Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

SAN JOSE -- Sanmina-SCI has issued a pair of offerings worth some $600 million, which the company will use to pay down debt.

The EMS provider said the $600 million in notes would be issued to qualified institutional buyers in the U.S.

TAIPEI -- Asustek's chairman said the motherboard maker will its separate its contract manufacturing operations from its branded products group as soon as possible. The company previously said it would split the divisions in 2008.

Instead, the company will split the operations by year end , and the new company will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to published reports.

WESTLAKE, OH – On April 27, Nordson Corporation filed a patent infringement action in the Tokyo District Court against Jetmaster and Jetmaster2, manufactured by Musashi Engineering Inc.

The complaint alleges that two Musashi products infringe two of Nordson’s Japanese patents, and that the operation of the Jetmaster and Jetmaster 2 infringes a third Japanese patent.

Nordson, through its subsidiary, Asymtek, owns three Japanese patents relating to DJ-2100 and DJ-9000 jet dispensers.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The IC industry as a whole registered a five-year CAGR of 12% between 2001 and 2006. However, the cellular phone IC market displayed the most notable CAGR of 22% during that time period, says IC Insights in its May update of the McClean Report.

For the first time ever, cellular handset unit volume shipments are forecast to total more than one billion this year, the research firm predicts.

Cellular phone handset unit shipments, revenue, and ASP are forecast to be +10%, +3%, and -6%, respectively.

Nokia is expected to ship more than 400 million handsets, and Sony Ericsson cellular phone shipments are expected to surge at least 40%, exceeding Samsung in handset revenue this year.

NEW YORK – General Atlantic and Francisco Partners, major private equity firms, have sued Aeroflex Inc., saying the maker of electronics test equipment owes them a larger fee for breaking off a pending merger.

According to an SEC filing, the $22.5 million breakup Aeroflex agreed to pay was some $15 million less than GA and Francisco claim they are owed.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Delta Electronics announced its May revenues rose 24% to $10 million year-over-year. The company, which makes power systems, video displays, and provides EMS services, said year-to-date revenues were $47.9 million, a 25% increase over last year.

TOKYO – JPCA 2007, held amid a minor slowdown in the electronics interconnect industry, must be considered an unqualified success. Between the innovations on display, the incorporation of the Protec assembly show, and real world collaboration, JPCA demonstrated the possibilities of realizing technical advances, and building the foundations for growth while maintaining profitability.

TUMKUR, INDIA -- Incap Corp. has signed an agreement to acquire TVS Electronics Ltd.'s contract manufacturing operations in Tumkur in a deal worth some $10 million.

The deal includes TVS's design services in Bangalore, which will be transferred to Incap Contract Manufacturing Services Pvt. Ltd.

The publicly traded, Oulu, Finland-based Incap had sales of $121 million in 2006 and employs 550 workers. TVS's

FRANKLIN, MA – On July 19, Speedline will offer a free Webcast on stencil printing solder paste for the formation of solder bumps.

This Webinar will review all aspects of the bump printing process including stencil design, solder paste selection, fixturing and printing parameters. In addition, optimization of the related reflow soldering process will be discussed.

The one-hour presentation will start at 11:00 am EST.

To register, go to www.speedlinetech.com/seminars.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Acer Inc. supplanted rival Lenovo as the world’s third largest PC supplier in the first quarter, according to iSuppli Corp.

Acer also posted the best growth performance among the Top-5 PC suppliers on a year-over-year basis. PC shipments at the Taiwanese company rose 45.8% to 4.2 million units, up from 2.9 million last year.

The company also achieved the largest percentage increase in unit shipments among the Top-5 suppliers in the fourth quarter, posting a 42.7% rise year-over-year. In the fourth quarter, Acer displaced Toshiba for third in worldwide notebook PC market.

Acer and No. 1 Hewlett Packard. were the standouts among the Top-5 PC suppliers, with year-to-year growth rates surpassing those of Lenovo, Toshiba and Dell.

Dell was the only PC OEM among the Top-5 to suffer a decline in units compared to the same period last year. The one-time leader saw units drop 6.8%, to nine million.

Dell’s performance pales against its competitors. During the quarter, collective unit shipments by the Top-5 PC makers increased 14.2% compared to last year, exceeding overall industry growth of 8.7%.

However, Dell announced a plan in the second quarter to sell PCs through Wal-Mart in North America. The company also restored founder Michael Dell to the role of CEO, and added Michael Cannon, the former CEO of Solectron.

Dell’s moves may be bearing fruit, said iSuppli. Although company unit shipments were down 6.8% in the first quarter, the decline was less than the 8.6% decrease in the fourth quarter.

SAN JOSE -- Two of the largest EMS firms in the world will join forces as No. 2 Flextronics International this morning announced it would acquire No. 3 Solectron Corp. for $3.6 billion in cash and stock.

The combined company will have about 200,000 employees and annual revenue of more than $30 billion, ahead of the current market leader, Hon Hai (Foxconn).

SPRINGFIELD, MA -- In the second largest EMS acquisition of the day, Nu Visions Manufacturing and San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden Gate Capital bought Veritek Manufacturing Services for an undisclosed amount.

San Marcos, CA-based Veritek has plants in San Jose and Longmont, CO.