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News

POMONA, CA -- Everett Charles Technologies (ECT) has named Patrick T. Flynn president. Previously president of ECT's Capital Equipment and Services Group and Semiconductor Test Group, Flynn succeeds David R. Van Loan, who was recently appointed president of Dover Technologies, ECT's parent company. Van Loan will remain the CEO of ECT during his transition to DTI.

Since joining ECT in 2000, Flynn has been instrumental in the development of several new products and spearheaded ECT's expansion into China when he established wholly owned operations in Suzhou and Shenzhen.

ECT is a manufacturer of electrical test products and services, including semiconductor test products, bare-board automatic test systems, Pogo test contacts, and bare and loaded PCB test fixtures and programs.

NEW TRIPOLI, PA -- While IC demand will grow 32% in 2005 to $45 billion, internal IC production will reach only $9 billion despite ongoing massive semiconductor fab construction.

According to a report by The Information Network (theinformationnet.com), China's IC industry is expanding rapidly. In 2005, China will produce 22 billion ICs, which will account for only 20% of domestic demand. Most high-end products used in computers and mobile phones must be imported.

White Plains, NY -- Nortel and IBM have signed an agreement designed to support customized products across a range of market segments. As the first step in this relationship, the companies will establish a Joint Development,Center in Research Triangle Park, NC, to collaborate on the design and development of new products and services.

Nortel expects to utilize IBM engineering and technical services for a number of projects, aimed at broadening Nortel end-to-end broadband, Voice over IP, multimedia services and applications and wireless broadband offerings.

PALO ALTO, CA -- Inventory throughout the supply chain decreased in the first quarter of 2005, albeit not as fast as sales/COGS, resulting in a moderate decrease in inventory velocity.

Deutsche Bank analysts believe communications OEMs will likely work inventory levels lower in 2Q and 3Q in the face of only moderate end market demand (negatively impacting near-term EMS demand).

PALO ALTO, CA -- IBM recently held an analyst meeting in New York that provided an update on the company's view of IT spending trends, an overview of its strategic positioning, actions it is implementing to take advantage of market opportunity, a recap of the 1Q miss, and an update on recent business trends.

According to Deutsche Bank analysts, the actions IBM is taking to drive standardization and cost reduction in services will better position the company for profitable share gains. In the near term, recent improvement in bookings trends (in both services and hardware) provides greater visibility on near-term performance.

In addition, DB states that benefits from restructuring, new product cycles in servers and microelectronics, and a potential mainframe cycle could support a solid 2H EPS recovery.

PALO ALTO -- In a report released on Forbes.com, research firm Banc of America Securities said Agilent Technologies' new management may consider spinning off its Automated Test or Semiconductor Products businesses.

Banc of America said: "These businesses have the lowest operating margins and suffer the biggest swings in revenues making them more difficult to manage."

The group cautioned that spinning off low margin businesses may not help the stock price.

"The remaining businesses will deliver a higher blended margin," the research firm said. "But operating margins for the remaining businesses will be at or below comparable companies in those segments."

Agilent's representatives declined to comment, citing a company policy to "not endorse or respond to any third-party research or opinions."

WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressmen are taking a more open view to pleas by electronics manufacturers to pressure China to revalue its currency.

"I think the Representatives are becoming attuned to manufacturing and our industry," Matt Holzmann, president of Christopher Group, told Circuits Assembly. "There's a growing awareness that [manufacturing] is our middle class."

ROUND ROCK, TX - The United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service has chosen Dell to immediately remove and recycle more than 2,000 computer systems.

"We are standardizing on Dell Asset Recovery Services because of the commitment from Dell to recycle these systems in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency standards," said Dom Nessi, chief information officer for the National Park Service. "We were spending lots of time coordinating the disposal of our outdated computers which was difficult to manage, provided little return on investment and caused concern about where they were ending up."

Dell could not confirm the makes of the systems to be recycled, but said it does recycle any make or model. The company is in talks with the NPS regarding future computing needs.

The National Park Service previously relied on its own processes to store, donate or auction its outdated computer systems. By choosing quality Dell services, the National Park Service is creating an easier way to properly dispose of older technology.

