ARAD, ISRAEL -- Flextronics reportedly is laying off 100 workers at its plant here and moving some operations to another plant in the country.

ARLINGTON, VA -- US manufacturing technology orders totaled $372.5 million in April, down 26.6% from March and down 12.6% from April 2012.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA -- Chinese OEM Hisense has invested $35 million in a new, massive industrial park here where it will produce hundreds of thousands of TVs, refrigerators and other white goods each year.

HERNDON, VA -- A new white paper from an International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative task group takes a comprehensive view of the counterfeit components problem by surveying the possible points of entry in the supply chain and assessing the impact of counterfeit components on the industry at various points of use.

BATHGATE, SCOTLAND -- Plexus officially opened a previously announced design center and manufacturing facility here.

TAIPEI CITY -- Global Brands Manufacture forecast sales from automotive products to grow in the the double-digits over the next few years. The bare board manufacturer and printed circuit board assembler expects automotive revenues to reach about $140 million this year, more than 30% of the firm's total revenue.

ANGLETON, TX -- Suntron employees today confirmed the company is now part of Benchmark Electronics, which has remained tight-lipped about the acquisition.

WASHINGTON — Worldwide semiconductor sales reached $23.62 billion in April , down 1.8% year-over-year. Sales were up 60 basis points from March, the Semiconductor Industry Association added.

TAIPEI -- Hon Hai will spin  off its connector business into a separate entity come July, according to a Reuters report.

TOKYO -- A joint venture among Juki, Sony Corp., and Sony's placement equipment business unit have been formalized and will become operational Aug. 1.

MANASSAS, VA – Zestron announced its sixth installment of Zestron @cademy’s free cleaning webinar series.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The US is once again one of the largest and fastest growing regions of the world for semiconductor manufacturing.