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News

SPOKANE, WA -- EMS provider Key Tronic reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $52.5 million, up 13.1% sequentially and down 1.3% from the fiscal fourth quarter of 2005. Net income was $7.1 million, up from $917,000 sequentially and $2.8 million in Q4 2005.

For the fiscal year, revenue was $187.7 million, down 7.5%, and net income was up 55.2% to $9.8 million.

Kortrijk, Belgium – IPTE has signed a Letter of Intent to perhaps acquire the EMS activities of Barco Manufacturing Services. The surface-mount division for sale has sites in Belgium and the Czech Republic and employs approx. 400 people. The group generated 60 million Euro in sales last year.

IPTE is looking to expand its Connect Systems activities, while Barco had previously announced a strategy to not invest further in subcontracting activity.

San Jose, CA - SiliconPipe has secured its first use license agreement, with a company that wishes to remain anonymous.

The new licensee will have access to the company’s full technology portfolio which includes innovations in interconnections, substrates, IC packages, connectors, sockets, embedded passives, test and ESD protection as well as novel memory architecture that the company believes will allow for standard DDR2 memory to operate at 12.8Gbps and beyond.

"We are extremely pleased that we were able to strike this first use agreement and we at SiliconPipe are looking forward playing a small role in the future of success of this pioneering company by way of their use of SiliconPipe technology," said co-founder and CEO Joseph Fjelstad. "We have previously licensed certain manufacturers, most notably the advanced assembly foundry NexGen Electronics to build products for user evaluation, but this represents the first company seeking to explore use and deployment of certain of SiliconPipe's diverse technology.”

Oyster Bay, NY - EDGE-enabled handsets have never attracted the same levels of attention that technologies such as WCDMA and HSDPA have enjoyed. However, recent forecasts from ABI Research indicate that the worldwide EDGE handset market will reach 148 million shipments in 2006, representing 14% of the total mobile phone market.

Principal analyst Stuart Carlaw notes, "EDGE is downplayed in the market because it cannot really provide a mobile broadband experience and is therefore not seen as being at the cutting edge of cellular handset evolution; it is viewed purely as an evolutionary step on the GSM ladder, and industry attention is very much focused on the newer technologies. That view is further compounded by the fact that operators do not actively report EDGE numbers in the public domain."

"However," adds research director Jake Saunders, "This lack of general market attention belies the real importance of the role EDGE plays in delivering mobile services today and will play in the effective delivery of content in the network of tomorrow."

Apart from the sheer volume of handsets, ABI analysts believe that the industry as a whole should pay more attention to this market because it is the only choice for some carriers to support any type of near-acceptable mobile broadband experience, especially those with no 3G licenses or those waiting for 4G.

Carlaw adds, "When the prospects for EDGE are viewed in the context of next generation networks, its true value comes to light. The technology still represents the only viable choice for supporting seamless service delivery on a very wide area basis. Neither WiMAX nor LTE nor HSUPA will be rolled out with enough geographic coverage to guarantee minimum service requirements on a wide scale."

ESCONDIDA, CHILE -- A workers' strike at the world's largest copper mine has pushed copper prices higher by 2% on the London Metals Exchange this week.

BHP's copper mine in Escondida, Chile, has slashed output to about 50% of capacity, the company said, following the August 6 walkout.

SAN JOSE – North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.75 billion in orders in July (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06 according to SEMI.

A book-to-bill of 1.06 means that $106 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – Valor Computerized Systems has appointed Dan Weitzman as vice president of sales, North America, and Howard Rupprecht as director of marketing.

Weitzman has been with the company for seven years, most recently serving as senior account manager.

Prior to joining Valor, Rupprecht worked at OK International for 12 years, initially European-based in various product management and business development roles and then more recently located in the U.S. as vice VP of marketing.

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dan to lead Valor’s sales operations for the North American region,” said Ori Braun, president. “Exciting times are ahead as we rollout a number of new product introductions. The first one, to be launched within a few months, is a platform that will allow our customers to unlock the power of DFM collaboration with their clients and contractors. It will add to the overall value of our solutions and will open new opportunities for us to continue our current growth trend.”

“Howard’s experience and knowledge in the industry provides him with the specific expertise we want our management team to possess. He has a firm understanding of the electronics industry and extensive experience in managing marketing departments on a regional and global scale, which will help us to maintain our competitive edge and continue to grow market share,” added Braun.

SAN FRANCISCO – Fabrinet this fall will break ground on a factory that will effectively double the EMS firm’s manufacturing capability, Circuits Assembly has learned.

TOKYO -- Toyota will reportedly sign a deal under which Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, will build electronics for the Japanese automaker. No further details are available.

The roots of the agreement come from a strategic decision by Hon Hai chief executive and founder Terry Guo to hire several former Toyota executives, according to the United Daily News.

COSTA MESA, CA -- Probe Manufacturing today announced revenues of $2.72 million, for the three month period ended June 30, the electronics manufacturing services firm's highest since 2002.

For the second quarter, net earnings were $617,446 and EBITDA was $410,073. The gross profit was also the company's highest since 2002.

"Our second quarter results are a continuation of our improved performance which started in the fourth quarter of 2005, resulting in our third consecutive quarter of growth and profitability," the company said in a statement.

Probe Manufacturing was founded in 1995.

TAIPEI -- Motorola is expected to award the production of its Motofone cellphone to Foxconn, according to various media reports.

Motorola plans to launch the model late this year.

STAMFORD, CT — Worldwide PDA shipments totaled 3.7 million units in the second quarter, a 2.7% increase from a year ago, according to Gartner Inc. This was the highest PDA shipment total of any second quarter.

Much of the growth in the PDA market was generated by vendors that were not among the first-tier one year ago, such as Mio Technology, Motorola and Danger Inc. Meanwhile, last year’s first-tier vendors — Research In Motion, Palm, Hewlett-Packard and Dell — have had steady-to-declining shipments.

“The ongoing integration of WAN technology into PDAs, and the marketing push of these devices by wireless operators has produced most of the growth compared to one year ago,” said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

“The average selling price of PDAs fell by 6% from one year ago to $373, mostly due to aging product lines, the increasing impact of wireless operator subsidies and relatively few new PDAs being launched thus far in 2006,” Kort said. “As a result, worldwide PDA end-user revenue fell by 4.1% from one year ago to $1.38 billion in the second quarter of 2006.”