News
HILLSBORO, OR – Viscom AG, maker of electronics inspection equipment, has acquired the MX family of IR inspection systems from Phoseon Technology Inc., the companies reported today.
The MX product family is a series of semiconductor inspection systems that incorporate infrared light sources for semiconductor applications where inspection through silicon is required, such as MEMS seal inspection, through-silicon wafer bond imaging and inspection, as well as SOI and flip-chip die bond inspection.
The acquisition price will remain confidential. This transaction takes the form of an assets deal and grants Viscom all patents for near IR inspection and exclusive use of Phoseon Near-IR lighting technology for inspection application licenses.
The agreement also transfers employees and the customer and applications base from Phoseon.
FRAMINGHAM, MA – Worldwide semiconductor sales will grow 4.8% this year, before rebounding to 8.1% in 2008, IDC says.
2007 sales are down from 8.8% last year, in part because of inventory and pricing issues. However, IDC expects growth to resume at 8.1% in 2008. An even healthier outcome could be realized, should capacity expansion be tempered next year and growth in demand remain strong, the company says.
Elsewhere, IDC says, market trends point to ongoing mergers and acquisitions that will reshape the landscape and bring traditional suppliers to the forefront.
According to IDC, PC and mobile phone unit volume is steady, led by emerging regions and low-end products; consumer demand is lackluster, but excess inventory has subsided, and design momentum will lead to substantial volume growth during the holiday season.
A severe price correction in the first half leveled the market for memory devices, such as DRAM and NAND. And the microprocessor market remains flat, the firm reports.
IDC’s forecasts emerging regions will boost semiconductor volume growth; multimedia-rich mobile phones continue to drive semiconductor content and demand for processing, memory consumption, and power management; personal computing further migrates toward mobility and low-priced form factors; video processing proliferates across multiple consumer electronic segments, resulting in strong growth for semiconductor suppliers; semiconductor connectivity technologies drive new usage models across device segments, and growth in personal content implies increasing need for storage, including NAND.
In 2006, the top 10 semiconductor vendors accounted for 48% of the worldwide market revenue, says IDC. Intel, Samsung and Texas Instruments held on to the top three positions, with TI showing the highest growth percentage in revenue among the top three. With the exception of Intel, Renesas and NXP, all other vendors in IDC's top 10 ranking showed positive growth. Hynix grew an amazing 43% year-over-year.
SPOKANE VALLEY, WA – EMS provider Key Tronic Corp. reported revenue of $49.2 million for the fourth quarter, up 4% sequentially and down 6% year-over-year.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $2.7 million, which included a benefit from the company's sale of its former facility in Las Cruces, NM, of approximately $1.5 million.
This compares to $7.1 million for the same period last year, which included an income tax benefit of approximately $5 million.
For the year, revenue was $201.7 million, up 7% from last year. Net income was $5.2 million, down 47% year-over-year.
TAIWAN – Taiwanese contract IC foundries are expected to produce $3.66 billion worth of product, up 16.9% sequentially, thanks to growing demand, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association.
The sector began recovering in the second quarter, with an output of $3.13 billion, up 13.2% sequentially, according to TSIA.
TSIA predicts third-quarter output will increase 5.5% year-over-year. The trend will follow decreases in inventory brought about by growing demand for PCs, cellphones and other consumer electronics, as a result of positive seasonal sales and outsourcing of orders for nanotech products reported by integrated device manufacturers, the report said.
ENDICOTT, NY — The U.S. Department of Defense has increased an existing contract with Endicott Interconnect Technologies by $19 million to cover additional multichip module assemblies and equipment, the company reports.
EI recently bought a flip-chip packaging line, including a screen printer, placement machines, reflow oven and AOI tools to build the additional MCMs.
TAIWAN – Taiwan-based Foxconn has unveiled its first software base in mainland China, according to a report from ChinaTechNews.com. This comes after the company signed a letter of intent with the municipal government of Nanjing earlier this year.
According to the report, CEO Terry Guo said the company chose the Pukou district of Nanjing for its facility, which will design wireless communications networks, enterprise information security and medical software.
The company plans to recruit 30,000 software engineers in five years for the Nanjing site, according to media reports. The site is now operational with more than 200 software developers.
EL SEGUNDO, CA – Contract manufacturers are getting into the LCD-TV market in a big way, with global production of such sets expected to rise by more than a factor of five by 2011, iSuppli Corp. predicts.
