Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

SHANGHAI - Reserved exhibition space for next month's Nepcon China/EMT China has surpassed last year's final size and more than 20% growth is expected, according to conference organizers.

The trade show, which takes place next month, will feature 700 exhibiting companies from 21 countries. Reed Exhibitions, which manages the show, forecasts 15,000 attendees from the Pacific Rim.

New for 2005 is the Soldering Zone, a showcase of the latest products and technology in soldering technology. "We are excited to be exhibiting our latest soldering equipment at the Soldering Zone. It's a rare opportunity for us to reach quality decision makers and gives us very focused platform," says David Chen, general manager of Ersa.

The show takes place April 12-15, in Shanghai. Visit reedexpo.com for details.

Nepcon is home to suppliers of equipment and materials for electronics assembly. EMT China, which is co-located with Nepcon China, focuses on component manufacturing, electronics manufacturing services and test and measurement.

The growth of the event is a reflection of the local market, Reed says. By year's end, China's electronics manufacturing base will grow by $65 billion, an increase of 135% over 2003, according to the International Finance Group. The forecasted value of China's electronics market: $247 billion.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL - SigmaTron International reported third fiscal quarter net revenues of $28.3 million, up 18% for the three months ended Jan. 31. Net income was $1.4 million, up 16%, the company said.

For the nine months ended Jan. 31, the company's net revenues are up 8% to $81.2 million. Net income is down 13%, to $3.9 million.

In a press release, president and chief executive Gary R. Fairhead said sales of appliances and fitness gear increased, but competitive pricing pressures hurt gross margins.

GUADALAJARA - Electronics manufacturing in Mexico is not dead after all. While expansion in China continues to make the most waves, Mexico has been quietly reshaping its manufacturing infrastructure to accommodate higher-end and faster-turn products.

Companies are adding capacity south of the border. According to published reports, Tier 1 EMS provider Sanmina-SCI is opening a 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Guadalajara and will "aggressively" relocate production from the U.S.; Jabil may expand in Chihuahua and Reynosa; and Hon Hai has designs on Juarez. On the supplier side, Kester announced last fall plans to ramp production in Nogales.

Product mixes taken on a new look as suppliers supplement their traditional volume business with greater value-add offerings such as box-build, systems assembly, logistics and after-market service. Jabil's new product introduction activity in Mexico is said to be up four times over last year. And Solectron's product mix has reportedly evolved from 80% high volume/low mix products in 2002 to just 45% today, with the rest being medium-volume/medium mix ((31%), low-volume/high mix (19%) and systems assembly (5%).

BANNOCKBURN, IL - (NOTE: DATA REVISED MARCH 8) - The January 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 9.2% year-on-year, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Aided by a boost in demand for rigid circuits, bookings were strong, up 20.2%. This was on the heels of a climb of 30% in December.

However, a large percentage of the "production" includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, which takes the poll, 35% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio was up 0.04 points to 1.08. It was the second month in a row the key indicator was above 1.0.

The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

Separately, the ratios were 1.0 for rigid PCBs and 1.36 for flexible circuits.

Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up 75% of all domestic PCBs, were up 12.4% in January vs. a year ago. Bookings were up 9% for the month. Flex sales grew 46.9%, and bookings more than doubled, up 160%.

Sequentially, flex bookings dropped 37% and shipments fell 2%. Rigid shipments were up 5% and bookings climbed 10% sequentially.

Domestic production accounted for 75% of rigid and 31% of flex circuit shipments in January, IPC said.

Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.

PARIS - Seica SpA has signed a licensing agreement to add a third level optional testing capability to the EADS Test & Services line of second level systems, ATEC Series 6 and derived products. Users will have the ability, after LRU testing, to confirm the SRU to be diagnosed faulty and be sent back for repair on the same test equipment and with a comprehensive test process.

Seica's offering is based on the VALID Module Test Unit (MTU), a self-contained board level subsystem hosted and controlled by the Series 6.

EADS provides commercial avionics testing. According to a press release, the company is the leader for French weapon systems testing, supplying the French MoD with multi-purpose, high performance testers.

Boston - Teradyne today dispelled a report that it plans to close its backplane manufacturing operations.

In a statement to Circuits Assembly, Tom Pursch, vice president of Teradyne Connection Systems and manager of its printed circuit board business, said: "Teradyne is committed to our printed circuit board business. Credit Suisse First Boston's reporting of a 'hint of a possibility' that we may exit this business is just plain wrong. Our strategy to lower our costs, reduce idle capacity and focus on the high-end domestic market is working."

