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News

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.

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.