SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment totaled $15.92 billion in 2009, a 46% year-over-year decline, SEMI reports.

TORONTO -- SMTC reported fourth-quarter revenue of $51.2 million, down 7.4% year-over-year but up 16% sequentially.

HELSINKI – The European Chemicals Agency this week published proposals to identify eight chemicals as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) and possible candidates for authorization.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL – EMS firm SigmaTron International reported third-quarter fiscal 2010 revenues of $30.6 million, up 13% year-over-year.

IRVING, TX -- Gary Tanel, a longtime EMS executive, has purchased Circuitronics, a low-volume prototype contract assembler based here.

MUNICH -- January orders at Germany-based electronics manufacturers were up 10% from a year ago, a domestic trade group said.

STAMFORD, CT -- A leading research firm upped its 2010 global PC shipments projection to 19.7% growth year-over-year.

SAN JOSE – MEMS Industry Group and MEPTEC will hold meetings in May in San Jose to discuss advancements and trends in microelectromechanical systems fabrication and integration.

MEMS Industry Group’s members-only meeting METRIC will identify and overcome technical and business challenges to MEMS fabrication. Topics to be discussed include optimizing MEMS fabrication, new opportunities for MEMS (including advances in packaging technologies and alternatives to silicon), tradeoffs between the captive fab versus the fabless business models, and how to partner and work with a foundry.

METRIC will be held May 18-19. For more information, visit www.memsmetric.com.

The Microelectronics Test and Packaging Engineering Council’s MEMS Symposium will discuss transitioning from fully integrated to separate MEMS and IC, the transition from automotive MEMS to consumer MEMS, software applications and accelerometers in cellphones, ASICS/MEMS, different types of integration, and flipchip bumping.

The MEMS Symposium will be held May 20. For more information, visit http://www.meptec.org/meptec8thannualm.html.

SMYRNA, GA – Following record-breaking attendee registration, Virtual PCB, the industry's only virtual trade show and conference, which took place this week, is now offered on-demand for the next two months.

STAMFORD, CT – The need for computing hardware will not cease, but the shift of ownership will affect every aspect of the IT hardware industry, says a top research firm.

MILTON, NY – Sono-Tek Corp. today announced sales of more than $2.1 million for the fourth quarter, ended Feb. 28, up 32% year-over-year.
 
This quarter’s sales are the largest in the firm’s history, following a third-quarter record of nearly $2 million.

The company says its 2009 sales will hit $7.24 million, also a record, up 13% over last year.

“We are pleased to see substantial growth in clean energy markets such as fuel cell and solar energy coating equipment, strong results in glass and medical markets, where we reported our largest single order earlier in the year, and the beginning of a recovery in our electronics market,” said Dr. Christopher L. Coccio, Sono-Tek’s chairman and CEO.

Sono-Tek develops and manufactures liquid spray products.

AUSTIN, TX – Freescale Semiconductor has filed multiple lawsuits against Panasonic, JVC and Funai Electric, alleging illegal use of its intellectual property.

In the suits, Freescale cites failures by the firms to renew license agreements, and seeks to bar their products from being imported into the US.

The suits were filed in US District Court in Austin and with the US International Trade Commission.

Products potentially impacted by the suits include TVs, memory cards, video cameras, digital cameras and media players, such as Blu-ray DVD players.

The trade commission lawsuit also names several retailers, including Best Buy, B&H Foto & Electronics, Wal-Mart, QVC and Buy.com.