon Superior’s SN100CL, an all-tin solder alloy, shared results of Pb-free HASL and HALT tests. Pb-free HASL required the most energy (G-force and thermal cycling) to break solder joints, and outperformed SnPb HASL in the tests, according Sikorcin. He noted Pb-free HASL (also called HAL) has certain drawbacks, including a non-planar finish, and it’s not ideal for extremely fine-pitch applications; there are post-solderability issues, and SN100CL requires a thermal cycle in addition to thermal cycle in assembly. Finally, no industry standards exist for Pb-free HASL.
 
Based on Isola and Florida CirTech’s studies, Kelch said, “By implementing one or both solutions, you save up to 30% of bare board cost; increase product performance; standardize fab notes to remove risk of non-performing products, and improve your supply base.”
  
During the Webinar, Kelch took audience polls. Here are some results:
 
Have you experienced delamination during Pb-free assembly?
–        Yes 46%
–        No 54%
 
What is your current lead-free finish?
–        ENIG: 32%
–        Pb-free HASL: 32%
–        Immersion silver: 15%
–        Immersion tin: 0%
–        RoHS compliant: 21%

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Intel gained momentum in the worldwide microprocessor business in the first quarter, while rival Advanced Micro Devices continued its long-term increase in market share, according to iSuppli Corp.
 
In the first quarter, Intel accounted for 79.7% of global microprocessor revenue, up 1.2 points sequentially. However, Intel’s microprocessor revenue market share was down by 0.7 points year-over-year.
 
In contrast, AMD lost market share on a sequential basis in the first quarter, taking 13% of global revenue, down 1.1 points sequentially. On the other hand, the company managed to increase its share by 2.2 points year-over-year.
 
Combined, AMD and Intel accounted for 92.7% of total microprocessor revenues in the first quarter, up 1.4 points year-over-year.
 
“Intel was the short-term winner in the first quarter microprocessor market,” observed Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. “But over the previous 12-month period, the trend is reversed, with AMD growing its share.”
 
About half of AMD’s long-term growth came at the expense of Intel. The remainder came out of the market-share of smaller suppliers, says the research firm.
 
iSuppli’s latest global PC forecast calls for unit shipment growth of 10.5% in 2008. First-quarter results were encouraging, with global PC unit shipments rising to 69.9 million units, up 12.1% compared to the same period last year.
 
Notebook shipments were strong, with growth of more than 30% compared to the first quarter of 2007. In contrast, desktop PC shipments in the first quarter were essentially flat compared to a year earlier.
 
Reflecting the robust demand situation, both Intel and AMD noted their ASPs did not decrease sequentially. This price stability is another indication that price pressure has decreased and the pricing war between the two microprocessor suppliers has abated, according to iSuppli. 

LISLE, IL –Molex Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of Taipei-based AFlextech Inc.  No financial terms were disclosed.
 
AFlextech designs and manufactures flexible circuits and assemblies. GM Sando Chen says the company also offers Molex-expanded capabilities for SMT, through-hole and hybrid assembly.
 
The company will operate as a subsidiary of Molex and will be part of the company’s Global Integrated Products Division.
 
Founded in 2003, AFlextech has sales of approximately $25 million and 300 employees.
 

SAN JOSE – Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 7.5% in May, year-over-year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Sales were up 2.8% sequentially. Excluding memory sales, ICs are up 12.3% through May.

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PORTSMOUTH, UK – Despite signs of an economic slowdown in the wake of the global credit crunch, Semicast says revenues for semiconductors in industrial and medical applications will continue to grow around 8% in 2008.

“One of the defining characteristics of the industrial sector is that it does not exhibit the ‘boom-and-bust’ cycle so typical of the semiconductor industry as a whole. While in good times this means opportunities are often overlooked, during more uncertain times, the sector represents a safe bet for steady and dependable revenues. Accordingly, many semiconductor vendors are now taking a much closer look at the opportunities,” said Colin Barnden, Semicast’s principal analyst for semiconductor research.

The market for semiconductors in industrial and medical applications is estimated to have been $20 billion in 2007, up 20% compared to 2005. Demand is forecast to rise further, to more than $33 billion in 2013, a CAGR approaching 9%, totaling $183 billion during the period between 2007 and 2013, says the research firm.

In 2007, analog ICs and discretes represented the two largest product categories, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP, according to Semicast. Over the medium term, highest revenue growth is forecast for analog ICs, followed by MCU/MPU/DSP.

Demand is forecast to continue to be led by standard linear devices, with strong revenue growth also for application specific analog ICs. The need for high-precision or high-speed products is growing strongly, driving up overall ASPs and supporting continued growth, says the firm.

The vast majority of revenues in the discretes category are for power discretes, which are used widely in applications such as lighting ballast, motor drives and power supplies.

While industrial is often thought of as a sector requiring low processing performance, more than two-thirds of growth in the MCU/MPU/DSP category is forecast for 32-bit devices. x86 MPUs had the highest revenues in 2007, but ARM MCUs are forecast to see highest growth.

Revenues for PLDs/FPGAs are forecast to grow strongly in industrial applications, while revenue growth for gate array/standard cell-based devices is forecast to slow. Growth is forecast to increase with replacement of incandescent bulbs with LEDs in lighting applications and across the industrial sector as a whole.

Strong demand for image sensors is also forecast in machine vision and video surveillance, while optocouplers continue to find strong demand in the automation sector, says Semicast.

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WASHINGTON – North American manufacturers consider the US the most desirable country for expansion over the next three years, according to a survey released today by the National Association of Manufacturers, The Manufacturing Institute, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and Deloitte.

The largest number of North American companies (44%) say they intend to expand production in the US over the next three years. And 57% say they will become more globally competitive over the next five years across the supply chain from sales, marketing and customer service to engineering and information technology.

The news, however, is not all rosy. “The survey clearly shows concerns that manufacturing companies want government to address,” said Emily DeRocco, NAM senior vice president. “Manufacturers cited controlling labor costs, enacting favorable tax policies and assisting with the severe shortage of skilled manufacturing workers, including engineers, scientists and technicians, as the top three areas that policymakers should address to help improve their global competitiveness."

Nearly 80% of respondents identified tax cuts for manufacturers as the key factor promoting innovation and R&D. “Clearly, Congress needs to extend the R&D credit that expired at the end of last year,” noted DeRocco.

The survey sheds new light on how North American manufacturers view free-trade agreements. Contrary to widely held perceptions, North American manufacturers paint a positive picture of their experiences with NAFTA after almost 15 years. Almost half (49%) say that NAFTA helped their business to become more competitive, while 10% say it has hurt their business. The remaining 41% said it did not affect them one way or the other.

“On the trade policy side, the significant competitive momentum that is felt among U.S. manufacturers in this survey is reflected by the surge in U.S. export sales that has stabilized the U.S. economy this year,” said NAM vice president, international economic affairs Frank Vargo. “This report is a clarion call to negotiate and approve free trade agreements that will knock down barriers to U.S. exports. Congress should heed the news in this report and vote to strengthen the ability of North American-based manufacturers to compete effectively in the global economy.”

The survey, Made in North America, reflects the views of 321 top-tier executives in a broad range of North American manufacturing companies of all sizes. The majority of companies represented in the survey (45%) are based in the US. To download the survey, go to www.nam.org/northamericansurvey.