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News

NAMPA, ID – PC vendor MPC Corp. has signed a services agreement with Flextronics Computing, a segment of EMS provider Flextronics.

Under the terms of the agreement, Flextronics Computing will provide MPC with supply chain consulting services and materials procurement services for its U.S.-based PC business. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Global shipments of LCD TVs are expected to hit a record level in the fourth quarter, a mark that won’t be matched until the third quarter next year, says iSuppli Corp. This would mark the end of sequential quarterly unit shipment growth for LCD-TVs, a period of historic expansion for the market that has lasted since 2005.

LCD-TV shipments are expected to reach the 25.1 million-unit mark in the fourth quarter—the product’s largest quarterly unit volume to date, according to iSuppli.

However, in the first quarter of 2008, LCD-TV unit shipments will decline to 19.5 million units. “The slower first-quarter shipments are the result of seasonal factors,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems for iSuppli. “But LCD-TV shipments in the second quarter of 2008 will amount to only 21.9 million units, still down from the peak level in the fourth quarter of 2007. But once the third quarter comes around, LCD-TV unit shipments will reach a new quarterly high.”

Further proof of the slowdown can be found in the quarterly compounded growth rates for 2007 and 2008. The compounded quarter-to-quarter growth for LCD-TV shipments for the period of 2007 through 2008 is expected to be 11.5%, says iSuppli. In comparison, quarterly compounded growth in 2005 through 2006 was 22.7%.

While this represents a significant slowdown compared to previous years, LCD-TV shipments will continue to grow at an impressive rate during the long term, according to the research firm.

The CAGR for LCD-TVs for the period of 2006 through 2011 will amount to 31.9%. The global LCD-TV market will hit 165.3 million units in 2011, up from 41.4 million in 2006. Overall LCD-TV shipments in 2008 will amount to 98.5 million units, up from 75.7 million units in 2007.

So, despite a slower growth in the first half of 2008, overall growth will be significant.

Revenue in the global LCD-TV market will reach $116.2 billion in 2011, a 19.4% CAGR from 2006, says iSuppli.

MINNEAPOLIS – EMS provider HEI Inc. announced 2007 net sales fell 22% year-over-year to $38.38 million.

Net sales for microelectronic operations were $22.7 million, a decrease of 27% compared to 2006. Sales for AMO operations were $15.7 million, a decrease of 12%.

Microelectronics was hit by lower demand for legacy business resulting from a series of consolidations in the telecommunications industry, offshore outsourcing by a medical products customer, and a reduction in flexible substrate sales to the company’s primary external customer, who reduced orders to consume excess inventories, reports HEI.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 4%, compared to 16% in 2006. The reduction was a result of lower sales volumes, which did not contribute as much to cover fixed operating costs. In addition, the decline in gross margin in the current fiscal year compared to the prior was a result of a lower volume of higher margin design, development, verification, and validation contracts at the AMO segment, says the company.

MADISON, WI – State Senator Mark Miller will introduce legislation that would set up an electronics waste recycling program in Wisconsin, according to published reports.

RICHARDSON, TX – Asset InterTech Inc. has acquired International Test Technologies of Ireland. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

BALVE, GERMANY – Solder materials supplier Balver Zinn Group has acquired a global license for solder pastes and wire using Nihon Superior’s SN100C alloy.

The licensees will sell SN100C bars and ingots in territories only assigned by Nihon Superior; DKL services the UK and Ireland, while Balver Zinn covers areas from the Atlantic coast of Europe to India.

Balver Zinn also said its recently acquired Cobar business unit will introduce a suite of Pb-free paste wire and flux products. Existing Cobar products will not be affected.

SN100C is a patented nickel-stabilized SnCu alloy, based on the eutectic Sn99.3Cu0.7% with a trace amount of nickel.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Notebook PC unit sales are forecast to increase at a cumulative average growth rate of 18% per year this decade (2000-2010) compared to a CAGR of 4% for desktop PCs, reports IC Insights.

PCs have accounted for a third or more of the world's IC revenues since the early 1990s. Through the end of this decade, the status of PC systems will not change, despite periods of slow annual growth rates for units shipped and worldwide revenues from products. Stronger growth rates, however, are materializing worldwide in the notebook segment, says the research firm.

Of a PC system's total cost, an estimated 30% is represented by IC components in 2007. This percentage is expected to rise steadily through by 2011, partly because PC system prices will fall slightly faster than IC ASPs. IC content in PCs will also be driven higher by the growth of embedded cameras in computers, which will contain CMOS image sensors, analog-to-digital converters, and image signal processors, along with the advent of solid-state disks and hard-disk cache systems built with NAND flash memory ICs, says IC Insights.

Of the $220.3 billion IC market in 2007, 33% is estimated for PC-related devices. While several other existing and new IC system applications are showing stronger growth rates, the huge PC segment is expected to account for no less than 32% of the integrated circuit market through 2011.

MANASSAS, VA – A recently published study on proper flip chip cleaning confirms an optimized cleaning process will ensure all flux residues from the die-attach process be removed from the narrow capillaries between the flip chip and the substrate.

Zestron, the study’s author, found the cleaning process has to be adapted to the low standoff of flip chip components, which is influenced by bump height. Other important factors affecting the cleaning process are bump pitch and array, as well as flux type and volume, wafer passivation, and the time prior to cleaning, the firm says.

Cleaned assemblies were subjected to long-term reliability tests to determine the achieved cleanliness level, Zestron says.

SAN JOSE, CA – Worldwide semiconductor sales in October rose to $23.1 billion, an increase of 5% year-over-year, and an increase of 2% sequentially, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – October rigid PCB shipments were down 0.8% and bookings were down 1.7% year-over-year, IPC said today. Flexible circuit shipments were down 8.6% and bookings were up 0.2% year-over-year.

LOS ALTOS, CA – Third-quarter PC shipments were up 15.5% year-over-year, says research firm Henderson Ventures.

PC growth has rebounded with the help of low-cost shipments to the emerging economies, along with the slowly growing acceptance of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, and global PC shipments growth has been accelerating, reports Henderson.

For 2007, unit shipments are predicted to hit 264 million, a growth rate of 11.6%, says the firm.

The traditional two-year cycle is forecast to continue through 2009, but without a major dent in the expected growth rate for next year.

The introduction of WiMax is expected to have a positive impact on PC purchases in 2009; as WiMax becomes an accepted technology, laptop computer owners will increasingly want to acquire the capability via a new portable PC, much as PC owners traded up when WiFi became available, says Henderson.

Also, the impact of the Vista OS is likely to peak in 2009. However, global saturation, including many emerging markets, will tamp down the achievable growth rates for the foreseeable future. And even though a sizeable 10.2% increase is predicted for 2009, that pace is far below peak levels achieved in the past, including the 17.9% burst in 2005, reports the researcher.