TAIPEI -- Compal Electronics reported second-quarter net profit rose 1.1% year-over-year to T$3.237 billion ($98 million) on a 40% jump in sales to T$121.9 billion.

STERLING, VA -- Zollner Elektronik and EIT Inc. announced an agreement under which the two EMS companies would jointly offer facilities and share resources, including manufacturing and engineering.

ESPOO, FINLAND – Elcoteq has joined its home communications and personal communications businesses into one business unit: consumer electronics, say published reports.

Approximately 150 staff will be laid off as a result of this restructuring; talks have begun in Finland on this matter.

Effective immediately, the firm has appointed managers Sándor Hajnal in human resources and Tomi Saario in new sales and business development.

Consumer electronics will now represent about 75% of the firm’s sales, while system solutions will account for roughly 25%.

AUSTIN, TX – July shipments of large-area TFT LCD panels reached 49.2 million units, up 5% sequentially and 39%, says DisplaySearch.

This sets a new record for monthly shipments, according to the research firm.

“July was a record-breaking month for large-area TFT LCD panels in several segments, including total shipments, shipment area, notebook PC, LCD TV and mini-note panel shipments,” said David Hsieh, VP of DisplaySearch.

“Panel prices continued to rise in July, and revenues will increase again in August, as shipments continue to grow. Despite the price increases, OEMs and brands are building inventories for the coming holiday season. DisplaySearch believes it is very important to watch inventories carefully in September, especially for LCD monitor and LCD TV panels,” he said.

Large-area TFT LCD revenues reached $5.9 billion, up 11% sequentially and 6% year-over-year, marking the first time in the past 12 months there has been positive year-over-year growth.

On a unit basis, LG Display was the leader with 24.7% market share, followed by Samsung with 23.4% and AUO with 16.8%. Samsung led in area shipments with 26.8% market share, followed by LG Display at 25.1%, CMO at 15.7%, and AUO with 15.6%.

LCD shipments for notebook PCs and TVs showed sequential growth, reaching monthly record highs of 16.7 million and 13.5 million units, respectively. Slower demand for 20"+ monitor panels resulted in a 1% sequential decline in July. LCD TV panels had the highest year-over-year growth at 69%, followed by notebook panels at 36%, and monitor panels at 26%.

Mini-note/netbook panel shipments were 4.3 million in July, also achieving an all-time high, says the firm. HannStar led this segment with 1.2 million mini-note panels shipped in July.

DisplaySearch forecasts shipments will increase again in August, but at a slower rate. The panel supply situation will continue to tighten in August and September, resulting in higher revenues.

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. reported fiscal fourth quarter net sales fell 16.8% year-over-year to $64.8 million.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PWB shipments in July dropped 25.3% year-over-year, and orders decreased 23.1% compared to last year.

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA – Heraeus has acquired the microbond business division electronic packaging materials from Umicore AG & Co.
 
Heraeus has made an addition to its portfolio in the area of soft solder and flux material manufacture for use in the semiconductor industry.
 
Heraeus will gain 36 additional employees at its sites in Hanau, Germany and Singapore.
 
No financial terms were disclosed.

TORONTO – Maak Corp., a small EMS company based here, is auctioning off its equipment and assets.

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, PA - Heraeus Materials Technology and Air-Vac Engineering have joined forces to develop solder paste for area array rework.

Development is currently underway at Heraeus’ Pennsylvania R&D center using Air-Vac’s ONYX-29 rework system.

The firms plan to optimize current dippable paste formulations specifically for the rework process. The new product is scheduled for beta testing later this year.

Air-Vac provides electronics rework equipment and processes.

Heraeus provides dippable solder pastes optimized for rework of BGAs and other area array devices.

LONG BEACH, CA – A shipment from China of close to 13,000 counterfeit routers and Ethernet switches was seized at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex Friday.
 
Agents confiscated 5,475 wireless routers and 7,472 Ethernet switches, according to published reports, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
 
The products had logos indistinguishable from those made by Apple and Microsoft, the reports said.
 
Officials estimated the value of the shipment at more than $650,000, with a retail price topping $850,000.
 
No arrests have been made.

SMYRNA, GA – The third annual Virtual PCB, the industry’s only virtual trade show and conference for the PCB design, fabrication and assembly markets, will take place March 2 - 3.

AUSTIN – The total e-paper display market will grow to 1.8 billion units and $9.6 billion in revenues by 2018, a CAGR of 41% for revenues and 64% for units, says DisplaySearch.

E-book displays currently account for the majority of e-paper revenues. Nearly all e-book devices currently in the market use E Ink’s electrophoretic display technology, with a small number – such as Fujitsu’s FLEPia – using cholesteric LCD technology. Other electrophoretic display suppliers, SiPix and Bridgestone, will also commercialize e-book displays, according to the research firm.

The number of e-book/e-textbook models went from one model in 2003-2004 to three in 2006, to about five in 2007. In 2009, the number of models jumped to about 20. The e-paper display market for e-books and e-textbooks (5" to 10") is forecast to grow from about 1 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2018.

Color e-book displays recently entered the market with Fujitsu’s 8" FLEPia e-book. Because of the high price and technical challenges, DisplaySearch forecasts color e-books will not reach high volumes before 2011.

Electrophoretic was the leading technology in 2008, and DisplaySearch forecasts the technology will continue to lead the e-paper display market growth for this forecast period, and reach $5.8 billion by 2018.

Bi-stable LCD was the second largest e-paper display technology by revenues in 2008, and is forecast to reach $2.5 billion by 2018.

MEMS display technology will expand from small-size mobile phone displays to color and medium-size e-book displays over the next few years.

Electrochromic displays are targeting low-cost, high-volume smart label and card display applications. DisplaySearch forecasts electrochromic will become the leading technology in terms of unit volume for e-paper displays by 2013.