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FORT WASHINGTON, PA – Kulicke & Soffa will acquire Alphasem, supplier of die bonder equipment, from Dover Technologies for $30 million, subject to a working capital adjustment. The acquisition is expected to close around Nov. 3, K&S said today.

In a statement, vice president Christian Rheault, called the acquisition “a natural extension of K&S’s core equipment business into die bonding equipment. The die bonding process precedes the wire bonding step in semiconductor chip manufacturing, and normally utilizes adjacent floor space and a common engineering team. This supplier consolidation will enhance our ability to provide solutions to our customers across a greater span of the semiconductor assembly process.”

The die bonder market was $520 million in 2005, according to VLSI Research. Dover put Alphasem and several other business units on the block in July.

HIALEAH, FL -- Electronics contract manufacturer Simclar Inc. expects June quarter net income of $790,000 on sales of $30.5 million, compared to net income of $510,000 and sales of $21.8 million for the March quarter.

The company will restate its 2005 and March quarter 2006 financials due to accounting errors in the company's Mexico subsidiary during 2005.

ARMONK, NY -- IBM Corp. last week issued layoff notices to about 400 employees of its hardware development division. The company downsized staff in Austin, TX; Burlington, VT; San Jose; Raleigh, NC; and Rochester, MN.

Employees have 30 days to secure another job within the company, according to a spokesman.

TORTOLA, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS -- The CEO and president of EMS provider Bonso Electronics International retired, effective Oct. 1.

Chairman Anthony So has taken over as president and CEO from George O'Leary, who was with Bonso for 15 years.

THIEF RIVER FALLS, MN – Digi-Key has signed an agreement to globally distribute the power transducers and other components from CR Magnetics.

CR Magnetics manufactures current, voltage, power and frequency transducers, relays, current transformers, hall effect sensors and other devices.

Separately, Digi-Key announced its distribution agreement with Winbond would be extended to include Europe.

Winbond supplies various semiconductors.

Digi-Key distributes electronic components and currently ships product to more than 140 countries.

MILPITAS, CA -- Electronics manufacturing services provider Solectron Corp. will cut 1,400 jobs -- about 2.5% of its workforce -- and close or consolidate roughly 11% of its square footage in Western Europe. The firm will take restructuring charges of $50 million to $60 million for the job cuts, which would be spread over the next 12 months.