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ATLANTA – There is still time to register for Streamlining PCB Documentation for Successful Manufacturing, a free one-hour Webinar.

Presented by DownStream Technologies and UP Media Group, Circuits Assembly’s parent company, the Webinar will take place June 20 at 2 pm EDT.

The online event will focus on how BluePrint-PCB can change the way you create PCB documentation by using intelligent design data to automate the PCB documentation process. The event will include a live software demonstration.

Learn more at:

http://www.pcbshows.com/webinars/events/streamlining_pcb_doc/.

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=46652&s=1&k=8D97BB400F5C532CF1EB1F7E73609EEC.

WASHINGTON, DC – The latest update to AeA’s Competitiveness Series emphasizes the need to pass the pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and Peru. In the report, AeA says Central and South America are leading destinations for U.S. high-tech goods.

Rob Mulligan, AeA’s senior vice president international, states, “In terms of high-tech goods, the United States held a $14 billion trade surplus with the region in 2006, nearly 25% larger than it was in 2000.”

Last year, the U.S. exported $17.1 billion of high-tech products to Central and South America; combined, this makes the region the fourth largest destination for U.S. tech exports, ahead of the individual countries of China and Japan. Between 2005 and 2006, U.S. high-tech exports to Central and South America rose by 20%, says AeA.

High-tech imports from Central and South America declined by $200 million between 2005 and 2006, from $3.3 billion to $3.1 billion, says the report.

SINGAPORE – Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is ramping production of Tezzaron Semiconductor’s ultra high-speed memory chips.

In addition, the two companies are working on the manufacture of Tezzaron’s 3-D devices, and hope to see them become the first 3-D ICs to be manufactured in volume.

With Tezzaron’s FaStack technology, device circuitry is divided into sections built onto separate wafers using standard processing. Chartered enables 3-D stacking of these wafers by building hundreds of thousands of Tezzaron’s embedded thru-silicon interconnections, called Super-Contacts, into the circuitry on each wafer. The wafers are then aligned with a precision of 0.5µm, bonded, thinned, and diced into individual devices. A FaStack chip functions as a single device.

Chartered and Tezzaron will enhance the 3-D IC designs and build them into wafers produced by Chartered. Tezzaron plans to offer many types of 3-D IC memories in two, three and five layers using NanoTSV technology.

Chartered is also manufacturing Tezzaron’s 3T-iRAM family of 2-D 72Mb memory devices.

SAN JOSE – The SIA today lowered its 2007 forecast for global microchip sales growth from 10% to 1.8%, citing drops in average selling prices. The new forecast projects total sales of $252 billion, rising to $306 billion in 2010, a 5.4% CAGR for year-end 2006 through 2010, said the trade group's president, George Scalise.

TAIWAN – Cellphone maker Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. plans to spend $1 billion by the end of 2008 to more than double its production capacity, according to published reports.

The company produced more than $10 billion worth of products last year, and expects to produce more than $20 billion from 2008 through 2009.

VANCOUVER -- PTL Electronics Ltd. has invested $1.1 million in new equipment and will open a manufacturing facility in August to meet customer demand. The EMS firm's new facility will double the existing manufacturing space, while and the new equipment is expected to increase capacity by 150%. It will bring the number of Siemens high-speed SMT lines to four, including a single line dedicated to prototypes.

The new facility will be situated close to the current location, and will open in August. It will include a dedicated area for full box-build assembly. PTL will operate in both locations simultaneously for two months to ease potential disruptions.

PTL, which is owned by Moventis Capital, grew 76% last year to $15.7 million and will have $5 million in backlogs for the quarter ending June 30.

NEENAH, WI -- Plexus Corp. executive Paul Ehlers, 51, died June 10 from cancer. Ehlers, who had been on medical leave since January 2007, was executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In a statement, chief executive Dean Foate said, "Paul was a tremendous leader and a trusted friend. His passion for life, his competitive nature and his eternal optimism resonated in everything he did. The overwhelming expressions of support over the past few months from customers, suppliers and fellow Plexus associates around the world is a testament to the positive impact that Paul had on the people and businesses that he touched. He will be deeply missed."

IRVINE, CA – Qualcomm has filed a request for an emergency stay of a U.S. International Trade Commission ban on the import of some phones containing Qualcomm chips.

The move is a response to an ITC order that certain Qualcomm chips said to infringe a Broadcom Corp. patent be barred from importation into the U.S. The ban did not apply to phones that had been imported by June 7.

The ban affects several big name handset OEMs, including LG, Samsung and Motorola. LG has also filed for a stay of the ITC decision.

Meanwhile, also on Monday, it was revealed Nokia and Qualcomm have filed countersuits alleging patent infringement.

The ITC finding, which is subject to review for 60 days, was the latest action in a longstanding dispute between Qualcomm and Broadcom. The ITC found that Qualcomm's cellular baseband chips infringe five patent claims.

Broadcom has also pursued patent infringement claims against Qualcomm in Santa Ana, CA, where on May 29 a federal jury found Qualcomm liable for willfully infringing nine claims of three different Broadcom patents. The jury awarded Broadcom $19.6 million in damages, which may be trebled by the judge because of willful infringement.

Even as the mobile phone wars heat up, a new front comes from Apple, which will enter the fray on June 29 with its touted iPhone. That device is not subject to the Qualcomm import ban, and the legal actions over the latter’s chipset may boost demand for the latest handset entrant.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – iSuppli forecasts total market shipments of 65.1 million car navigation systems by 2012, more than three times the 19.8 million shipped in 2006.

POWAY, CA -- Jabil Circuit will close its assembly plant here and lay off the site's 143 workers by September.

Last year, Jabil said it would close certain facilities in the U.S. In April, the EMS company told Californian officials the Poway site would be shuttered.

TAIPEI -- An top Intel Corp. executive in Asia last week encouraged Taiwanese manufacturers to invest more in research and development in order to keep up with the rest of the world.

Stanley Huang, director of advanced technical sales & service for the Asia-Pacific region, also said Intel would keep its own R&D in the U.S.

"I suggest more investment in R&D,” Huang told the show daily of the Computex trade show: “Taiwanese manufacturing['s] competitive advantage is in its global operational experience, including aspects such as global supply chain management; this cannot be surpassed by competitors anytime soon. Taiwanese companies have many good people with global vision. They should take advantage of this, rather than compete with others for plant and market scale."

The complete interview is here: http://www.computextaipei.com.tw/presscenter/news_view.shtml?docno=803.

BERMATINGEN, GERMANY – Rohwedder AG will acquire JOT Automation from Elektrobit Corp. for 29 million euros, less contingencies covering JOT's interest-bearing liabilities and its financial performance in 2007 and 2008.