TAIPEI -- Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, reported May revenue fell slipped sequentially after a deadly disaster took several finishing plants offline for days.

SAN JOSE – The 90-day moving average orders at North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers was $1.62 billion in May, up 6.2% from last year.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Contract manufacturers accepting outsourcing jobs or taking on production duties for manufacturers will account for 90% of the world’s shipments of mobile PCs in 2011, says IHS iSuppli.

ODMs will make up 82% of mobile PC shipments this year, while electronic manufacturing services providers will be responsible for an additional 8%. OEMs will account for just 10% of the overall mobile PC market, says the research firm.

The share splits will remain largely unchanged in the years to come, but EMS providers will make slight headway, gradually solidifying their foothold in the space at the expense of ODMs, says IHS iSuppli.

Nonetheless, ODMs will continue to dominate in the contract manufacturing of mobile PCs. For their part, OEMs – with a few exceptions, such as Samsung – will continue to slash in-house production and outsource jobs to both groups to realize greater cost savings.

Among the top 10 mobile PC manufacturers for 2010, the top 5 were all ODMs, including Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, Inventec and Pegatron – manufacturers all headquartered in Taiwan.

The top OEM was Samsung, currently in sixth place. Top EMS providers were Hon Hai Precision Industry, in seventh, and Flextronics, ranked eighth. OEMs Lenovo Group and Fujitsu came in ninth and tenth, respectively.

Flextronics said it might not participate in new mobile PC programs next year, but Hon Hai will remain formidable in the mobile PC industry, IHS iSuppli believes.

Overall, the mobile PC market will continue to remain a significant source of revenue for the global electronics manufacturing industry, despite the rising popularity of tablet devices such as Apple’s iPad. However, mobile PC manufacturing may move toward consolidation further down the line.

MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS -- A European trade group has translated a new JPCA standard for designing and testing embedded devices.

FAIRPORT, NY -- EMS firm SenDEC has opened a dedicated, $2.5 million new product introduction plant across the street from its main facility here.

BRADENTON, FL -- One year after acquiring EMS firm Creonix, KleinPartners Capital plans at least three more deals over the next two years.

PARIS – Gold bumping may be the preferred attachment method for flip chip today, but that’s not going to be the case much longer, a new research report says.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The explosion in knockoff products – reportedly a $600 billion business worldwide – has sparked group of SMT equipment manufacturers to develop an anti-counterfeit tool kit.

ARLINGTON, VA -- The Electronic Components Industry Association has updated its guidelines for reporting distributor sales information to manufacturers.

SAN JOSE – Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment orders grew 18% year-over-year during the first quarter to $11.08 billion.

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Legacy Electronics said it has completed Phase 1 of its move from San Clemente, CA, to its 40,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility here.

The firm has completed installation, calibration and qualification of the location’s first electronics component production line.

Several new employees have been hired, with more hiring expected. Some existing employees have relocated with the firm.

SANTA CLARA, CA – China is expected to surpass Japan in large-area TFT LCD panel production in the second quarter of this year, with Chinese suppliers indicating expanded production plans, says DisplaySearch.

Large-area TFT LCD panel production by Chinese makers, including mini-note, tablet PC, notebook, monitor, and TV applications, was 2.7 million units monthly in the first quarter, compared to 3.2 million units monthly from Japanese makers.

However, China will increase to 3.4 million units in the second quarter, while Japan is expected to fall to 2.3 million units. China is also expected to be higher than Japan in unit production from the third quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012.

On an area basis, Japan will remain larger than China for some time, as there are higher generation fabs, including Gen 6, Gen 8 and Gen 10, in Japan. However, Chinese companies like BOE, ChinaStar and CEC-Panda will be ramping up Gen 6 and Gen 8 fabs within the year, and there will be more expansions in 2012, says the research firm.

Chinese TFT LCD makers still lag behind counterparts in Korea, Taiwan and Japan in new technology implementation.

Sharp, LG Display and other panel makers will start producing tablet PC panels in Gen 8 using advanced array and thin glass technologies. In 2011, 10% of Gen 8 capacity is being allocated to produce tablet PC panels.

The majority of the fabs producing mini-note and tablet PC panels will be Gen 5 and below, which accounted for 90% of these panels in the second quarter of this year, while Gen 6 and Gen 8 accounted for 10% during that period. According to panel makers’ production plans, in the first quarter of 2012, 25% of mini-note and tablet PC panels will be made in Gen 6 to Gen 8 lines.

CEC-Panda, which has acquired capacity and technology from Sharp, will not only make LCD TV panels in its Gen 6 line, but will also allocate 27% of its capacity for LCD monitor panels.

While Korean and Japanese panel makers like Samsung, LG Display and Sharp are allocating some of their Gen 8 capacity to non-TV applications, Taiwanese Gen 8 owners AUO and Chimei Innolux are allocating 100% of their lines to LCD TV applications.

HannStar will allocate more than 50% of its capacity to small/medium panel production, says DisplaySearch.