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News

HALF MOON BAY, CA -- Attendees on the second day of the SEMI Strategic Materials conference learned how Japanese materials suppliers joined together to cut costs, and were given an optimistic outlook on the convergence of front-end and back-end processes in chip making.

Yoshifumi Kawamoto, director general manager, R&D department, CASMAT, outlined the formation of the R&D consortium established in 2003 by Japanese materials suppliers. Member companies include JSR, Sumitomo Chemical, Sekisui Chemical, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, Nitto Denko, Hitachi Chemical, Toray Industries and others.

BEIJING -- China imported more than $19 billion worth of technology last year, up 37.5% over the previous year and setting a new record.

More than 43%, or $8.27 billion, of the total import value of technology came from foreign enterprises operating in China. That’s up 23.6% from 2004.

Trenton, NJ – Tyco International Ltd. has confirmed its plan to split into three public companies. Electronics and healthcare units will be spun off from the remaining operations (which include security and fire-protection services) during the first quarter of 2007. Tyco expects about $1 billion in costs for tax liabilities and the refinancing of debt.

“We believe separation is a logical next step in Tyco's solution,” said Ed Breen, chairman and chief executive, during a conference call with analysts and investors. “The biggest issue to me actually was growth. That's really the thing we looked at.”

ANGLETON, TX -- Benchmark Electronics, a leading EMS firm, said today that it expects to meet or exceed fourth quarter 2005 analysts' consensus of $604 million revenues and earnings per share of $0.52.

MELVILLE, NY -- Nu Horizons Electronics, a distributor of electronics components, reported net sales rose to $147.5 million from $116.2 million for the quarter ended Nov. 30, 2005. Net income was $1.5 million vs. $585,000 last year.

Sequentially, net sales rose 15% to $19.3 million, and net income almost doubled to $1.5 million.

Year-to-date, net sales were up12.3% to $397.2 million, from $353.6 million last year. Net income was down $100,000, to $2.8 million.

In a press statement, chairman and chief executive Arthur Nadata said, "The third quarter was a very exciting and busy period for us. New additions to our line card, combined with the expansion of certain partnerships, enabled our sales force to penetrate into new markets and provide enhanced system solutions for customers."

Nu Horizons added 100 sales and engineering staff during the quarter, he said.

VANCOUVER -- EMS firm Nam Tai Electronics Inc. today promoted Patinda Lei to chief executive and chief financial officer. Lei, 39, was chairman of Zastron Precision-Tech, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nam Tai.

Former CEO and CFO Joseph Li has been named vice chairman of J.I.C. Technology Co. Ltd., another subsidiary.

San Diego, CA – FocalSpot has expanded its corporate office and manufacturing facilities, doubling its presence in the Scripps Ranch area of San Diego. The expansion will accommodate growing production demands for its BGA/SMT inspection and rework solutions.

Construction is expected to be completed this month. Facilities will include: administrative operations, demonstration and training rooms, manufacturing, assembly, equipment/parts warehousing and an applications/prototype lab.

Redmond, WA -- Data I/O signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Toyo Corp. Toyo will provide system installation, service and device support updates for Data I/O programming systems in Japan.

According to the company’s press release, Data I/O’s programming solutions enable high-quality results in volume production of consumer electronics, wireless devices and automotive electronics assemblies. The solutions program flash memory, microcontroller and DSP devices from leading device manufacturers such as Fujitsu, Samsung, Toshiba, Renesas, Microchip Technologies, TI and others.

LAS VEGAS -- In an effort to cope with heavy demand for its Xbox 360, Microsoft Corp. said today it would outsource new production to Celestica.

The Toronto-based contract manufacturer is the third EMS firm contracted to build the video game console.

FT. COLLINS, CO -- Once a site of a major Hewlett-Packard manufacturing plant, Ft. Collins is becoming attractive to major chipmakers. Intel, which already employs about 300 on the former H-P campus, will relocate its offices to a nearby 200,000 sq. ft. site recently purchased from Celestica.

DALLAS -- Texas Instruments said today it will sell its sensors and controls business to Bain Capital for $3 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close during the first half of this year.