DALLAS, Jan. 25 -- Integrated Performance Systems, a holding company for printed circuit board manufacturers, will consolidate its operations into its Wylie, TX, plant.

The 101,000 sq. ft. Wylie plant is home to Lone Star Circuits, which IPS acquired last November in what is considered a reverse takeover.

The company said it would close its PC Dynamics manufacturing plant located in Frisco, TX. PC Dynamics is a wholly owned subsidiary of IPFS.

The firm said it has begun duplicating processes at its Wylie site and should have all of the new lines running within the next eight weeks.

OYSTER BAY, NY  -- This decade will witness an unprecedented level of growth in the electronics content of an automobile. This trend will be the result of a barrage of emerging advanced automotive safety, engine, infotainment and chassis control technologies, according to the findings of a new study from ABI Research.

Robert LaGuerra states that differing factors around the world are driving this growth for automotive-specific semiconductors. For example, in Europe and Asia, smaller engines are the norm and there is a defined need to match their performance with those of larger displacement engines. To maximize the performance of these smaller engines, advanced engine management technologies including displacement on demand, variable valve timing and direct fuel injection are being aggressively rolled out in these regions.

The same is happening in the U.S., although this is predominantly due to rising fuel costs and CAFE standards. More specifically, new government legislation mandates that automakers must implement advanced airbag safety systems and tire pressure monitoring systems into future car lines.

LaGuerra cautions, "Automotive processors are proliferating, but in some applications adding too many components that are intended to make the car more reliable, may actually reduce reliability." He adds that in some situations, the industry will actually look to simplify things using fewer, heavier-duty processors.

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 25 -- The SMTA and Auburn University are seeking papers for an upcoming workshop on electronics for harsh environments. The event takes place June 28-29, in Indianapolis.

Abstracts of 200-300 words are due to conference coordinator Kristin Nafstad (kristin@smta.org) by March 1. Written papers are not required.

SAN JOSE - Flextronics posted record GAAP net income of $98.7 million, up 361%, for its third quarter. The EMS firm also topped previous records for revenues, reporting sales of $4.3 billion, up 3% over last year.

The company recorded restructuring charges of $30.7 million during the quarter, primarily related to closures and consolidations. Excluding one-time items, net income rose 24% to $116.3 million.

The company reaffirmed previous revenue guidance of $3.8 billion to $4.2 billion for the March quarter, and $4.1 billion to $4.5 billion in the June quarter. The company told analysts that end-markets are solid.

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VANCOUVER, Jan. 24 -- Nam Tai Electronics, facing a sharp uptick in orders, will recruit over 1000 more workers this quarter for its manufacturing sites in Shenzhen. The addition will bring the total number of employees to 6,600 by the end of March.

The company has also upgraded its chip on board technology to include gold wire ball bonding for manufacturing CMOS image sensor modules at megapixel quality. CMOS image sensor modules are used 3G camera phones

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SEOUL -- LG Electronics Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nortel Networks to form a telecom equipment joint venture here.

LG Electronics will hold just under 50%, and Nortel will have 50% plus one share.

The venture, temporarily named LG-Nortel Networks, will focus on developing equipment for 3G wireless networks based on W-CDMA technology, according to press reports.

Nortel is the larger shareholder for the purposes of accounting, the companies said.

NEWARK, NY, Jan. 24 -- IEC Electronics Corp. today reported its first-quarter net income of $82,000 on sales of $6.2 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31. The company is trying to come back after losing a key account -- Motorola -- last year.

The EMS maker reported a net income of $132,000 on revenue of $6.5 million a year ago.

In a press release, Barry Gilbert, chairman and CEO, said, "Although our profit was modest, we have made substantial progress in rebuilding the Company. Last year we were trying to deal with the loss of Motorola. We needed to reduce our costs and refocus our sales activities, and will continue to do so as required. Some of the programs we have put into place are starting to take hold."

IEC began a lean-manufacturing program late last year and expects gross margins to  improve as revenue increases.

Also, Donald Doody has joined the company as vice president of operations. He was formerly with Plexus Corp.

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GREENVILLE, SC  -- Kemet Corp. today reported December quarter net sales of $95.5 million and a loss before charges of $18.6 million. The company also took $20.3 million in one-time charges for the quarter.

The company reported revenues of $111.3 million last year and $106 million last quarter.
The GAAP loss was $13.1 million a year ago and $7.5 million sequentially.

Kemet was hurt by excess inventory especially at distributors, said
CEO Dr. Jeffrey Graves, in a press statement. He said indications are
that inventory declines may continue. 

