VINH PHUC PROVINCE, VIETNAM – Compal Electronics is planning a second plant in Vietnam, with its first reaching full capacity around the second quarter of this year.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The correlation coefficient between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth over the past decade was 0.85 (0.96 excluding the memory market in 2017 and 2018), a strong figure given a perfect positive correlation is 1.0, says IC Insights.

TIANJIN, CHINA – The government of Tianjin is discussing the sale of two firms to TCL Corp., according to reports.

STAMFORD, CT – Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.9 trillion in 2020, an increase of 3.4% from 2019, according to Gartner. Global IT spending is expected to cross into $4 trillion territory next year.

STAMFORD, CT – Worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled $418.3 billion in 2019, down 11.9% from 2018 on a slump in memory demand, according to Gartner.

TAIWAN – Foxconn and Fiat Chrysler are joining to make electric vehicles for the Chinese market, according to reports.

WASHINGTON – “The electronics manufacturing industry applauds the US Senate for approving the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) with broad bipartisan support,” said president and CEO John Mitchell, IPC.

MILTON, NY – Sono-Tek reported fiscal third quarter 2020 sales of $3.67 million, up 16% year-over-year.

ATLANTA, GA – UP Media Group Inc. seeks abstracts for PCB West 2020, to be held September 8-11, 2020, in Santa Clara, CA. The event includes a four-day technical conference and one-day exhibition to be held at the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC welcomes today’s signing of phase one of the US-China trade deal.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – The worldwide market for traditional PCs, inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, finished the fourth quarter up 4.8% year-over-year, according to International Data Corp.

TAMPA, FL – Moisture is the bane of the circuit board, and millions of dollars are spent on packaging materials each year to keep parts dry. But while components can be packaged and handled in trays, standard practice remains to treat each PCB as an individual unit, storing them with silica gel desiccant bags to soak up unwanted moisture.