SEOUL -- LG Electronics Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nortel Networks to form a telecom equipment joint venture here.

LG Electronics will hold just under 50%, and Nortel will have 50% plus one share.

The venture, temporarily named LG-Nortel Networks, will focus on developing equipment for 3G wireless networks based on W-CDMA technology, according to press reports.

Nortel is the larger shareholder for the purposes of accounting, the companies said.

NEWARK, NY, Jan. 24 -- IEC Electronics Corp. today reported its first-quarter net income of $82,000 on sales of $6.2 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31. The company is trying to come back after losing a key account -- Motorola -- last year.

The EMS maker reported a net income of $132,000 on revenue of $6.5 million a year ago.

In a press release, Barry Gilbert, chairman and CEO, said, "Although our profit was modest, we have made substantial progress in rebuilding the Company. Last year we were trying to deal with the loss of Motorola. We needed to reduce our costs and refocus our sales activities, and will continue to do so as required. Some of the programs we have put into place are starting to take hold."

IEC began a lean-manufacturing program late last year and expects gross margins to  improve as revenue increases.

Also, Donald Doody has joined the company as vice president of operations. He was formerly with Plexus Corp.

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GREENVILLE, SC  -- Kemet Corp. today reported December quarter net sales of $95.5 million and a loss before charges of $18.6 million. The company also took $20.3 million in one-time charges for the quarter.

The company reported revenues of $111.3 million last year and $106 million last quarter.
The GAAP loss was $13.1 million a year ago and $7.5 million sequentially.

Kemet was hurt by excess inventory especially at distributors, said
CEO Dr. Jeffrey Graves, in a press statement. He said indications are
that inventory declines may continue. 

Average selling prices fell 1% during the quarter.

Surface-mount capacitors made up 82% of the company's sales for the December quarter.

By region, 43% of sales were in North America, 35% in Asia and 21% in Europe.

Nearly half -- 49% -- of sales were to distributors, 27% were to EMS customers and 24% were to OEMs.
 

FRAMINGHAM, MA, Jan. 18 - The worldwide PC market remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2004 with growth of 13.7% driven by smaller businesses and holiday consumer demand, according to IDC.

Shipments rose to 51.5 million units for the quarter, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth and beating projections of 13% growth.

Shipments for all of 2004 reached 177.5 million units on growth of 14.7%, representing peak recovery following the market contraction of 2001. Total shipments in 2004 were more than 26% over 2000 volumes.

IDC forecasts growth of 10% in 2005 followed by declining growth in the single digits.

"Business demand and growth in key regions like EMEA continue to drive the market," said Loren Loverde, director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Although we saw a seasonal rise in consumer shipments, business remains a larger market and has been growing faster since mid-2004. Ongoing PC replacements and new investment should continue to drive commercial growth at least through the end of 2005."

Dell is now the uncontested market leader. After ceding the top spot to HP in the fourth quarter of 2002 and 2003 following HP's merger with Compaq, Dell managed to distance itself from HP by a full point of market share in the fourth quarter, and seems to have the momentum on its side.

Significant improvements were seen from Gateway and Apple.

"The fourth quarter of 2004 represented a milestone in the personal computing industry, as total worldwide volume exceed the figure of 47.4 million set a decade ago in 1994 for the entire year," said Roger Kay, vice president. "Spending on PCs by all sizes of business continues to improve steadily, and consumers came out in force in the holiday quarter to pursue their growing interest in PCs and the digital lifestyle."

Other findings:

• Dell - Dell managed another strong quarter and maintained its top rank with a solid performance across regions and total shipment growth of more than 21%. The strong results further consolidated Dell's lead, preventing HP from taking back the top rank as it did in the fourth quarter of 2002 and 2003.
• HP - HP remained a strong second, benefiting from sequential growth in EMEA and the consumer segment. Nevertheless, overall growth of 9% was slightly slower than the market.
• IBM - IBM shipped record volumes in the fourth quarter and grew worldwide shipments by 9% year on year with strong portables growth. News of the sale of IBM's PC Division to Lenovo in December temporarily slowed sales in the U.S., although demand picked up again by the end of the month.
• Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens - Fujitsu Siemens had a solid quarter, keeping pace with growth in the EMEA market, but facing a tough market in Japan.
• Toshiba - Toshiba continues to benefit from the mobile adoption trend, growing roughly on par with overall portable shipments.
• Gateway - Gateway saw a strong sequential increase as it worked through merger issues and took advantage of demand in small business and consumer segments. Although year-on-year growth was behind the market, the fourth quarter marks the first positive growth since the merger with eMachines, and is an important step in moving the company forward.
• Acer - Acer had another strong quarter led by aggressive growth in EMEA, which represented over 70% of Acer's worldwide shipments for the quarter.
• Apple - Apple had a notably strong quarter, with growth of more than 25%. This gain represents a significant improvement over prior quarters, reflecting the introduction of the G5 iMac as well as some substantiation that PC sales have benefited from the popularity of Apple's music business.