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News

EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Market revenue for wireline VOIP equipment is expected to more than triple between 2004 and 2010 due to an explosion in the number of residential VoIP users during the next few years.

That's according to research firm iSuppli Corp., which forecasts the number of residential VoIP subscribers worldwide to rise to 197.2 million in 2010, from 4.8 million in 2004.

Worldwide VoIP equipment revenue will reach $24.5 billion in 2010, up more than 300% from $8.04 billion last year. This year, VoIP equipment revenue is expected to be $12.9 billion.

Residential is be the fastest-growing segment for equipment, iSuppli said. The firm forecasts revenue to rise to $10.6 billion in 2010, from $1.4 billion in 2004.

Japan and U.S./Canada account for 83% of the total residential wireline VoIP subscribers.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Intel Corp. today announced plans to invest $345 million in capacity expansions at two of the company's wafer manufacturing sites in Colorado and Massachusetts. The investment will create several hundred jobs, the chipmaker said.

BANGALORE, INDIA -- Elcoteq Network Corp. became the second major EMS firm this week to announce plans for assembly operations in India, saying that it would invest $50 million to $100 million for a high-volume telecom site here.

NEW YORK -- In response to higher energy prices, Dow Chemical Co. said Thursday it would seek price increases across its entire portfolio of chemical and plastic products.

In a statement, the chemical maker cited high oil and natural gas prices, saying they pose a severe threat to the long-term health of the chemical industry in the U.S.

Rochester, NY – EMA Design Automation, a provider of electronic design automation (EDA) solutions, has added PTC InterComm to its design tools. The suite of electronic design communication and collaboration products reportedly enable product design teams to hold accurate, in-depth design reviews while streamlining the process. The tools are helpful with distributed design teams or companies with heterogeneous design environments.

“InterComm is an integral part of the design methodology we use to solve the RoHS problem,” said Manny Marcano, president of EMA Design Automation. “We enable the entire product team to review designs for compliance, rather than just the CAD tool users.”

InterComm uses the Internet to address the problem of sharing complex design data. Anyone can view EDA designs created in different environments, including schematic, PCB and BOM data. This eliminates the need to learn CAD software or create other forms of output. Viewers can query intelligent design data and add comments or red-line changes that can be sent back to the user electronically. Only the EDA user can change the actual design files.

The visibility is helpful for compliance review of existing designs. Adding RoHS compliance data to the design allows operations or manufacturing to check for non-compliant components. Likewise, changes made in manufacturing for compliance reasons can be quickly reviewed by the design team.

Minneapolis, MN -- The SMTA will be hosting a Job Center during SMTA International, in conjunction with ATExpo on Sept. 27 - 29, in Rosemont, IL. The Job Center is asking local and national companies to submit job openings in the electronics manufacturing and supply industry.

The SMTA will provide booth space and a list of jobs available. Potential employees will be matched to the jobs available and will be given job descriptions and company contact information.

SMTAI and ATExpo attendee job functions include:
* Administration
* Circuit/Systems Packaging Design, Circuit Design
* Engineering Management
* Engineering Support (Field Engineering, Technicians)
* Production, Manufacturing, Process Engineering
* Quality Control/Quality Assurance, Production Testing
* Research & Development
* Sales and Marketing

Send any job openings to Sis Sullivan (sis@smta.org) by September 16.
Include your company name, job title and short description, job function (see above), number of openings, company contact info and preferred method of contact.

TOKYO – Flextronics will spend up to $500 million over the next 10 to 15 years to build its manufacturing infrastructure in India.

Flextronics’ president for Asia Pacific Peter Tan commented on expansion in Southeast Asia and China’s wage inflation during remarks at the Reuters Technology and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo.

Willow Grove, PA – The Kulicke & Soffa facility in Suzhou, China, has expanded its manufacturing capabilities to produce dicing hub blades and test sockets, in addition to its existing capillary and cantilever probe card product lines. The facility has invested nearly $8 million in equipment and dedicated over 20,000 sq. ft. in its existing plant to the new product lines.

This will now be the company’s largest test socket manufacturing site, hosting over 1,000 employees.

Carlsbad, CA – Asymtek, together with fluid suppliers Dow Corning, Dymax, EMI and Humiseal, is offering conformal coating workshops in Montreal and Toronto on Oct. 11 and 13. The one-day training programs will provide information about the various types of coatings available -- silicone, acrylics, urethanes, UV-curable coatings and adhesives --and the most recent automated equipment options available for mask-free conformal coating.

Speakers from material and equipment perspectives will review best practices for coating, including how to select, cure and apply. Attendees are encouraged to bring sample parts of current and future applications.

There is no charge for the events, but a reservation is required by Oct. 1. For more info., visit: asymtek.com/news/seminars/canada_2005/.

TEMPE, AZ -- EMS provider Three-Five Systems Inc. today filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The petition is part of ongoing actions taken by the company to sell off its assets and subsidiaries.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL -- SigmaTron International, an electronic manufacturing services company, today reported first-quarter earnings of $165,067 on revenues of $21.3 million. Both figures were down year-over-year.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Nam Tai Electronics achieved a new monthly sales record of $67 million in August.
The previous single month sales record was $63 million in April 2005.

"We are very delighted with these results," said Joseph Li, chief executive. "With our continued growth, we look forward to a successful third quarter."