News
VANCOUVER, CANADA - Nam Tai Electronics reported a record $156 million in sales for the first quarter of 2005, an increase of 64% over 2004. The growth exceeded the EMS provider's upper sales guidance of $155 million.
"Nam Tai's
first quarter sales typically are seasonally the lowest due to a long holiday in China with the
shortest working days and after the peak season of Christmas sales," said Nam Tai's CEO Joseph Li.
""The substantial growth in sales was mainly attributable to our new expanded production capacity resulting from construction which has completed ahead of the schedule. Based on continuous sales orders from existing customers and positive feedback from potential customers, we are optimistic and confident that our growth momentum will continue into the second quarter and onward in 2005."
Nam Tai Electronics manufactures electronics components and subassemblies, and finished products, including cellular phones and PDAs.
BANNOCKBURN, IL - The 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 0.9% year-on-year in February, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Bookings fell 34.1%, however, due to seasonality.
A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, which takes the poll, 33% of the shipments reported were produced offshore, down two points from January.
The domestic book-to-bill ratio was flat at 1.08, the third month in a row the key indicator was above 1.0. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.
Separately, the ratios were 1.04 for rigid PCBs, up 0.04 points, and 1.23 for flexible circuits, down 0.13 points.
Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 3.2% in February vs. a year ago. Bookings were down 9.8% for the month. Flex sales grew 21.2%, but bookings fell 105%.
Year-to-date flex bookings are down 26.2% and shipments are up 33.8%. Rigid shipments are down 1.8% and bookings are off 6%. Shipments of all boards are up 4.3% and bookings are down 10.1%.
Sequentially, combined shipments were up 5.1% over January, while bookings were 28.3% lower percent. Rigid shipments were up 11.2% and bookings climbed 4.5% sequentially. Flex shipments were down 13.9% and bookings were down 104.7%.
Domestic production accounted for 74% of rigid and 37% of flex circuit shipments in January, IPC said.
Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.
In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.
CHICAGO -- Connector prices are expected to fall over the next six months, according to a poll of purchasers and engineers.
No data on the number of persons polled or the margin of error was released. The monthly poll is conducted by ConnectorSupplier.com.
According to the poll, 37.6% of respondents feel prices will stay the same over the next six months, while 33.3% of respondents feel prices will decline slightly. A quarter of respondents - 25.8% - believe prices will increase slightly. About 31% of respondents felt prices declined slightly over the past six months, while 20.4% felt they rose slightly.
Lead times are expected to stay more or less the same over the next six months, the respondents say. Over 68% said they expect no change in lead time. About 20% said they expect lead times to increase slightly. The average lead time as of February was 4.8 weeks, according to those polled.
ConnectorSupplier.com is run by Bishop & Associates, a consulting firm for the connector industry.
SAN FRANCISCO - Manufacture in-house or out? That's the decision OEMs constantly face and of late it appears the top makers of handsets will continue to opt for the former.
While SonyEricsson outsources production to Flextronics and has been gaining market share, other leading OEMs are expanding internal operations. Capacity expansions in Mexico and India by Nokia and others are the latest in a series of anecdotal evidence that gives merit to the in-house crowd. And that means less business for EMS companies.
Fourth quarter unit sales of the top tier handset OEMs grew 33% year-on-year, vs. 8% for the rest of the industry.
Unix 414, the latest generation of the Robosol line, can be configured for conventional or lead-free processing. According to the manufacturer, Opto Laser ULD-730 laser robotic soldering system offers a non-contact, precision alternative for high-reliability applications.
SAN JOSE - Sales of EDA software and services reached $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up 3% year-on-year. For the year, revenue hit a record $4 billion, said the EDA Consortium (edac.org).
"In 2004, The EDA industry crossed the $4 billion mark," said Walden C. Rhines, chairman of the EDA Consortium and chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics Corporation. "Every quarter saw consistent year over year growth for the whole industry, though the North American region, as well as the IC Physical Design & Verification segment, were both down for the year."
For the quarter, product and maintenance revenue (excluding services) increased 3% to a record $1 billion. PCB and MCM layout tools hit $91 million, up 9%. CAE sales were up 9% to $523 million. IC physical design and verification fell 6% to $326 million. Semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) revenue was down 2% to $71 million.
Services revenue was $67 million, up 5%.
For the year, CAE revenue was up 5% to $1.9 billion. IC physical design and verification fell 4% to $1.2 billion. Sales of PCB and MCM layout tools rose 3% to $341 million. SIP revenue rose to $314 million from $281 million, due in part to new company participation. Services revenue totaled $280 million in 2004, a 12% increase.
North America, EDA's largest customer base, purchased $494 million worth of products and services in the fourth quarter, down 14% from a year ago. Western Europe jumped 33% to $268 million. Japan grew 14% to $188 million. The rest-of-world rose 23% to $128 million.
For the year, North American revenue down 4% to $1.95 billion, good for a 49% global share. Western Europe rose 12% to $820 million. Japan was up 2% to $783 million. Other regions combined to rise 22% to $466 million.