ATHENS, OH – Innovation, the future and family took center stage when Dr. Jennie S. Hwang addressed Ohio University undergraduates as the schools’ commencement speaker in June.
In her talk, Dr. Hwang, president of H-Technologies Group, focused on the elements she deems crucial for workplace success. She advised the 4,500 graduates and about 25,000 others in attendance to “go for creativity and innovation, no matter what field you will be entering.
Dr. Hwang, who is the first woman to earn a doctorate in materials science and engineering from Case Western Reserve, offered specific words for female graduates. “To have both a career and a family and to do well in both is indeed a daunting task. It takes effort, discipline and planning. But it can be done [and] nothing can be more fulfilling.”
Dr. Hwang, who was previously a commencement speaker at her alma mater, Kent State University, spoke from experience. In addition to raising two children, she was director of technology at Lockheed Martin, and has held top positions at SCM Corp. and Sherwin Williams, and has been a successful entrepreneur, having launched several businesses.
In her talk, Dr. Hwang, president of H-Technologies Group, focused on the elements she deems crucial for workplace success. She advised the 4,500 graduates and about 25,000 others in attendance to “go for creativity and innovation, no matter what field you will be entering.
Dr. Hwang, who is the first woman to earn a doctorate in materials science and engineering from Case Western Reserve, offered specific words for female graduates. “To have both a career and a family and to do well in both is indeed a daunting task. It takes effort, discipline and planning. But it can be done [and] nothing can be more fulfilling.”
Dr. Hwang, who was previously a commencement speaker at her alma mater, Kent State University, spoke from experience. In addition to raising two children, she was director of technology at Lockheed Martin, and has held top positions at SCM Corp. and Sherwin Williams, and has been a successful entrepreneur, having launched several businesses.
VANCOUVER – Northstar Electronics announced second-quarter revenues were $472,828, up almost 27% year-over-year. The company incurred a loss of $201,043 for the quarter, down almost 6% from the same period last year.
First-half revenues were $660,360, down 33% year-over-year. The company incurred a net loss of $408,497, up 17%.
In the first half, Northstar won two contracts from Lockheed Martin: The first award, from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, is worth $6.3 million. Under it, Northstar is manufacturing parts for the refurbishment of P-3 Maritime Surveillance airplanes. Under the second contract, from Lockheed Martin Canada, Northstar is designing and building prototypes of a sonar system.
Northstar provides EMS services and develops various security and defense OEM products.
SAN JOSE – The EMS market will continue to grow briskly in the coming years as electronics manufacturing outsourcing continues its relentless march, reports Electronic Trend Publications. The research firm reports EMS industry revenue will nearly double in the next five years, reaching $442 billion in 2011.
SALT LAKE CITY – Electronics contract manufacturer CirTran Corp. reported net sales of $2.87 million for the second quarter, up 25.7% sequentially and 29.4% year-over-year.
For the first half, CirTran reported sales of $5.16 million, up 30.4% over the same period last year.
The company reported a net loss for the quarter of $2.57 million, which included interest and other expenses totaling $1.35 million.
In a statement, Iehab J. Hawatmeh, the company’s chairman and president, said expenses were higher in the second quarter because of additional marketing spending. He said the company is hopeful the increased costs will result in increased revenues in the third and fourth quarter.
TEDDINGTON, UK – The National Physical Laboratory seeks input for its electronics defects database.
Available soon at http://defectsdatabase.npl.co.uk, the confidential database will amass common problems and make images freely available for engineers to implement corrective actions in processes or designs.
NPL is circulating three surveys to establish the most common problems experienced or highlighted. The surveys are aimed at PCB manufacturers/distributors/brokers (http://defectsdatabase.npl.co.uk/surveys/pcb.pdf); component manufacturers & distributors (http://defectsdatabase.npl.co.uk/surveys/components.pdf); and printed circuit board assembly companies (http://defectsdatabase.npl.co.uk/surveys/assembly.pdf).
Surveys are available to download; when results are compiled, a copy of the full results will be available.
Press Releases
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- Luminovo Partners with Sluicebox to Offer an Industry-First Instant Product Carbon Footprint for Electronics
- The Assembly Show and SMTAI Announce Colocation in October
- SIA Applauds CHIPS Act Incentives for GlobalWafers Projects in Texas and Missouri