News
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Global shipments of mobile handsets equipped with GPS capability are expected to more than quadruple from 2006 to 2011 because of the U.S. government’s mandate for Emergency 911 capability, as well as wireless operators’ initiatives to offer location-based services, according to iSuppli Corp.
GPS-equipped mobile handset shipments will increase to 444 million units by 2011, rising from 109.6 million units in 2006. By 2011, 29.6% of all mobile phones shipped will have GPS capability, up from 11.1% in 2006, said the firm.
“Besides cameras, multimedia capabilities and connectivity solutions, mobile-handset OEMs increasingly are investigating the integration of GPS functionality in mobile devices as a value-added product differentiator,” said Tina Teng, analyst, wireless communications at iSuppli. “Wireless carriers are looking at introducing various new GPS-based, revenue-generating services to increase average revenue per user.”
Qualcomm Inc., supplier of code division multiple access solutions, began to integrate GPS processors into its digital baseband semiconductors in 2000.
The CDMA-dominated nations of the U.S. and South Korea are expected to be the leading regions for GPS-enabled mobile handsets. Europe will be the next largest GPS-enabled handset market, as GPS functionality penetrates into smart phones. In September, a Nokia smart phone with GPS capability was the top model purchased on the Web site of European carrier O2, according to iSuppli.
Semiconductor suppliers, wireless network operators and device manufacturers are already in the GPS game. LBS will encourage more suppliers to provide the most efficient solutions in terms of power consumption, time to first fix and affordable pricing for A-GPS adoption.
Semiconductor suppliers include baseband providers that offer complete solutions from cellular products to various connectivity options; companies that specialize in GPS and that provide GPS chipsets and software packages not only to handset manufacturers but also to automotive and personal navigation system manufacturers, and companies that specialize in Radio Frequency and that integrate GPS receivers into their current cellular RF receiver offerings, said iSuppli.
NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. announced fourth-quarter revenue was $426 million, an increase of 6.8% year-over-year.
Plexus targets revenue growth in the range of 15% to 18% in 2008.
Dean Foate, president and CEO, commented, "Our return on invested capital for fiscal 2007 of 17.6% was above our weighted average cost of capital and consistent with our long-term financial model. Despite being at the low end of our revenue guidance for Q4, we exceeded our earnings expectations, driven primarily by a favorable mix of customer programs, better than expected labor efficiencies and strong performance by our engineering services organization (Technology Group) ...
"Looking forward, we are expecting a strong start to fiscal 2008, with Q1 revenue in the range of $440 million to $460 million with single digit growth in all of our Market Sectors, with the exception of our Defense Sector, where we expect sequential revenue growth to exceed 25%. Including the production push-out from Q4 and a small follow-on order from our large defense customer, we are currently expecting approximately $54 million in revenue from this program in Q1 followed by approximately $26 million in Q2."
BOSTON – The big news from Nepcon East was what was happening away from the show floor. Most businesses, while noting a general slowing of growth this year, indicated that they were in hiring mode going into 2008.
OREM, UT – Electronics contract manufacturer Wolf Electronix has invested more that $1 million in equipment and facility improvements in Orem, UT.
Upgrades include ESD flooring, lighting, screen printers, SMT machines (inline), ovens, and automated optical inspection machines.
In addition, Wolf Electronix appointed 20-year veteran Robert Greiner as CEO. Prior to joining Wolf, Greiner was CFO of a management group in the Northwest, complementing 10 years of financial and operational management in the EMS industry.
The public is invited to an open house the first week of November; call 800-458-3179 for details.
KRAKOW, POLAND – Note has agreed to acquire half the shares of a new joint venture with Polish EMS provider Fideltronik.
Arne Forslund, Note’s CEO and president said, “Our joint venture will be based at Fideltronik’s current plant in Krakow and will have some 220 employees. The acquisition brings us access to additional cost-efficient production capacity in Poland that complements our other international facilities in the Baltic States and China.”
No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.
SPOKANE VALLEY, WA – EMS provider Key Tronic Corp. reported total revenue of $44.6 million in the first quarter of 2008, down nearly 20% year-over-year.
Net income for the quarter was $200,000, a decrease of close to 86% compared to the same period in 2007.
“As anticipated, we saw slower demand from a number of our established customers in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, while our new programs contributed a growing portion of our revenue,” said Jack Oehlke, president and CEO. “We expect both our established customers and our new customer programs to drive strong revenue and earnings growth in the second half of fiscal 2008.
For the second quarter, the company expects revenue in the range of $45 million to $48 million.
SAN JOSE, CA – Global EMS provider Sanmina-SCI Corp. reported revenue of $2.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2007, flat with revenue in the third quarter, and down 7.4% year-over-year.
Year-end revenue was $10.4 billion, down 5.4% compared to 2006.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $10.2 million, compared to a net loss of $22.8 million sequentially, and a net loss of $2.1 million year-over-year.
Net income for the year was $22.8 million, down about 78% compared to the prior year.
Gross profit was $134.1 million, up 10.3% sequentially and 2.3% year-over-year.
The company expects first-quarter 2008 revenue in the range of $2.5 billion to 2.65 billion.
MANKATO, MN – Winland Electronics Inc., designer and manufacturer of custom electronic control products and systems, announced CEO Lorin Krueger’s resignation, effective Jan. 2, at which time he will aid the company’s board of director’s in identifying his successor.
SAN JOSE – Global microchip sales in September were $22.6 billion, an increase of 5.9% year-over-year, the Semiconductor Industry Association reports. Sales were up 5% sequentially.
LOS ALTOS, CA – Driven by strong economic conditions and a continuing wireless boom, world communication equipment production bounded ahead by 12.6% during 2006, according to the latest Henderson Ventures forecast.
However, slower economic growth and a tail off in the mobile communication sector will create a sharp deceleration in equipment growth this year, the firm says.
Global output is expected to increase by only 6%. However, this year’s loss of momentum represents something of a timeout rather than a fundamental change in the fortunes of the communication sector, Henderson reports. In fact, growth rates will accelerate once again, reaching a 10.1% pace in 2009.
Handset growth to ease the mobile telephone industry, including handsets and infrastructure, will be hitting a fundamental roadblock within the next few years, as the number of new subscribers dwindles because of market saturation among global consumers who can afford a subscription, the company says.
And given the forecast for a gradual leveling of the subscriber base, the handset forecast also calls for a slowdown. It is believed that the age of 20+% growth rates are behind us. However, growth rates in the vicinity of 10% through 2009 can be expected.
MORGANVILLE, NJ – CADParts & Consulting LLC has agreed to market the complete Simplified Solutions Inc. offering of subscriptions and products.
The agreement includes the 3D component modeling service, yearly pro/engineer electrical library subscriptions, and libraries of Pro/E and IGES formatted electrical components.
CADParts & Consulting provides an outsource service for all aspects of electronic product design and development.
Simplified Solutions provides products and services to assist in development of 3D PCBs used in product design and analysis tasks.
DORSET, UK – Europlacer, designer and manufacturer of pick-and-place machines, announced the addition of Hexi Reflow Ovens to its product offering.
The Blakell Europlacer Group will also sell the Hexi products in France through its Europlacer Distribution subsidiary.
Hexi Electronics is a Chinese developer and manufacturer of reflow ovens.
The first purchase from UK CEM Northern Hitech has been made.
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