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News

NANTOU, TAIWAN -- Universal Scientific, the second largest EMS provider in Taiwan, reported December revenues of NT$4,974 million, up 1% sequentially but down 5% year-over-year.

For the year ended Dec. 31, the EMS company reported sales of NT$ 53,209 million, up 2% year-over-year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Weak component pricing bodes well for OEMs this quarter, a leading tech analyst said today.

DRAM and NAND prices are down 20% and 35%, respectively, so far this quarter, versus their fourth quarter average selling prices. LCD prices have fallen 5%. Pricing for hard disk drives for desktops has been flat but has dropped sharply for notebooks.

TAIPEI -- Quanta Computer will move into the crowded cellphones outsourcing market, with orders in hand and production slated to begin by year-end, according to a published report.

Quanta is Tawain's largest maker of notebook PCs, and produces almost one-third of the global supply. However, according to the report, Quanta will initially build cellphones for top OEMs, including Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

LOS ANGELES – Speedline Technologies will present seven papers at the Apex technical conference later this month.

According to Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Keith Favre, “With our substantial internal technical resources and our valued relationships with leading academic institutions and business colleagues, we are pleased to continue a long-standing commitment to develop and publish best practices for SMT manufacturing processes.”

Presentations include:

Establishing Stencil Design Parameters for 01005 and 0201 Passives and 0.4mm CSPs by Joe Belmonte, Dr. Rita Mohanty, Vatsal Shah, Speedline Technologies; Tim Jensen, Dr. Ron Lasky, Indium Corporation.

Flux Application for Lead-Free Wavesoldering by Kenneth Kirby, Speedline Technologies.

Process Development and Characterization of Stencil Printing Process for Small Stencil Apertures by Srinivasa R. Aravamudhan, Intel Corporation; Dr. Daryl Santos, SUNY Binghamton, NY; Dr. Rita Mohanty, Speedline Technologies.

Hybrid Drying Technology for Inline Aqueous Cleaning of Lead-free Assemblies by Dirk Ellis, Speedline Technologies.

Reflow Process Control Monitoring and Datalogging by Dr. Rita Mohanty, Marc Apell, Tad Formella, Richard Burke, Speedline Technologies.

Tin Corrosion and Lead-free Wave Soldering, by Dr. Matthew J. O’Keefe, Dr. Martin Perez, University of Missouri; Jim Morris, Speedline Technologies.

Determining Area Ratio Rule for Type 4 and Type 5 Solder Paste by Joe Belmonte, Vatsal Shah, Dr. Rita Mohanty, Speedline Technologies; Tim Jensen, Dr. Ron Lasky, Indium Corporation.

The conference takes place the week of Feb. 19, in Los Angeles.

PHOENIX -- Electronics manufacturing services firm Suntron Corp. will sell its Garner, IA, plant to Nortech Systems for an undisclosed sum. Nortech will acquire the assets, intellectual property and customers associated with the operation. The deal includes the plant's management and about 100 employees.

RICHARDSON, TX -- TXP Corp., a small EMS provider, will restate its financials for the June and September 2006 quarters, the company said Friday. The company anticipates reporting a higher net loss for the nine months ended Sept. 30 by $697,000.

TXP said it intends to file the new statements during the current quarter.

SAN JOSE – Global sales of semiconductors reached a record $247.7 billion in 2006, up 8.9%, The Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. December sales were up 9% to $21.7 billion.

The trade group reiterated its 2007 forecast of 10% growth.

TORONTO -- Celestica Inc. today promoted its top executive in Asia, while cutting ties with several other longtime employees amid a top-level management shakeup.

The company named president of Asia Operations, John Peri, its executive vice president of global operations, succeeding Jim Rowan, who has left the company effective immediately. Guy Delisle was hired to run Celestica's operations in Monterrey, Mexico, the scene of several operational miscues. Delisle was with Sanmina-SCI.

Chief technology officer Dan Shea is retiring, the company said.

HOUSTON - BPM Microsystems announced that, with the release of BPWin 4.65.0, it now supports more than 25,000 devices. The company’s device part number library is a culmination of relationships with more than 156 semiconductor manufacturers worldwide, and more than 20 years’ experience in the programming equipment industry, the company said in a press statement. The device part number database is available at www.bpmmicro.com. Additional support for devices is added daily through a software download available from the company’s Web site.

LOS ANGELES – IPC is offering free parking vouchers and train passes for residents of Southern California attending the Apex show later this month. Contact IPC (shows@ipc.org) by Feb. 5 for a free one-day Metro pass. The Metro Rail Blue Line connects with all Metro Rail and Metro Link lines at Union Station and stops directly across from the LA Convention Center, where Apex will be held. Free parking vouchers may be downloaded at www.GoIPCShows.org/parkingvoucher. For maps and directions, please visit www.GoIPCShows.org/travel.

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Ciba Specialty Chemicals and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will collaborate on organic electronics research, the companies jointly announced. The two-year multidisciplinary project focuses on the development of novel materials and processes for printing organic electronics and aims to open up new application areas. Tekes will provide funding for the collaboration. Ciba will bring decades of materials knowledge to the research, while VTT makes roll-to-roll process developers for printed electronics.

SAN JOSE – Tessera Technologies announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eyesquad for $18 million in cash. Eyesquad develops and designs digital auto-focus and optical zoom products for camera phones and other products that integrate cameras. Under the terms of the agreement, Tessera will pay about $18 million in cash for all outstanding Eyesquad equity. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007.