TAIYUAN, SHANXI, CHINA -- Foxconn shut a local factory that builds casings for Apple's iPhone following a massive riot that pit thousands of employees against company guards.

REDMOND, WA -- Data I/O this week laid off an undisclosed number of workers in an effort to cut quarterly overhead by $300,000.

SAN JOSE — North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported 90-day average bookings fell 3.6% year-over-year in August.

WARRENDALE, PA – SAE International is offering a Counterfeit Parts Portal designed as an information clearinghouse for manufacturers dealing with the counterfeit parts challenge.

SANTA ANA, CA – Matt Holzmann, president of CGI Americas, will present a paper on ergonomics, microscopy, and yield improvement today at 6:00 PM at the SMTA LA/Orange Chapter meeting.

WAKE FOREST, NC -- A state agency is reportedly honing in on two local printed circuit board assembly companies as the sources of a water contamination issue.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Continued robust consumer demand and strong expectations for the fourth quarter have led International Data Corp. to increase its forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 117.1 million units, up from its previous forecast of 107.4 million units for the year.

BROMONT, CANADA – The US PTO has issued Cogiscan a patent for automating the use of RFID tags to identify reels of electronic components.

BOSTON -- Exhibitors at Design East here offered contrasting opinions on the first two days of the annual trade show.

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL -- Foxconn Technology Group will invest a reported 1 billion Brazilian reais ($492 million) toward a new factory scheduled to come online by 2014, the company said.

ALPHARETTA, GA -- Some 16 major assembly equipment companies met two weeks ago as part of an informal consortium to collaborate on a common approach to whole-line electronics equipment assembly.

SHANGHAI -- Up to 6,000 workers at a Flextronics plant here reportedly are striking over plans to relocate production to a Suzhou plant.