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EL SEGUNDO, CA – At just beyond the midyear point, all signs point to the PC market attaining the annual forecast of 11.2% growth in unit shipments, says iSuppli Corp.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA – Soldering equipment supplier BTU International announced second-quarter net sales fell 39% year-over-year to $13.8 million.

MINNEAPOLIS – CyberOptics Corp. reported consolidated sales of $13.97 million in the second quarter, up 1.8% from the first quarter, and down 4% year-over-year.

Net income totaled $1.2 million, up 4% over the first quarter, and down 37% from year a ago.

Sales and earnings exceeded the company’s previously issued guidance.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – The Chinese government is offering 3G licenses to the four state-owned telcos – China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom – as incentives, if they are willing to accept reforms, according to iSuppli.

The National Development & Reform Commission believes a fundamental restructuring of the nation’s telecom industry is essential to promote the long-term growth of the country’s fixed and wireless core communications networks, says the firm.

Much of the responsibility for reforms reportedly can be attributed to China Mobile. The company has a near monopoly in China’s mobile communications market with $37.8 billion in revenue, accounting for 76% of the nation’s total mobile communications revenue. China Mobile also had a net profit of $8.5 billion last year, which is 10 times the profit of China Unicom, three times that of China Telecom and six times that of China Netcom, says iSuppli.

iSuppli says China’s core fixed and wireless networks are transitioning to IP-based next-generation networks. Furthermore, increasing numbers of media gateways and servers will allow China’s telecom networks to deploy advanced support services, video content distribution and online gaming. Mobile handsets will have to incorporate more advanced multimedia capabilities and open operating systems, according to the researcher.

Releasing 3G licenses in China has become a political issue, says iSuppli. The biggest barrier to introducing 3G services is the high level of licensing fees that must be paid by Chinese operators, mobile infrastructure suppliers and handset manufacturers. Much of the postponement is coming from the Chinese government, which is still negotiating with companies such as Qualcomm and Siemens, which own many of the 3G technology patents, adds the firm.

iSuppli believes China will issue three licenses during the first half of 2008, and is certain that China Mobile will be given a license to deploy TD-SCDMA networks. China is not expected to deploy more than three national 3G networks, as regulators aim to reduce capital expenditures through base-station site-sharing arrangements, as well as radio access network and core-network sharing.

iSuppli forecasts that China’s TD-SCDMA 3G subscribers will jump to 28 million by 2011, up from 1.1 million subscribers this year. By 2008, 3G subscribers in China will reach 6.4 million. For each of these subscribers, a new mobile handset will be required, offering a selling opportunity for many companies inside the wireless telecom industry.

However, iSuppli says a key revenue driver in China will come from the applications that will be enabled by 3G. Chinese consumers will be able to access the Internet, download music, stream Internet video, use mobile mailboxes, pay bills online and engage in mobile blogging and interactive 3D gaming—all through their mobile phones.

iSuppli forecasts China’s 3G value-added services market will grow to $19.5 billion in revenue by 2011, up 45% from 2006, maintaining a CAGR of 17.4%.

QINHUANGDAO, CHINA – Foxconn plans to invest $1 billion in the manufacturing of electronics products over the next three years in Qinhuangdao, according to Xinhua.net.

The company will build an industrial park in the Beidaihe district of Qinhuangdao, according to Terry Gou, president of Hon Hai Precision, the parent company of Foxconn.

The park will contain nanotechnology R&D centers and electronics manufacturing factories for PCBs and signal transmitters. The location reportedly will create 35,000 jobs, says Foxconn.

Qinhuangdao is situated in Hebei province, about 300 km east of Beijing.

In February, Foxconn started a $99- million project in Langfang City, located between Beijing and Tianjin City in northern China.

MINNEAPOLIS – The SMTA and Canon Communications today announced a one-year agreement in support of Canon’s Electronics West show. Under the terms of the agreement, the SMTA will endorse Electronics West and encourage its members to participate.

PALO ALTO, CA – Current market dynamics point to further outsourcing by OEMs, and as a result, both EMS providers and ODMs will enjoy steady growth during the forecast period, says Frost & Sullivan.

SAN FRANCISCO – The combination of accelerating PC unit growth, benign end-market PC pricing and falling component costs is creating a favorable operating environment for PC vendors, says Deutsche Bank Equity Research.

Recent IDC market data show worldwide PC shipment growth accelerated to 12.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, up 1.5 points sequentially.

DB believes PC unit growth will accelerate through the second half, and unit growth estimates will trend up as a result of continued strength in emerging markets, ongoing consumer strength and early signs of a corporate upgrade cycle.

In addition, stable PC pricing and declining component costs – DRAM, aggressive near-term hard disk drive pricing and excess CPU inventory – will translate into improving profitability for the sector, says the firm.

IDC data show that worldwide PC shipment growth on the rise, buffeted by continued robust demand in the Asia Pacific (up 20% over last year) and better-than-expected U.S. demand.

The company continues to believe PC unit growth will accelerate through year-end and expects consensus expectations for PC unit growth to trend toward 15%. Continued strength in emerging markets, consumer and the beginning stages of a corporate PC upgrade cycle in the second half will drive improving growth rates through year-end, says the firm.

HP remains the top vendor on a worldwide basis with 19.3% unit share, followed by Dell (16.1%), Lenovo (8.3%), Acer (7.2%) and Toshiba (4.1%). Dell was the top vendor in the U.S. with 28.4% market share, followed by HP (23.6%), Gateway (5.6%), Apple (5.6%), Toshiba (5.3%) and Acer (5.2%). Apple had a particularly strong quarter with growth of 26% year-over-year.

PC pricing remains benign despite the favorable component cost environment, DB says.

EDINA, MN – Amkor Technology COO and executive vice president Oleg Khaykin will keynote this year’s International Wafer-Level Packaging Conference.

The talk will take place on Sept. 18 in San Jose.

The 4th Annual IWLPC runs Sept. 17-19, with full-day workshops, a technical conference and a tabletop exhibition.

For a complete program schedule and registration visit www.smta.org/iwlpc.

LONDON — Tin prices are slipping — slightly — on the London Metal Exchange after matching an 18-year high of $15,700 a ton last week. Supplies of the metal, a key element in electronics solder and plating, have been under pressure due to disruptions in Indonesia and Bolivia.

TAIPEI – Acer Inc. has countersued Hewlett-Packard, alleging violation of four patents, the PC maker said today.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – HEI Inc. announced net sales for the third quarter were $9.8 million, a decrease of $3.4 million year-over-year.

The largest decrease (approximately $1.4 million) was in the company’s microelectronics division; the division had a series of consolidations in the telecommunications industry and offshore outsourcing of a medical product customer, HEI said.

Net sales of HEI’s flexible substrate business were lower by approximately $1.8 million because of its primary external customer's initiative to consume excess inventories.

For the nine months ended June 2, net sales were $33.3 million, a decrease of $5.4 million year-over-year.

Profit was $199,000 (2% of net sales) for the quarter, compared to 18% for the same quarter last year. For the prior nine-month period, profit was $2.5 million, or 8% of sales, compared to 18% year-over-year.