News
Munich, Nov. 30 - The electronica trade show in Munich earlier this month attracted more than 3,000 exhibitors and 75,000 attendees, according to event organizer Munich Trade Fairs International. These numbers are almost equal to those released regarding the last show in 2002.
Overall feedback was positive; 85% of exhibitors and attendees surveyed assessed the market's future as "excellent to good."
Non-German attendance rose 10% from the previous show, making up 42% of total visitors. According to the organizer, 86% of attendees were identified as decision-makers for their companies.
"We spent quality time with customers in a relaxed atmosphere here at our booth," said Alden Chauvin, VP of worldwide sales for Intersil, a manufacturer of high performance analog solutions. "We've had meeting after meeting and business has been great, which is no surprise at electronica."
The next electronica will take place Nov. 14-17, 2006, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.
Minneapolis, MN -- The SMTA has issued a call for papers for the next SMTA International event, to be held in conjunction with AT Expo on Sept. 25-29, 2005, at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Chicago. A 300-word abstract should be submitted online by Feb. 7.
Papers are sought in the following technology tracks: assembly; business; components; emerging technologies; PCB technology; and process control
New topics for 2005 include New Materials & Processes, Battery Interaction, Lead-free Case Studies, Doing Business in Asia and RoHS Compliance. A full list of topics can be found on the SMTA Web site.
IC Insights, a research firm, today forecast the 2004 ranking of the top 10 semiconductor suppliers, with Intel leading the way, surpassing $30 billion in semiconductor sales. However, the company is expected to register only 11% growth this year, and a 3.4% CAGR over the 1999-2004 timeframe, compared to an industry-wide 6.9% average.
Number two is Samsung, followed by Texas Instruments, Renesas and Infineon.
Driven by surging DRAM and flash memory sales, Samsung's semiconductor revenue (85% of which is memory) is forecast to grow 53% in 2004. Infineon is forecast to jump from seventh in 2003 to fifth in 2004, aided by the strength of the euro. In euros, Infineon is expected to register a 24% growth rate (35% when its sales are converted into U.S. dollars).
The rest of the top 10 include Toshiba, STM, TSMC, NEC and Freescale. Excluding TSMC, which is a pure-play foundry, Philips would come in at no. 10.
The top 10 semiconductor companies revenues are forecast to grow 24% over 2003. In contrast, the worldwide market is forecast to grow 28%. Of the top 10, including TSMC, only four are forecast to grow faster than the total market in 2004. Excluding TSMC, only three top 10 companies are expected to increase their 2004 sales faster than the overall market growth rate.
Weymouth --On Nov. 25, DEK held a Stencils Technology Day at its Weymouth, UK, office to share the findings from its recent lead-free print trials, and to provide hands-on experience with stencil technologies.
Clive Ashmore, global applied process manager, presented the lead-free trial results. The company found that having a stencil that is well designed and specified for its application has the greatest impact on process performance, whether the application is lead-free or leaded. A second important consideration is materials composition. Electroformed nickel was the top performing stencil material in tests, closely followed by laser-cut nickel.
Richard Boyle of Henkel Multicore then gave a presentation on lead-free pastes that focused on areas where the differences between leaded and unleaded may impact the industry most.
The afternoon was dedicated to workshops and discussions on the theme "Print failures: cause and effect."
Dek reported positive feedback from the 32 customers in attendance.
SAN JOSE, Nov. 22 -- The 90-day moving average for orders of semiconductor equipment from North American manufacturers rose 3% over revised September levels and 60% year-on-year, the industry trade group SEMI said today.
Respondents to SEMI's monthly poll posted $1.39 billion in orders in October. The book-to-bill ratio was 0.96, meaning that $96 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The three-month average of worldwide billings was $1.44 billion in October, flat with revised September levels and up 67% versus a year ago.
The industry is flux, SEMI said in a statement. "The overall semiconductor equipment sector will post the second greatest gain on record in 2004. It is also several months into a period of order softening," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO.
"Total equipment bookings for North American producers have declined 13% from the cyclic peak observed in June. Given recent announcements from several equipment companies, continued moderation in orders is expected until end market visibility strengthens for the semiconductor manufacturers."
SAN JOSE, Nov. 26 -- Worldwide semiconductor sales grew 1.5% to $18.8 billion in October, said the SIA today. The October 90-day average for sales was up 22% over a year ago.
The rise reflected "ongoing inventory corrections in certain market segments," said SIA president George Scalise in a press statement.
SIA guided for fourth-quarter sales to be flat sequentially. The trade group projects year-on-year growth of at least 28%.
