HERSTAL, BELGIUM – Firearm manufacturer FN Herstal recently invested in its own clean-room production line for Surface Mounted Devices to ensure availability for its own weapon systems, and is now offering production of components to third parties.

THAI BINH PROVINCE, VIETNAM – Compal Electronics has purchased a $30 million plot of land in Vietnam to build a new plant and expand production capacity.

TAIPEI – Trendforce reported that the global production volume of smartphones in the first quarter was only 250 million units – marking a 19.5% YoY decrease and a historic low in quarterly production since 2014.

WASHINGTON – Global semiconductor industry sales were $40 billion during in April, an increase of 0.3% compared to the previous month's total of $39.8 billion and 21.6% less than the April 2022 total of $50.9 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

AKRON, OH – Western Reserve Controls has announced a renaming to Anzer, and along with the new name, the company has added a larger manufacturing facility, additional state-of-the-art Surface Mount Technology (SMT) equipment, a dedicated prototype production line, and other veteran quality control personnel.

MILPITAS, CA – Global semiconductor equipment billings increased 9% year-over-year to $26.8 billion in the first quarter, SEMI announced in its Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report. Quarter-over-quarter billings slipped 3%.

ATLANTA – Overall electronics components sales sentiment took a body blow in May and collapsed to 72.2 points compared to the April index of 86.8, according to the monthly Electronic Component Sales Trend survey results from ECIA.

PENANG, MALAYSIA – Escatec has opened a new production facility in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, to meet an increasing demand for nearshoring production in Europe.

KULIM, MALAYSIA – Rapid Manufacturing has announced a new facility here to serve in the aerospace, telecommunication, medical, semiconductor, automotive, and industrial automation sectors, as well as house a regional center to set up a center of excellence.

TAIPEI – Foxconn's overall sales in May rose by 5% in from April's totals because of shipment growth in smart consumer electronics devices, but the NT$450.73 billion ($14.68 billion) earned for the month marked a 9.45% decrease from May 2022.

When it comes to the monthly editorial content in PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY, we typically don't do "themes."

So it's a matter of randomness and luck that we have not one, not two, but three pieces this month related to electronics thermal management and cooling. Fitting, too, being the month of June is, for the Western Hemisphere at least, on average the warmest of the year to date.

But June is also the month of the most significant trade show in the bare board fabrication industry: The JPCA Show in Tokyo. Regrettably, few Westerners will attend. It's too bad.

We are seeing significant interest at all levels – technical, management, and even political – at beefing up domestic printed circuit board capabilities. In particular, the West is attempting to make up for decades of failed progress with new investments in IC substrate production.

SAINT-HERBLAIN, FRANCE – Lacroix has partially restarted production at its plants in France, Germany and Tunisia after they were disrupted by a cyberattack in mid-May. The company expects production to return to normal after a gradual ramp-up.