DULUTH, GA – The Atlanta Chapter of Women in Electronics awarded GeorgiaFIRST a $1,300 donation, putting total chapter donations at $200,000 since 1985.

SAN JOSE -- Worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will fall in 2012 from this year's record sales, SEMI forecast today.

PECS, HUNGARY -- Jabil Circuit will open a service center here at the end of next month, staffing it with about 400 former Elcoteq workers, the town mayor said.

WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND -- DEK has expanded its stencil business, adding a Southwest US franchise to serve customers in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

WASHINGTON -- Semiconductor Research Corp. and Cornell University researchers are working to advance on-chip silicon development to enable new generations of smaller and more sophisticated mobile electronic devices.

WASHINGTON – The Council on Competitiveness on Thursday will release a road map for how the US can lead the world in advanced manufacturing this century.

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan amendment that passes the cost of counterfeit electronic component mitigation to contractors has passed the US Senate by an overwhelming margin.

"S.AMDT.1092: to bolster the Detection and Avoidance of Counterfeit Electronic Parts," introduced by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ), passed in the US Senate by a 97-3 margin.     

The Levin-McCain amendment against counterfeiting of critical electronic parts includes new provisions that require large defense contractors to establish systems for detecting and avoiding counterfeit parts. It authorizes reductions in contract payments to contractors who fail to do so. For the first time, Congress is requiring contractors to absorb the costs of fixing problems caused by counterfeit parts, rather than deferring costs to the Defense Department.   

The amendment also requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish enhanced inspection of electronic parts, and requires the DoD to adopt policies and procedures for detecting and avoiding counterfeit parts in its direct purchases, and for assessing and acting on reports of counterfeits. Military officials and contractors that learn of counterfeit parts in the supply chain must provide written notification to the contracting officer, the DoD Inspector General, and to the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program.

The amendment is attached to the fiscal 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.

NASHUA, NH – A local design and manufacturing company has donated $5,000 to the New Hampshire Food Bank.