TOKYO - UMC Electronics, a large EMS provider based in Japan, will open a second plant in China to meet growing demand.
The company will install a reported 100 SMT lines in the plant,
according to a report in a Japanese language publication translated by
Dominique Numakura's EPTE newsletter.
UMC expects sales of 52 billion yen this year, the report said.
SAN JOSE -- North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor
equipment posted a 90-day moving average of $1 billion in orders in
April and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.80, signaling a likely slowdown
ahead, according to SEMI.
A book-to-bill of 0.80 means that $80 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in April was $1 billion,
up 1.5% above revised March figures of $988.4 million but down 37%
year-on-year.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in April was $1.25
billion, down 1.6% from revised March levels and 10% from a year ago.
"A minor decrease in billings and a commensurate increase in bookings
slightly raises the book-to-bill ratio," said Stanley T. Myers,
president and CEO of SEMI. "However, we are in a stasis period, where
we have yet to see a significant change in business for North
American-based providers of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment."
Oyster Bay, NY -- Annual global sales of "dual-mode"
mobile phones -- which can connect to either a conventional cellular
service or a Wi-Fi network -- are likely to exceed 100 million by 2010,
according to a new study by ABI Research.
Dual-mode
handsets have been virtually unknown to consumers until recently, and
have not penetrated the enterprise space to any degree either.
But
according to ABI Research senior analyst Philip Solis, some of the
giants of global telecommunications -- notably British Telecom and
Korea Telecom -- plan to offer dual-mode services by the end of 2005.
That could start a very large ball rolling.
"The advantages of
dual mode handsets and services, when they arrive, can be summed up in
two words: seamless and economical," Solis said. Though the full
spectrum of capabilities won't appear in the first generation of
products, when these services are mature you will be able to start a
phone call at home (connecting to residential Wi-Fi network and then
broadband VOIP phone service), continue it in your car (switching to
your cellular provider's network) and wind it up at work (phone
switches to 802.11 LAN, and VoIP). The handset would sense the
available signals and switch automatically from one network mode to
another.
Breda, The Netherlands -Cobar BV, a supplier of fluxes, solder pastes and soldering materials to the electronics manufacturing industry, has been certified to the ISO/TS 16949 global automotive quality standard.
ISO/TS 16949 aligns existing American (QS-9000), German (VDA6.1), French (EAQF) and Italian (AVSQ) automotive quality systems standards within the global automotive industry, eliminating the need for multiple certifications to satisfy customer requirements.
With ISO 9001:2000, it specifies the quality system requirements for the design/development, production, installation and servicing of automotive related products.
Cobar BV was accredited to ISO 9001 in 1994 and to ISO 14001 in 1997, and is also accredited to NATO's AQAP-110.
Mansfield and Austin, TX - Mouser Electronics, an electronics catalog distributor, will distribute Freescale Semiconductor products worldwide through its print and online product catalogs.
Mouser's inventory of Freescale products includes the 8-/16-/32-bit microcontrollers, including the 16-bit 9S12NE64 single-chip MCU with Ethernet connectivity; digital signal processors (DSPs) and digital signal controllers (DSCs); 32-bit microprocessors, including the PowerPC® family; RF ICs, including Zigbee; analog ICs, pressure sensors and accelerometers; clock drivers; and development tools.
ARLINGTON, VA-- Down in January, up in
February, down in March, up again last month: electronic component
orders continued their 2005 seesaw ride, according to the monthly order
index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials
Association (ECA).
"Anytime you see an uptick such as the
one in April, it's a good sign," said Bob Willis, ECA president
(ec-central.org). "So far, it's been a positive year, but we are
still seeing fluctuations from month to month as a result of
manufacturers' uncertainties about where the market is heading."