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HERTFORDSHIRE, UK – Desco Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of ESD control products in Chino, CA, has acquired 100% of the shares of Vermason Ltd. Vermason manufacturers and markets ESD control products and equipment for protection of sensitive electronic devices and assemblies. Vermason will continue to operate in the same location.

VANCOUVER – Nam Tai Electronics chief executive Warren Lee has resigned, effective May 31, to return to Hong Kong investment company Yu Ming Investments as managing director. Nam Tai chairman and founder M. K. Koo will become interim chief executive.

Lee spent several years at Yu Ming before coming to Nam Tai.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Telecom OEMS are expected to spend nearly $41 billion on equipment this year, the highest annual level since 2002, says iSuppli. Spending will be up 1.6% from 2006, after rising 10.7% in 2006 and 8.3% in 2005. iSuppli estimates $9 billion will be spent on IPTV-related communications equipment in 2007. Last year, OEMs spent primarily on access equipment. In 2007, iSuppli expects carriers to continue access-equipment spending at 2006 levels, while significantly increasing investments in their core networks. Global IPTV subscribers will soar to 105.8 million in 2011, rising at a 98% CAGR from 3.4 million in 2006, iSuppli predicts. Telecom OEMs’ IPTV budgets will have to grow to account for 20% of their total capital spending by 2011, says the firm. The only region exhibiting spending declines is Japan, where fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment has slowed. However, Japanese spending should recover during the next few years.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – HP and Dell remain the world’s largest computer makers, but Acer and Lenovo are gaining, according to research firm iSuppli. Acer’s sequential mobile PC shipments rose 45.6% to 3.4 million units in the fourth quarter, said iSuppli. That beat HP, which shipped 5 million units, good for 32.8% growth. Industry-wide, mobile PC shipments rose to 23.6 million units in the quarter, up 15.7% sequentially, iSuppli said. For the year, global shipments increased 28.4% to 79.6 million units. iSuppli predicts worldwide mobile PC shipments will rise 23.5% to 98.3 million units this year. Acer and Lenovo accounted for combined desktop and notebook shipments in 2006 of 29.8 million units, or 12.5%, up from 10.8% (23.6 million units) in 2005. Through 2011, mobile PCs are expected to post a CAGR of more than 16%, compared with less than 4% for desktops, according to analyst firm IDC. If that pans out, mobile PCs would account for more than half of all client PCs worldwide in 2011. During the quarter, Dell posted the weakest performance of the top mobile PC makers, as shipments fell 1.5% to 3.52 million units, iSuppli said. Acer's share of the global mobile PC market rose three points to 14.3%, topping fourth-place Toshiba, which reported 2.45 million units shipped. Lenovo remained in the number 5 slot, up 9.1% sequentially to 1.9 million units.

ATLANTA – There is still time to register for a one-hour Webinar covering electronics manufacturing in India and Vietnam. The Webinar takes place today at 11 am PDT/ 2 pm EDT. Join Technology Forecasters' senior economist Matt Chanoff and Jason Craft, director and GM of Sparton's Vietnam facility, for a discussion of the pros and cons of these emerging markets.

Learn more at http://www.pcbshows.com/webinars/events/tfi_emergingmarkets/

Register at https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=39042&sessionid=1&key=AFE55DCD14B6F2DC4639689E501B4E12&sourcepage=register

ATLANTA – Strong end market growth and stabilizing average selling prices will drive semiconductor industry revenue to $316 billion in 2008, an increase of nearly 18% from projected 2007 sales, according to Objective Analysis. The company projects chip revenue growth of 6.3% in 2007, based in large part on improved ASPs. Foundry wafer demand will grow faster than capacity later this year, especially for 65nm sizes and below, increasing foundry utilization rates and ASPs, the analyst said. The increase, coupled with greater demand in the communications and gaming end-markets, will drive higher ASPs for logic and programmable devices, the firm said. A slowing in memory capacity additions reportedly will stabilize memory ASPs, especially those of NAND flash. Nearly all of 2007's expected price declines will have occurred in the early months of the year. The Objective Analysis forecast is bullish compared with others recently issued. Last week, Semico Research lowered its semiconductor forecast for the second time in recent weeks, saying that the IC market will grow 1.8% this year.