Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Market News

News

HERZLIA, Israel, Jan. 4 -- UGS, a supplier of of product lifecycle management software and services, will buy Tecnomatix Technologies, a supplier of manufacturing operations software, in a deal valued at $227.7 million. Closing is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2005.

The agreement is subject to approval by Tecnomatix shareholders and regulatory authorities.

Under the terms, Tecnomatix shareholders will receive $17 per share in cash, a premium of 39% over Tecnomatix's average closing price over the last 60 trading days.

Tecnomatix's board has unanimously approved the deal.

BANNOCKBURN, IL, Jan. 3 -- The November 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards 2004 rose 4.1% year-on-year, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Bookings slumped 27%, however, due to seasonality and intense competition from Asian manufacturers.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio was 0.96, down from 1.05 in October. November marked the first time the indicator dropped below 1.0 since April 2003, said IPC, which tracks the data.

The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

Separately, the ratios were 0.88 for rigid PCBs and 1.28 for flexible circuits.

Despite the November dropoff, rigid boards, which are estimated to make up about 82% of all domestic PCBs, are showing some improvement. Year-on-year rigid shipments are up 17.8% and bookings are up 8%, while flexible shipments have grown 72.5% and bookings are up 88.7%.

Combined, shipments and bookings are up 28.5% and 24.8%, respectively, this year. Sequentially, shipments dropped 5.2% and bookings fell 23.3%.

Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.

PLAINVIEW, NY, Dec. 27 -- Aeroflex Inc. said today it received $13.6 million in radio test set orders from the Army, Army National Guard and the Air Force.

Beginning in May, the company will start shipping the sets over a 14-month period.

The order brings the company's military communications orders to $22 million for fiscal 2005. The company booked about $414.1 million in sales in 2004.

Areoflex makes testing and microelectronic products for the aerospace, defense and communications markets.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 23 -- SMTA International 2004 today announced the recipients of its top awards.

Chrys Shea of Cookson Electronics won for Best of Conference, Alan Donaldson, Intel Corp., won Best of Proceedings, and Lars Boettcher, Fraunhofer IZM Berlin, won Best International Paper.

The awards are chosed by attendees and recipients win $1,000.

Shea was awarded Best of Conference Paper for "Optimizing Stencil Design for Lead-free SMT Processing." The paper identifies optimized stencil aperture geometries and explores the lower spread of lead-free alloys on some alternate surface finishes.

Donaldson's paper, "Hot Air Lead-free Rework of BGA Packages and Sockets," presents rework profiles and a process developed based on actual package reliability tests.

Boettcher's paper, "Development of 3D-Redistribution and Balling Technologies for Fabrication of Vertical Power Devices," which reveeals the development of a 3-D wafer-level redistribution process based on fully additive metal deposition.

The SMTA is seeking papers for its 2005 conference in September. Abstracts will be accepted through Feb. 7 at www.smta.org/smtai/call_for_papers.cfm.

METHUEN, MA, Dec. 28 -- Infineon Technologies and Parlex Corp. have struck a deal to jointly manufacture and sell substrates for secure mobile electronic identification products. The companies will set up a JV to supply substrates for Infineon's Flip Chip on Substrate program, and to outside customers.

The joint venture will be headquartered in Hong Kong with manufacturing facilities in China. Operations are expected to begin in April.

Under the terms of the agreement, Parlex will have a 51% equity share with Infineon holding the remaining share. Infineon will also pay Parlex $3 million.

Parlex's Shanghai flex circuit plant will also provide certain services which will be paid for by the JV, the companies said.

SAN JOSE, Dec. 29 -- Sanmina-SCI today reported revised results for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended Oct. 2, citing accounmting problems at one of its plants.

The electronics manufacturer lowered its fourth-quarter earnings to $5.4 million from $11.5 million. In fiscal 2003, Sanmina-SCI posted a quarterly loss of $85.7 million.

The company also revised its 2004 loss to $11.4 million, about double its earlier reported loss of $5.3 million. Sanmina-SCI reported a loss of $137.2 million in the previous year.

The adjustments were recorded in Sanmina-SCI's fourth quarter and included stock-based compensation charges of $2.4 million, an increase in interest expense of $2 million from certain acquisitions and restructuring charges of $1.1 million.

Sanmina-SCI said adjusted earnings, which exclude unusual items, were not affected by the accounting charge. In October, the company posted adjusted earnings of $41.8 million, and $128.9 million for fiscal 2004