SMYRNA, GA -- Virtual PCB, the only online trade show for the electronics assembly market, opens today.

The free event features several top assembly equipment providers, including Assembleon, Agilent, Valor and BTU.

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STAMFORD, CT — Worldwide vertical market IT spending is projected to rise 0.5% year-over-year to $2.7 trillion in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Utilities, healthcare and government are expected to be the strongest-growing segments of the market .

The firm blames the worldwide economic slowdown for the tepid growth. Says John-David Lovelock, research vice president for Gartner, “Internal spending, hardware and system integration in the financial sector were particularly hard-hit in 2008 and will continue suffering through 2009.”

The utilities industry is forecast to grow the most in 2009 - 2.9%. Smart grids and energy supplies are viewed as national and strategic issues in many countries, and spending on IT is a necessity. The healthcare industry is expected to post the second-highest increase,  at 2.2%. Countries in which healthcare is primarily publicly funded will be sheltered from the worst of the economic turmoil, and governments tend to keep healthcare funding at least stable during the worst economic conditions, Gartner says.

Uncertainty about the depth and duration of the economic slowdown dominated the banking and investment sector in the last quarter of 2008. This uncertainty led to declines and postponements in IT spending at many large financial services companies, and this is expected to continue in 2009 as worldwide financial services IT spending is forecast to decline 0.7%. The US financial services sector is forecast to be hardest hit, however, major IT investments in less-affected countries such as Canada and Mexico and regions such as the Middle East and Africa will minimize the decline in the sector worldwide.

MACAO, CHINA -- Nam Tai Electronics will attempt to privatize its Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed subsidiary for about $43 million in cash.

Nam Tai, the world's 17th largest EMS comnpany, has a 74.9% stake in the subsidiary, Nam Tai Electronic & Electrical Products Ltd.

The offer is contingent of at least 90% acceptance of outstanding (non Nam Tai-owned) shares. It is expected that the results will be known and released in April.

NEW YORK -- A Morgan Stanley analyst cuts her forecast for PC sales and shipments for 2009 and 2010, citing weak demand and price-undercutting by low-cost netbooks.

In a research note today, Kathryn Huberty forecast global PC revenues would drop 24% this year, more than double her earlier estimate of a 10% drop. Shipments will fall 11%, she wrote, and ASPs will drop 15%.

She also revised her 2010 forecast to a 3% revenue drop, from flat, despite 2% shipment growth.

Netbooks, Huberty says, are cannibalizing traditional notebook sales, taking a 20% share (22 million units) in 2009. Netbook production will rise 41% to 31 million units in 2010, she said. Netbooks are typically priced at no more than half the cost of a traditional notebook.