Government officials said Dell's willingness to work with minority and women-owned businesses to help refurbish and recycle technology products also was important in their decision process.

"The National Park Service employees can now turn over their equipment disposal function to Dell so they can focus on serving their community," said Hord Tipton, CIO for the Department of the Interior. "Our partnership with Dell will bring more value to our employees and constituents by helping us be more environmentally aware while also saving time and money."

Dell's ARS unit disposes of used computer equipment and peripherals. The unit "contribute(s) to the overall services business revenue," a Dell spokesman told Circuits Assembly.

TOKYO - UMC Electronics, a large EMS provider based in Japan, will open a second plant in China to meet growing demand.

The company will install a reported 100 SMT lines in the plant, according to a report in a Japanese language publication translated by Dominique Numakura's EPTE newsletter.

UMC expects sales of 52 billion yen this year, the report said.

SAN JOSE -- North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a 90-day moving average of $1 billion in orders in April and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.80, signaling a likely slowdown ahead, according to SEMI.

A book-to-bill of 0.80 means that $80 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in April was $1 billion, up 1.5% above revised March figures of $988.4 million but down 37% year-on-year.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in April was $1.25 billion, down 1.6% from revised March levels and 10% from a year ago.

"A minor decrease in billings and a commensurate increase in bookings slightly raises the book-to-bill ratio," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "However, we are in a stasis period, where we have yet to see a significant change in business for North American-based providers of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment."

BALTIMORE -- North American production of printed circuit boards will be flat this year, a leading analyst predicted.

Speaking Thursday at IPC's semiannual market research meetings, Dr. Hayao Nakahara said that production of circuit boards in North American rose 11% to about $5 billion last year, but that 2005's soft start makes it unlikely that growth will be achieved this year.

Dr. Nakahara, a PCD&M columnist who is widely recognized as the world's top authority on PCB production, said that North American-based PCB makers produced $890 million worth of high technology boards worldwide last year. Dr. Nakahara defined high technology as boards of 18 or more layers. The U.S. remains the top producer worldwide of such boards, with a 54% share, Dr. Nakahara said.

The figures do not include backplanes; the U.S. built $300 million worth of backplanes in 2004; about half the worldwide total, according to Dr. Nakahara.

However, North America's share of the overall PCB market is 14%, down from about 40% in 2000. Most of North America's loss has been China's gain: the nation has surged to 25% share, up more than 15 points during that period.

From 1995 to 2000 North American companies spent $4.8 billion on acquisitions of PCB capacity. Of that sum, just $1 billion worth remains open, Dr. Nakahara said.

PCB Production Forecast, 2005-07
2005 2006 2007

China 34.0 26.0 16.0

N. America 6.0 2.0 1.0

Japan 1.0 1.2 1.4

Europe 1.0 1.0 1.0

S. Korea 22.0 15.0 10.0

Taiwan 15.0 7.0 5.0

Thailand 5.5 4.0 4.0

Source: N.T. Information Ltd., May 2005

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The co-located SMTA International and ATExpo show on Sept 25-29, in Rosemont, IL, will once again feature the Emerging Technologies Summit. The summit is a series of three paper sessions and a panel discussion (moderated bySteve Greathouse of Intel Corp.) addressing the latest trend in electronics manufacturing and assembly.

The first session, Roadmaps, will feature papers on iNEMI's Optoelectronics Roadmap for 2004, Emerging Nanotechnology and Its Effect on Electronics Manufacturing, and Free Silicon Marketing Strategy.

The next session, Turning Lead Into Gold, will feature papers on Gold Bump Technologies, Flip Chip Ultrasonic Gold-to-Gold Interconnect for High Bump Count Devices, Adhesive Flip Chip for Large Arrayed Devices, and Packaging of High-Power LEDs Using Au Studbump Interconnects.

The last session, Advanced Power Technology, will feature papers on mPowerChip: A Solution for Integrated Power for Microsystems and Integration of Active and Passive Components Using Chip in Polymer Technology.

For further details and for event registration, visit smta.org/smtai/