Average selling prices fell 1% during the quarter.

Surface-mount capacitors made up 82% of the company's sales for the December quarter.

By region, 43% of sales were in North America, 35% in Asia and 21% in Europe.

Nearly half -- 49% -- of sales were to distributors, 27% were to EMS customers and 24% were to OEMs.
 

SAN JOSE, Jan. 10 -- SEMI and the Semiconductor Industry Association today announced a joint study on nanotechnology applications for electronics. The study will provide definition of the rapidly-emerging global nanoelectronic markets and look at requirements and opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers.

The study, tentatively titled Global Nanoelectronics Markets and Opportunities, will be available in the third quarter. The report will be based on interviews with industry executives in China, Europe, Japan, Korea, North America, Taiwan and other regions.

"Nanosciences are a new frontier of technologic pursuit. They have numerous potential market applications in the electronics industries and represent great opportunities for those that provide the enabling materials, processes and systems to exploit them," said SEMI president and CEO Stanley Myers. "We are pleased to partner with the SIA and to leverage our combined research capabilities and industry relationships in order to provide an authoritative resource on this quickly developing field."

"The nanoelectronics era will revolutionize the semiconductor industry as we utilize new materials, new device structures and new assembly methods to extend Moore's Law," said SIA president George Scalise. "This study will provide quantified insight and in-depth analysis to help companies understand the new landscape and to focus their business and investment strategies on applications with the greatest opportunities for commercialization."

The report will identify the current and planned nanotechnology activities of semiconductor, display, storage, optoelectronic, sensor and MEMS companies. Additionally, equipment and materials process technologies, applications, requirements and opportunities will be defined.

Nanotechnology equipment and materials market size will be provided by business segment and 5,10 and15-year market forecasts will be presented based on various scenarios of new technology penetration.

The single-user cost of the study ordered prior to August 31, 2005 will be $4,000 for SEMI and SIA members and $5,000 for non-members. After August 31, the cost will be $5,000 for SEMI and SIA members and $6,500 for non-members. Multi-user license may be purchased for $12,500 for SEMI and SIA members and $15,000 for non-members.

For additional information, or to place an order for Global Nanoelectronics Markets and Opportunities, go to www.semi.org or call SEMI customer service at +1.408.943.6900.

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HALF MOON BAY, CA  -- Collaboration through joint development projects will be necessary for the semiconductor industry to economically deliver advanced materials required for next generation devices, according to speakers at the SEMI Strategic Materials Conference.

In the past it has taken from 15 to 20 years from pure research to high volume manufacturing, according to SMC keynoter Ken David, director of the components research group at Intel Corp. "We don't have that kind of time anymore," he said. "In order to realize the potential of new materials, we must shorten the time between discovery and implementation," and that means collaboration between device makers and equipment and materials suppliers, according to David.

Innovation in materials provides a path to extend Moore's Law well into the next decade through what he called "equivalent scaling" -- defined as geometric scaling assisted by innovation.

Every major introduction of a new material into the semiconductor process has been met by significant challenges. For example, the shift from aluminum to copper interconnects forced Intel to change the way it designed wafer fabs to avoid possible copper contamination, said David. A second example, the introduction of low-k dielectrics, was "one of the most surprising and difficult transitions," he said. "There have been a lot of missteps [in low-k]. We all learned the hard way," he said.

During a panel discussion Gene Banucci, chairman of ATMI, said it was essential for a materials company to collaborate when developing new processes otherwise the material was "going down a big dark hole." For its part, ATMI has about 30 joint development projects going on at any one time. "We have to work with other people to get things done," said Banucci.

The sharing of intellectual property arising from collaborative efforts was a hot topic for discussion. Gary Dauser, program director for IBM's intellectual property and licensing organization, said the simplest method was the "yours, mine and ours" approach. "IP that you develop is yours but I'm licensed to it; IP I develop is mine but you're licensed to it; and things we jointly develop...we can do with it what we want," he said. Dauser said the issue becomes more complex when the partners want to extend the IP usage to projects involving companies outside of the original joint development partners.

Jerry Coder, president of IC fabrication materials for DuPont Electronic Technologies, pointed out that the economics of developing materials for advanced semiconductor processes are getting poorer and poorer in terms of the return on investment. As a result, some major chemical companies have withdrawn from the semiconductor industry. "It is a problem for all of us. We need to find a model that is a win-win-win situation for all parties that are involved in that collaboration," he said.

John Poate, chief technology officer for Axcelis Technologies, said the materials used by the industry over the past 40 to 50 years have essentially been "gifts from God", and that it will get a lot harder from here. New materials, such as high-k dielectrics, are only just being explored and their successful use will require a lot more understanding, he said.

