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News

SAN JOSE, CA – The Semiconductor Industry Association today applauded House passage of the conference report to H.R. 2272, the “America Competes Act,” comprehensive innovation legislation championed by a broad, bipartisan group in Congress.

“Leadership in science and technology is fundamental to U.S. economic and national security,” said SIA chairman Richard Templeton. “Increased support for basic research and math and science education are the keys to maintaining U.S. leadership. Today’s action by the House demonstrates that Congress understands that connection.”

Templeton is president and CEO of Texas Instruments.

House approval of the conference report to H.R. 2272, following rapidly on the heels of the agreement between House and Senate conferees, is the next-to-last step in sending the bill to the president’s desk. Senate action is expected in early September, at the latest, but possibly as early as tomorrow.

The SIA urged Congress to fulfill the promise of this legislation by completing action on the relevant appropriations bills that will significantly increase funding for physical science and engineering research at the National Science Foundation, the Office of Science in the Department of Energy, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“The America Competes Act sets the framework for the appropriations through the next several years. We are pleased with the actions of House and Senate appropriators in the FY 2008 bills, and look forward to working with Congress to ensure these critical appropriations bills make it over the finish line this year,” said SIA president George Scalise, in a statement.

While applauding the adoption of this strategic legislation, the SIA also urged Congress to act this year on the unfinished components of the innovation agenda set forward by bipartisan leaders, including reforming U.S. green card and H-1B visa policies to attract and retain more highly educated foreign professionals and making permanent a strengthened R&D tax credit - all shared recommendations of the Gathering Storm report, the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative and the Democratic Innovation Agenda.

“We recognize and applaud all the effort and leadership that has gone into passage of H.R. 2272,” said Scalise. “It is a major step forward for U.S. competitiveness. We also recognize, however, that there is more work to do and we urge Congress to enact legislation this year to attract the best scientists and engineers from around the world and make the tax climate for private-sector research investments competitive with the rest of the world,” Scalise said.

SAN JOSE, CA – Worldwide sales of semiconductors grew to $121 billion in the first half, an increase of 2% year-over-year, according to SIA. The tepid growth was caused by a drop in average selling prices; unit shipments were up almost 7%.

ATLANTA – Beginning Oct. 17, Circuits Assembly seeks participants for its annual Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for EMS providers and electronics assembly equipment, material and software suppliers.

STAMFORD, CT – Total electronic equipment production in India is expected to reach $32 billion in 2011, Gartner Inc. said on Thursday.

In 2006, electronic production in India was $14 billion, the research firm said in a statement.

And semiconductor consumption in the region is expected to more than double to $7.2 billion, Gartner added.

Consumer electronics was the dominant segment last year in terms of production with 39% market share driven by demand for televisions, and audio and video equipment.

Electronics for communication and data processing was next in demand, with 38% and 12% respectively of the overall Indian market, the firm said.

FOSTER CITY, CA – Arena Solutions, provider of on-demand product lifecycle management software, today announced a 40% year-over-year increase in sales for the second quarter.

The company reported strong sales in electronics and medical devices, and robust growth in adoption among its base of automotive supply chain customers.

Enterprises that chose Arena PLM include MathStar; Young Electric Sign Company, and Chatsworth Products Inc.

For the quarter, Arena surpassed its SLA and maintained 99.99% availability for Arena PLM.

Arena also reported that Paul Patterson joined the company as vice president of sales.

HOUSTON – BPM Microsystems announced it has shipped the first units of its Flashstream device programmer, after introducing it in April and accepting orders in May.

The flash vector programmer has reported speeds as low as 2.5% over theoretical programming minimum. It programs NAND and NOR Flash up to 32 Gb and has upgradeable RAM. It comes standard with 4191Mb (32.7 Gb) memory per site.

JASPER, IN — Kimball International reported fiscal fourth-quarter sales rose 3% to $338.3 million.

LOUISVILLE, KY — Sypris Solutions today reported a net loss of $2.3 million on revenue of $116.2 million for its second quarter ended July 1, in line with company expectations. The loss includes $700,000 in legal and other expenses related to the bankruptcy of a large customer.

SHENZHEN – DEK says its latest manufacturing facility, opening in Shenzhen this month, is expected to account for half its worldwide production by the end of this year.

The facility, part of DEK’s ongoing capacity expansion program designed to support customers in Asia, will at first focus on producing entry-level and medium-range printer platforms.

“China is an extremely important Asian market for DEK, which is why we believe that the opening of the new Shenzhen manufacturing facility is such a positive step,” said CEO John Hartner in a statement.

The company will hold an opening ceremony Aug. 27, with local government officials, international media, and Asian customers and suppliers invited.

Those who would like to attend the Shenzhen opening may contact Louise Fang at lfang@dek.com.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – Thermo Fisher Scientific’s K-Alpha has been named by R&D Magazine as one of the top 100 most technologically significant products introduced in the past year.

The K-Alpha uses x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to enable quantitative monitoring of the surface chemical composition, providing chemical characterization of the top few nanometers of inorganic, organic, biological, metallurgical, semiconducting and magnetic solids.

Thermo Fisher Scientific product manager, surface analysis, Richard G. White, said, "We are very proud to be recognized by the R&D 100 award panel for the K-Alpha's novel technical features. The award confirms Thermo Fisher's status as a leader in surface characterization, and is testament to the dedication and technological expertise of our entire team in delivering powerful analytical solutions that make a real difference to our customers in many surface analysis applications."

The R&D 100 Awards were established in 1963 to identify the 100 most technologically significant new products in a given year. Over the years, the R&D 100 Awards have recognized winning products with such household names as the fax machine (1975), the printer (1986), the Kodak Photo CD (1991), the Taxol anticancer drug (1993) and the HDTV (1998).

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Following three years of strong growth, the global electronic equipment market’s expansion will decelerate slightly in 2007, iSuppli Corp. predicts.

HONG KONG – Top 30 EMS provider Surface Mount Technology (Holdings) Ltd. reported June quarter sales of HK816,843, up 16.1% from a year ago. For its fiscal first quarter, the company’s gross profit was HK105,826, up 3.1%, while earnings were HK15,410, down 27%.

Profits were lower due to higher cost of sales resulting from higher raw material prices, wages, energy cost and depreciation charges, the company said.

“We are seeing a steady stream of new projects. Most of our customers have indicated order growth in the second half of 2007,” SMT said. “As customers are increasingly requiring EMS manufacturers to provide more design services, we are establishing product design and development capability to meet this demand.”

Revenue growth was mainly from higher demand for turnkey projects in industrial control and consumer sectors. Gross and net profit margins decreased on a sequential basis from 14.6% to 13% and from 3% to 1.9%, respectively.

For the quarter, cash from operations was HK63,639. Capital investment was HK$70 million, HK$43 million for production equipment. Five new SMT lines were installed in the quarter, and nine more are planned this fiscal year, for a total to 152.

In the June quarter, industrial controls, consumer products and office appliances made up 38%, 10% and 6%, respectively, of revenue, while computer peripheral and telecommunication products were 21% and 3%, respectively, and automotive electronics was 22%.

By region, Japan made up 54% of total revenue, Korea 16%, European and U.S. 20% and other Asian 10%.

At quarter’s end, SMT had HK183,840 in reserves, down 61% year-on-year.
Inventories were 4.8% lower, at HK 298,188.

In June, the firm opened a factory in Changchun, and in July began production on a second factory at TangXia, Dongguan. SMT has also completed the construction on a plant in Suzhou and has begun internal renovation works. Construction of a factory in Tianjin is on schedule, with operations planned to begin in mid 2008.