Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $18 billion in July, up 0.3% over June but down 0.03% from July 2004, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Prices fell despite slight unit growth.

LOS ALTOS – Have semiconductor inventories gotten out of whack? That’s the assessment one researcher is concluding, saying that the disparity between strong sales of end-use items and the drop in IC shipments suggests a “major inventory adjustment.”

TAIPEI -- Foxconn Electronics shrugged off falling margins to record revenues of NT$142.7 billion, up 49%, during the first six months of 2005, the company reported. Pretax profits were up 18% to NT$10.2 million.

JACKSON, MI -- Sparton Corp. reported earnings for its fourth quarter ended June 30 rose 227% to $4.9 million, boosted by a one-time, pre-tax gain of $5.45 million from a settlement with it former insurers.

Net sales were $45.9 million, down 4% from $47.8 million last year. In Q4 2004 the company posted earnings of $1.5 million.

PHOENIX -- Suntron Corp. today said it is applying to transfer the listing of its common stock to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market.

On Aug. 23, Nasdaq notified the supplier of electronics manufacturing services of a possible delisting as the market value of publicly held shares failed to comply with minimum requirements.

Suntron will seek to transfer its listing to the SmallCap index and will remain listed on the National Market while its application is being reviewed.

Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Royal Philips Electronics (semiconductors.philips.com) announced a worldwide franchise agreement allowing Digi-Key Corp. to distribute Philips’ semiconductors. Philips will continue to work with its established global partners.

Digi-Key specializes in assisting the engineering community with component sourcing and getting to market quickly. Its order fulfillment process enables 99% of all orders placed to be shipped the same day they are ordered.

“Digi-Key provides customers with extremely fast turn-around capabilities that can give them the edge in the market,” said Bill Galione, VP of sales and marketing, Americas, Philips Semiconductors. “Digi-Key also excels at delivering extremely small orders that other organizations might have difficulty with, and this makes it easier for the engineering community to obtain prototype quantities that could help to speed the development cycle of new products.”

DES PLAINES, IL — Kester will host a lead-free seminar, “Project 2005: Achieving Lead-free RoHS Assembly” on Sept. 13 at the Radisson Hotel Dallas in North Richardson, TX.

The seminar is designed to assist the electronic industry in the transition to lead-free soldering and RoHS compliancy.

Topics will include: lead-free and RoHS directive overview; supply changes and procurement issues; board/component requirements; lead-free alloy selection for SMT, wave and rework; lead-free wave, and SMT process optimization; impact of dual systems; BGA rework practices; hand soldering process changes; lead-free RoHS reliability; field rework and training; and training and documentation.

Attendees will receive a lead-free assembly technical manual and CD containing presentation materials; technical white papers; and the Lead-Free Connection.

For more information on the technical content of seminar, contact Peter Biocca: pbiocca@kester.com.
For registration details, contact Theresa Rudnick: (847) 699-5580 or visit kester.com.

SAN JOSE, CA -- Venture Outsource Group is presenting a live Webcast on electronics outsourcing contracts. The event, Electronics Outsourcing Contracts – Development & Negotiations, will take place Oct. 4 at 8:00 a.m. PDT.

The Webcast will be led by VOG president Mark Zetter. Registration and program information can be found at ventureoutsource.com/docs/webinar/contracts.html.

FRANKLIN, MA – Speedline Technologies and Agilent Technologies have found that positional accuracy of a paste deposit relative to the pad is the critical element in ensuring good fine-pitch, lead-free assemblies, and is even more critical for some formulations than others.

A report on the three-month investigation to understand and quantify variables in a lead-free manufacturing process will be presented at SMTA International in Chicago in September.

HERNDON, VA — Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce, will deliver the opening remarks at iNEMI's Leadership Forum next month. The forum is intended to launch a coordinated initiative that will stimulate innovation and manufacturing research in electronics.

SAN JOSE -- June quarter sales of servers grew to $12.1 billion worldwide, up 4.7% year-over-year, a leading research firm said today.

Revenue fell 1.6% sequentially, Gartner Inc. said.

PHOENIX -- Finetech GmbH and Co. KG, a German manufacturer of rework and bonding equipment, will host two Lead-Free Rework workshops in China. The first workshop is scheduled for Sept. 16 in Shanghai, and the second will take place Sept. 19 in Beijing.

Both workshops will follow the same schedule, and include presentations by Olaf Schiema, Dominik Horn and Daniel Schultze on requirements for a repair station, the lead-free evaluation kit, lead-free soldering connections, rework of small passives and automatic repair systems.

User reports and discussion time will be available.

To register for the Shanghai workshop, email Allen Zeng: allan.z@shanghai-atlantic.com.
To register for the Beijing workshop, email James Wang: jameswang@micropowergroup.com.