"The big IP winners will be the organizations or companies who understand the interplay between circuit design, the processing and these new materials and new structures so you can leverage what you have got," said Poate.

While collaboration is essential, speakers generally agreed it was not feasible to bundle IP developed jointly by equipment and materials companies into a single entity. Richard Faubert, president and CEO of AmberWave Systems, said the business models and infrastructure requirements for materials and equipment companies were so different that it would be nearly impossible to maintain the two under the one roof. "There are very different sets of competencies required to be a premium supplier in both places at the same time," he said.

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HALF MOON BAY, CA  -- This year's semiconductor downturn will be short and relatively painless thanks to lessons learned from the past, according to a panel of analysts at a recent SEMI conference.

The consensus is for semiconductor device sales growth to be flat in 2005, while chip equipment sales will be down from 10 to 15 percent, said analysts participating in the ISS press conference. Excess inventory currently in the supply chain will be worked out of the system by the second quarter, and the second half will be better, they said.

Semico Research Corp. forecasts a 4.7% decline in semiconductors this year after 28% growth in 2004. "Although we're calling for a decline, we don't believe it's going to be as steep or as long as what we saw in the previous decline," said Jim Feldhan, president of Semicon. Double digit semiconductor growth will resume in 2006, at 14.6%, he added.

Longer term, Feldan is optimistic over the prospects for capital equipment market growth because of the rapid move towards more advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies. In 2004, only 3% of wafer demand was for 90-nm technology, whereas the 90-and 65-nm nodes would account for 27% of wafers in 2008, according to Semico.

Moshe Handelsman, president of Advanced Forecasting Inc., said the softness experienced in late 2004 would continue into Q2 this year, after which growth will resume. In terms of wafer shipments, Advanced Forecasting sees a continued decline in shipments in 2005, although the decline will be mild. Handelsman said the industry has learned valuable lessons from the last downturn which will help it weather future periods of slow market growth. The recession of 2001 "frightened all the players," and they are now more lean and mean, he explained.

IC Insights is forecasting a decline of 2% in device sales this year, and 8 to 9% growth next year. "We are actually very encouraged about 2006," said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights. "We think most of the correction in this IC industry cycle will happen in the first half of 2005."

Structural changes in the industry - such as the increasing role of wafer foundries and a lengthening of the period between technology nodes - would lead to more efficient capital spending and decrease the magnitude of overspending in the chip industry, according to McClean.

IC Insights also predicts that in 2005 China will emerge as the world's largest consumer of ICs, surpassing Japan and North America, account for more than 20% of global IC consumption. That's up from 7% in 2001.

The semiconductor materials market will continue to grow over the next several years, from $28 billion in 2004 to an estimated $34 billion in 2007, noted Dan Tracy, senior director, industry research and statistics for SEMI. In 2005, the market for packaging materials will grow 8% to just over $11 billion, while wafer fab materials will grow 6% to almost $17 billion, according to a SEMI forecast.

Double digit growth will be experienced by some materials sectors, including low-k dielectrics, SOI, solder balls, CMP and laminate substrates. In the period from 2004 to 2007, compound annual growth rates for silicon wafers shipments will be 4.5% globally, and 10% in Asia Pacific, according to Tracy.

Gartner Dataquest is forecasting about 5% growth in semiconductor device sales this year, and a drop of 15% for capital equipment. Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, managing vice president, semiconductors, said the downturn in 2005 will be "shallower and shorter" than 2001. "By the end of Q1 we should be moving out of the [current] excess inventory situation," he said.

Rinnen noted that, unlike during the last down cycle, the industry this time has two weapons to defend itself. "Cost control will be its shield protecting companies against market pressures, but innovation will be its sword with which companies can actively defend and stimulate and open new markets," he said.

PALO ALTO, CA -- Agilent Technologies will buy closely-held Wavics, a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of power amplifier modules for mobile handsets, for an undisclosed amount, the companies said today.

Wavics holds patents on power amplifier technology said to reduces battery power consumption. Agilent plans to combine the Wavics technology with its miniature FBAR (film bulk acoustic resonator) filters to create higher-performance CDMA and W-CDMA front-end modules. This will offer handset manufacturers a significant reduction in PCB space.

In a press release, Bryan Ingram, vice president and general manager of the Wireless Semiconductor Division in Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group. "Our mutual customers will benefit by being able to design smaller, thinner clamshell handsets with more features and talk time than previously available."

Wavics was founded in 2000 and is privately held. It employs approximately 55 people,

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