October sales of DSPs rose 8.5% sequentially, a sign that the inventory correction that began in the wireless handset market in July has run its course, said Scalise.
PC sales, which historically peak in the fourth quarter, have been further buoyed by corporate demand, SIA said. Microprocessors were up 6.4% sequentially and DRAMs were up 2.8%, signs that the supply chain has shed its excess inventories for those chips, SIA said.
"Sales of consumer electronics are especially strong in the fourth quarter as the holiday build continues," said Scalise.
Capacity utilization declined two points in the third quarter, to 93%. Sales in all geographic regions except Japan were up sequentially in October.
The agreement was announced by the companies today. Other details were not disclosed.
Boucher will also lead the EMS company's Lean Manufacturing initiatives.
Boucher was head of manufacturing for Celestica in North and South America.
Prior to joining Celestica in March, Boucher was corporate vice president of global supply chain management for MSL, which Celestica acquired. He also worked for Circuit Test Inc. and Digital Equipment Corp.
Revenue from so-called volume high-end servers grew 18.2% and continues to drive the server market. Midrange enterprise server sales declined 10.2%, the third straight quarterly decline. High-end enterprise servers grew 1.9%, the forth consecutive quarter of growth.
"IT spending remained strong overall in the third quarter as customers continued to refresh and expand their IT infrastructures," said Matt Eastwood, program director of global enterprise server solutions at IDC. "Although customers continue to target data center simplification initiatives, investment in strategic IT initiatives - including new workloads - are also growing significantly once again."
IBM retained the top spot worldwide with 31.7% market share, up 6.3%. HP, the shipments leader, was second in revenues (26.8% share), up 2.9%. Sun and Dell were third at 10.2% and 10.1%, respectively. Dell grew 14.1% year-over-year while Sun was flat at 0.1%.
Top 5 OEMs, Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue (millions)
- IBM $3,659 31.7%
- Hewlett-Packard $3,094 26.8%
- Sun $1,176 10.2%
- Dell $1,170 10.1%
- Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens $714 6.2%
- Others $1,733 15%
McKinsey & Co. said today that although contract assemblers can leverage economies-of-scale and have generated tremendous value for their customers, "they have proved less adept at capturing value for themselves" and further restructuring awaits unless the sector adopts better habits.
In the McKinsey Quarterly, published today, the firm asserted, "Fierce competition, the economic downturn and an outdated pricing model have combined to produce razor-thin or nonexistent margins for most of the industry's top-tier players. The takeaway EMS players must learn to stand up to their powerful OEM customers, just as suppliers in the automotive industry have done. They can no longer afford to offer generous terms simply to fill up their factories.
"A bright future awaits these companies only if
they adopt a small-business mind-set by charging for every service they
provide on the OEMs' behalf and by closely monitoring their pricing and
collection processes," McKinsey wrote.
HONG KONG, Nov. 11 -- VTech Holdings Ltd. today announced higher revenues but lower profits for its fiscal 2005 first-half, ended Sept. 30. Revenue rose 13.1% to $457.1 million but profits fell 51.1% to $8.5 million, $3.3 million for a one-time settlement of indemnification claims.
VTech attributed the drop to underperformance in the North American telecommunication market.
VTech, which designs and builds consumer products and performs contract manufacturing, said business revenue from the North American market fell 10.7% to $251.4 million versus last year. Sales to businesses makes up 82.7% of VTech's telecom revenue. Overall telecom sales rose 1.7% to $304 million.
Sales of electronic learning products rebounded sharply, up 66.8% to $95.1 million. Sales in North America were up 129.4% to $31.2 million, while sales in Europe grew 40.3% to $56.1 million.
Revenues from EMS services were up 20.6% to $58 million. Profits were stable, despite pressure on margins from higher raw materials prices. Growth was especially strong in Europe and Japan, which accounted for 46.7% and 20%, respectively, of the firm's EMS services. North America's share declined slightly to 29.1%. Switching mode power supplies and professional audio equipment accounted for 32.2% and 26%, respectively, followed by home appliances at 18.3% and wireless products at 12.1%.
VTech guided for improved telecom sales in the second half, but lower year-on-year profits. "The second half of the financial year 2005 will remain challenging for VTech," said Allan Wong, chairman and group CEO.VTech said sales growth is expected in Europe, where it has gained a major new ODM customer.
Contract manufacturing services are expected to see further revenue growth and stable profitability as the worldwide EMS market continues to rebound. VTech said it will seek reduced costs through more local sources of supply.
NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics Corp. reported net income of $62,000 on revenue of $7.7 million for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30. Both figures were down from last year, when IEC reported net income of $575,000 ($260,000 in non-operating income) on revenue of $9.1 million.
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