On Thursday, Forbes reported a leading investment bank suggested the maker of semiconductor and assembly test gear and PCBs might be looking to exit the PCB business.

Read more ...

El Segundo, CA - Worldwide contract manufacturing revenues will reach nearly $300 billion by 2008, says a research firm.

Sales of EMS and ODM services are on track to hit $298.4 billion, a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% through 2008, iSuppli Corp. said yesterday.

Last year, sales of EMS and ODM firms were $190 billion, up 20.1% year-on-year. The surge was a marked improvement over 2003, in which revenues climbed 5.4%.

SAN JOSE -- North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.01 billion in orders in January and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.80, according to SEMI.

The data reflect a three-month average and are 18% below the revised December level of $1.24 billion and 18% below last year.

A book-to-bill of 0.80 means that $80 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The January three-month average of worldwide billings was $1.27 billion, down 4% from December but 23% higher than last year.

"The three-month average bookings figure for new semiconductor equipment is now at the lowest level since November 2003," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Total bookings declined sharply in January and are now about 37% below the cyclic peak observed in June 2004."

SAN JOSE - January chip sales were $18.3 billion worldwide, 0.5% below December sales but 17.5% higher than January 2004 sales, the SIA reported today. SIA pointed that January is usually a weak month for chip sales following the typically strong holiday season.

"The modest sequential sales decline is an encouraging sign," said SIA president George Scalise, in a statement. "January is historically one of the weakest months of the year for the microchip industry. We are encouraged by recent signs of strength in the overall U.S. economy, as evidenced by the 3.8% growth in GDP in the fourth quarter.

Dan Hutcheson of VLSI Research has noted that when GDP grows by more than 3% ,semiconductor sales have shown healthy growth except when there are excesses of inventory or production capacity. At the present time, neither production capacity nor inventory excess is a problem.

"The excess inventories that slowed growth in the second half of 2004 have been largely depleted," Scalise said. "According to iSuppli, excess inventories declined from $1.6 billion at the end of the third quarter to $1 billion at year end. In some market segments, inventories are now below target levels, thus we are confident that inventory issues will not be a significant factor in semiconductor sales beyond the first quarter."

Factory utilization continued to decline, as expected, throughout the second half of 2004. Overall utilization was at 86% in the fourth quarter, and leading-edge capacity utilization was at 93%. Industry capital spending increased to approximately $47 billion - roughly 22% of total sales - in 2004.

"In a year of record industry sales, this level of capital spending is in line with capacity needs going forward and should not lead to either excess capacity or severe price pressures," said Scalise.

Tempe, AZ - The manufacturing sector grew in February for the 21st consecutive month, although at a slower rate. New orders and production slowed, while backlogs remained steady, said the Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws).

"Price increases and shortages are becoming less of a problem," ISM chairman Norbert Ore said. "Exports and imports remain strong. The recent trend of inventory growth reversed direction during February; this reduces possible concerns about involuntary inventory build. Customers' inventories declined slightly, reinforcing the probability that inventories are not yet a concern."

The PMI measure of economic activity fell 1.1 points sequentially, to 55.3%. New orders fell 0.7 points to 55.8%. Production dropped 1.1 points, reversing January's gains. Employment was down 0.7 points, to 57.4%.

Electronic Components and Equipment, and Industrial and Commercial Equipment and Computers were among the sectors reporting growth.

SAN JOSE -- Tessera Technologies has filed a patent infringement suit against a pair of leading chip makers.

The filing, which came in U.S. District Court, charges Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology with illegal use of Tessera-patented designs for chip packages that contain memory and other semiconductor devices.

A Tessera spokesman said the company would provide no further details at this time.

Tessera licenses its package designs to other semiconductor makers.

ROCKLIN, CA -- International DisplayWorks reported first-quarter revenues increased 85% to $18.1 million, a record, for the period ended Jan. 31.

Gross profit rose 53% to $3.6 million, while net income rose to $1 million.

"We are clearly executing our strategic growth plan, exceeding previous records for revenue, managing expenses and producing record profitability," said Tom Lacey, IDW's chairman and chief executive.

IDW guided for second quarter revenue of $22 million to $23 million.

International DisplayWorks manufactures and designs LCDs, modules and assemblies in China.