SAN FRANCISCO -- Fabrinet has entered into a facility agreement to borrow $30 million to construct an electronics manufacturing plant in Klongneung, Thailand.

INGOLSTADT, GERMANY – Zestron president Dr. Harald Wack has been named to run Dr. O.K. Wack Chemie, the parent company.

Wack’s father, Dr. Oskar Wack, founded the precision cleaning company in his garage in 1975. The business then expanded into electronics cleaning, and Zestron was formed. Headquartered outside Munich, the firm now operates technical centers in Ingolstadt; Manassas, VA; Kulim, Malaysia; and Shanghai. O.K. Wack focuses on automotive cleaning products.

In addition, Michael McCutchen has been promoted to vice president of Zestron Americas and South Asia, and Christine Demetz is now operations manager. Dr. Harald Wack has assumed the role of president for both firms, and will be based in Europe. 

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Mobile video services in China, Brazil, and the US are creating new growth markets for all-digital mobile tuners, which will drive the value of silicon TV tuners to $750 million in 2015, says In-Stat.

The transition from older-style can-type tuners to silicon TV tuners began in 2010. Today, the top TV set manufacturers are actually putting silicon tuners directly on their main TV chassis boards, and many ODMs are using can-type modules that contain silicon tuners and demodulators. 

By 2015, nearly 80% of all new TV sets will ship with silicon tuners built in, the firm says. Silicon tuner shipments into Latin America will grow at CAGR of 30.5%. In North America, silicon tuners built into TV sets will grow with a CAGR of 22.5% through 2015.

Many European TV sets already include silicon TV tuners, and expected growth will push the number of units shipped to nearly 36 million in 2015, according to In-Stat.

In the cable TV space, Broadcom’s full band capture technologies will help bring an expanding range of Internet protocol services to consumers’ homes.

In the satellite space, NovelSat’s NS-3 modulation may create a new wave of satellite services that can reinvigorate shipments for next-generation satellite set top boxes.

SANTA CLARA, CA – Shipments of large-area TFT LCD panels increased to 180.8 million units in the second quarter, up 11% sequentially and 6% year-over-year.
Revenues reached $19.3 billion, also up 11% sequentially, but down 16% year-over-year, says DisplaySearch.

Panel makers are targeting a modest 7% growth in shipments for the third quarter, as downstream manufacturers and brands are expected to prepare for the holiday season. However, fourth-quarter growth is expected to be flat.

“The TFT LCD industry has been in oversupply for more than a year, and first-quarter 2011 was at the bottom of the cycle. Prices rebounded slightly in the second quarter, and both shipments and revenues increased. However, this was just a short-term rebound, as stagnant economic conditions and low consumer confidence continue to exert a drag on demand, especially for IT products and TVs,” noted David Hsieh, vice president, greater China market, DisplaySearch. “Panel makers did not achieve their goal of growing second-quarter shipments 18% sequentially, and slow demand is eroding panel prices in the third quarter.”

Most LCD TV set makers are reducing 2011 panel demand forecasts to trim costs and maintain low inventory levels, says the research firm. Panel prices are becoming more negotiable as a result of the concern over weakening demand, and falling prices will encourage panel makers to cut capacity utilization in the second half of 2011. This is likely to persuade panel makers to set conservative shipment targets. This is abnormal for second-half shipment targets, which typically aim for strong growth, says DisplaySearch.

In the second quarter, all applications experienced sequential growth, and tablet PCs showed the strongest momentum, with 88% growth sequentially and 386% year-over-year. Monitor and notebook PC shipments grew 3% and 5% sequentially, respectively, but both were flat compared to the same period last year.
TV panel shipments were flat in the second quarter, while tablet and mini-note PC panel shipments fell 7% sequentially. Despite 7% sequential growth, TV panel shipments suffered a 4% year-over-year decline.

The decrease in panel prices at the end of July and beginning of August has caused panel makers to become concerned about second-half conditions.
In terms of revenues, all applications experienced sequential growth in the second-quarter, due to stabilized panel pricing. Tablet PC and public display panel revenues showed the strongest growth, at 64% and 28% sequentially, respectively. However, year-over-year revenue growth for monitor, notebook PC and TV panels were all negative. Due to an increase in shipments, panel makers are targeting 11% growth in revenues in the third quarter.

ROME, NY – A pair of trade groups have revised the standard for ESD testing of electronic components.

ANSI/ESDA/JEDEC JS-001-2011 for Electrostatic Discharge Sensitivity (ESD) Testing - Human Body Model (HBM) - Component Level modifies required pin combinations in order to reduce test times, increase productivity, reduce costs and minimize false failures. These changes include: most non-supply to non-supply (I/O-to-I/O) eliminated – testing is limited to differential pairs; eliminated "cross-domain" testing of non-supply (I/O) pins; pin combinations for two-pin testing clarified, and use of "single polarity" supply-to-supply stressing allowed.

The primary changes are described in a new pin combination table; the older set of combinations are still permitted and summarized in a separate table. An expanded annex provides further guidance to allow the user to minimize the interaction between the HBM tester parasitics and the device under tests.

The ESDA/JEDEC product can be downloaded free of charge at www.ESDA.org or www.JEDEC.org. 

BROOKHAVEN, MS — Delphi Packard will invest a reported $15 million to upgrade its printed circuit assembly plant here, a further sign that it has tabled any plans to move production to Mexico.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Top 20 EMS provider Fabrinet today reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 23% year-over-year to $16.7 million.It was the company's 46th straight quarter of profitability.

BEIJING – EMS firm Beijing Brio Technology has moved into a custom new factory here.

SHENZHEN – Electronics manufacturer SinoHub reported second-quarter net sales of $40.9 million, down 6.8% year-over-year.

Net income was $1 million, down 70.6% compared to the same period last year.

Sales in the ICM business segment were $9.2 million, down 30.8% year-over-year.

Net sales from the electronic component sales and supply chain management services segment for the quarter were $31.7 million, up 3.6% compared to the second quarter of 2010.

“Our results were impacted this quarter by a significant decline in sales from our ICM segment, as our largest customer faced inventory issues relating to phones purchased from another supplier.  As a result, this customer was unable to purchase any phones from SinoHub during the second quarter,” said CEO Harry Cochran.
“We have decided to shift the electronic component procurement portion of our ECSS segment to a brokerage model from our current model where we take ownership of components.” 

Net sales for the six months ended June 30 were $78.9 million, down 4.4% compared to the year-earlier period. 

Gross profit for the six-month period was $12.1 million, down 17.7% year-over-year.

WAYNE, NJ – Fisnar has launched a Web-based automated dispensing programming service.
 
The service allows customers to program and confirm an automated dispensing application without having to purchase equipment or allocate engineering time before making an investment.
 
Fisnar’s engineers will help select the right robot and provide integration advice. For more information, visit www.fisnar.com/video-trial.
 
Fisner provides fluid dispensing and dispensing automation systems.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Presentations from a major solar and photovoltaic industry meeting here last month are now available online.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — IPC president Denny McGuirk has resigned to accept a new position as president and CEO of SEMI, effective Nov. 1, the trade group announced today.