SAN JOSE, Nov. 1 -- Global semiconductor sales rose to $18.4 billion in September, a sequential increase of 1%, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. Sales of PCs and cellphones appear to be stronger than expected and are boosting sales of microprocessors, DSP, flash memory devices and DRAMs.

Worldwide chip sales for the third quarter were $55.2 billion, up 3.2% from the second quarter and 27.4% from last year. Worldwide sales were up 33.2% for the first nine months.

"Despite evidence of an ongoing inventory correction in some segments of the industry, the September sales figures reflect continuing growth in demand for semiconductors," said SIA president George Scalise. "September is traditionally one of most consistently strong months for microchip sales as manufacturers of electronics products gear up for the holiday season.

"Slower growth or declining sales in a few market segments are signs of a continuing inventory correction by both semiconductor producers and customers. The ongoing inventory correction in these segments was the major factor in the September growth rate coming in near the low end of the historic range," Scalise said.

Chip sales in Europe and Asia were up 4.1% and 1.6%, respectively, while sales in the Americas and Japan declined 1.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

SMTA Seeks Papers for Medical Electronics Symposium
11-02-2004

Minneapolis, MN -- The SMTA has issued a call for papers for the Medical Electronics Symposium to be held April 26-27, 2005, in Minneapolis, MN.  Papers can be submitted until December 3.

Topics for the conference may include:

- Assembly Technology Challenges

- Manufacturing/Equipment Requirements

- Design Challenges: Power Management and DFX

- Assembly Failure Analysis Case Studies

- Six Sigma Projects

- Lean Manufacturing Projects

- Process Validation and Requirements: Qualification, Traceability, and Control

- Advanced Packaging for Medical Electronic

- Components/Packaging and Assembly Materials

- Substrate Materials

- Emerging Technologies for Medical Electronics

- Sensors/MEMS/Nanotechnology

- Business Regulations / Barriers to Entry for Medical Assembly

- Challenges in Outsourcing Medical Assembly

- RoHS and Environmental Constraints for Medical Products

The conference will explore medical electronic devices, components, packaging, assembly and business issues for major categories, such as diagnostics, imaging, monitoring, life support, implantable products, personal monitor/delivery devices and disposable electronics. Products addressed range from complex, powerful and expensive diagnostic machines to simple, mass-produced, use-once sensors. 

Submit abstracts and inquiries to SMTA director of education Kristin Nafstad: kristin@smta.org. Include the paper title, author's name and complete contact info. 

The results include a $23.1 million charge for the impairment of goodwill and a $1.8 million writeoff of
customer lists associated with the acquisitions of ETMA and AVT, respectively. TFAS also took a $1.6 million charge for excess inventory and transition issues relating to completion of the move of the display business from the company's factory in Manila to a factory in Beijing.
For the quarter, the cost of sales was $42.5 million, up from  $41 million last year. Gross margin was a loss of 0.1, versus 1.4 last year.
   
Jack Saltich, president and chief executive, said in a statement, "We have been concentrating our efforts this year on streamlining our global manufacturing operations and correcting issues in our Redmond factory. Optimizing our global infrastructure has taken a significant effort. I believe we are starting to see success from these endeavors."

Separately, TFS named Leslie Honda regulatory affairs director, a new post. Honda was vice president of quality and regulatory for ClearMedical Inc., a medical devices reprocessor.

The book-to-bill ratio for all types of boards was 1.08, meaning for every $100 of shipments, $108 in orders were booked, said IPC, which tracks the data. The trade group does not disclose the participants or their revenues. The book-to-bill ratio was 1.04 in August.

The ratios for rigid and flex boards were 1.01 and 1.38, respectively. The ratio is calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

Overall September shipments rose 25.9% and bookings were up 18.1% year-on-year, IPC said. For the year, shipments are up 33.5%, bookings are up 35.2%. Sequentially, shipments were up 12.1%, bookings 16.6%.

"Both rigid and flex shipments are rebounding from the recession and are showing strong growth, but flex is growing at a faster rate than rigid," IPC said in a press release.

For the month rigid PCB shipments were up 12.2% but bookings fell 10.1%. Flexible circuit shipments were up 85.6% and bookings were 140.1% higher.

Year-to-date, rigid PCB shipments are up 23.3% and bookings are 16.8% higher, while flex shipments have grown 78.5% and bookings are up 106.5%.

The flexible circuit sales include some value-added services -- about 17%, says IPC.

For the three months ended Oct. 2, the company posted earnings of $11.5 million, up from a loss of $85.7 million last year. The results topped consensus forecasts, thanks to strength in PCs and wireless infrastructure.

Excluding items, income rose to $41.8 million, from $14 million last year. Gross margins were 5.3%. In a research note, Deutsche Bank said, "We believe a mix shift toward PCs, continued pricing pressure and management mishaps in enclosures combined to drive the margin shortfall."

The company generated $160 million in cash flow from operations during the quarter. Inventory turns improved to 11.5 from 10.4 sequentially.

For its 2004 fiscal year, Sanmina-SCI posted a loss of $5.3 million, up from a loss of $137.2 million in 2003. Excluding one-time charges, the company reported income of $128.9 million, up from $28.3 million last year. Yearly revenue rose to $12.2 billion, from $10.4 billion.

Sanmina guided for first-quarter earnings per share of 9 to 11 cents on revenue of $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion. Last year Sanmina-SCI reported revenue of $3 billion.