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NEENAH, WI – Contract manufacturer Plexus Corp. reported record fiscal second-quarter revenue of $568 million, up 15.7% compared to the same period in 2010.
TORONTO – Celestica reported first-quarter revenue of $1.8 billion, up 18.4% year-over-year, within company guidance.
TORONTO – Celestica said it has agreed to acquire the semiconductor equipment contract manufacturing operations of Brooks Automation for approximately $80 million.
Brooks Automation specializes in manufacturing mechanical equipment and providing systems integration services for semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Capabilities include the production of equipment frontend modules for wafer handling and transportation, vacuum transfer modules and sub-systems for semiconductor capital equipment OEMs.
The business generated revenue of approximately $135 million for the six months ended Mar. 31, and currently employs approximately 450 people.
The purchase will be financed from either Celestica’s credit facility or from cash on hand. The closing date is anticipated to be in the second quarter. The operations' senior management team and employees will join Celestica upon completion of the agreement.
No other financial terms of the agreement were disclosed.
ANSEONG, SOUTH KOREA – MIRTEC plans to break ground on a 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing space here in June. The facility will be completed in October or November of this year, MIRTEC North America president Brian D’Amico told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY last week. The firm currently rents a building at the site.
Last year, the inspection systems firm pulled in $49 million in revenue, up from $25 million in 2009. Employees now number 230, with 110 hired in the past year. R&D personnel currently stand at 70 to address new markets.
MIRTEC currently has does 43% of its business in Asia, a high-speed, low-mix market, says D’Amico. The US is the company’s other main market, with a high-mix, low-volume focus. “We can address both, which is why we’ve grown,” he says.
In the first quarter of 2011, the US market grew 55%. In the first quarter of 2012, the company expects to roll out a 2-D/3-D inspection product with a 15 megapixel camera with moiré technology, which will include four multi-frequency probes.
HAVERHILL, MA, -- Contract manufacturer Lightspeed MFG will open a dedicated prototype unit in this Boston suburb to meet growing demand for quickturn services.
LAS VEGAS – A trio of Cisco engineers took home the US Best Paper honor at IPC Apex last week.
LAS VEGAS – At the Apex Expo, IPC reelected one board member and elected three new board members.
They include returning member Shane Whiteside, chief operating officer of TTM Technologies; Bhawnesh Mathur, CEO of Epic Technologies; Ray Sharpe, CEO of Isola, and Mark Wolfe, vice president, quality supply management, Phoenix International Corp.
All four will serve four-year terms, through April 2015.
IPC also honored outgoing board directors Jack Calderon and Sammy Yi.
SANTA CLARA, CA -- Revenue for mobile displays is forecast to grow 47% this year and 19% in 2012, according to data released today by DisplaySearch.
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BRADENTON, FL – Aided in part by a local grant, contract electronics assembly firm Creonix will hire up to 100 workers to meet higher demand.
The EMS company has received a grant of $121,000 from Manatee County, Florida. It currently has 60 employees.
Creonix is coming off a big year, in which it expanded its factory by 9,000 sq. ft., bringing it to 24,000 sq. ft., and more than doubled its revenues. Creonix also bought the assets of fellow EMS firm MSI of Central Florida last October.
STAMFORD, CT – 2010 global semiconductor sales were up 31% to $299.4 billion, the largest dollar increase ever as a result of post-recession demand, says Gartner.
Memory vendors reported the strongest growth, with strong demand for mobile devices.
Intel kept its No. 1 spot for the 19th consecutive year, with its revenue from semiconductors up 26%; its market share, however, fell slightly compared to commodity memory vendors.
No. 2 Samsung saw its semiconductor sales surge 58% because of DRAM and NAND flash booms.
No. 3 Toshiba's semiconductor revenue was up 29% on strong sales of NAND flash memory used in mobile devices.
BANNOCKBURN, IL — Steve Pudles led a long list of executives and engineers feted by IPC during its annual trade show last week.
ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Werner Engelmaier, perhaps the industry's preeminent expert on solder joint reliability, died Friday. He was 72.
