OULU, FINLAND – Scanfil has announced a new growth strategy that will seek acquisitions, as well as a division into three new business segments.

VEJLE, DENMARK – GPV reported revenue of DKK 10.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in 2023, a 76% increase from 2022's revenue.

RICHARDSON, TX – Celestica has signed an economic development deal here that will see the company redevelop a 30,000 sq. ft. office into a manufacturing facility and add 155 jobs.

ATLANTA — The electronic components sales sentiment index in February moved into positive territory for the first time in 21 months with a score of 100.8, according to ECIA's monthly Electronic Component Sales Trend survey.

TAIPEI – Global Brands Manufacture announced annual revenue of NT$22.9 billion ($726.3 million), down 5.7% from 2022.

BRONSCHHOFEN, SWITZERLAND – Cicor Group has announced its acquisition of TT Electronics IoT Solutions and its three production sites in the UK and China.

TAIPEI – Foxconn's revenue in February fell 12.33% year-over-year, and the company expects first quarter revenue to decline on a yearly basis.

WASHINGTON – Global semiconductor industry sales totaled $47.6 billion in January, an increase of 15.2% compared to the January 2023 total of $41.3 billion but a decrease of 2.1% from December's total of $48.7 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association announced.

VANCOUVER, WA – Jabil plans to close its site here in May and lay off 120 workers.

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian contract manufacturer Ge-Shen will purchase a 40% stake in EMS firm Local Assembly to expand its presence in electronics manufacturing.

The masses are atwitter over the recently announced Renesas acquisition of Altium, and for good reason. The $5.9 billion price tag is some real coin.

What’s less clear to almost everyone outside the two companies, however, is the underlying strategy and how the merged entity will look going forward.

In announcing the acquisition, Renesas chief executive Hidetoshi Shibata called it “an important first step into our long-term future.” But what is that future?

Obviously, Renesas is not going to take Altium private, for exclusive use by its own customers. The two firms do have many overlapping markets: IoT, consumer, automotive, among others. Renesas also plays in higher-end areas such as high-performance computing that Altium has not to our knowledge penetrated. If OEMs want one-stop shopping for a systems program, a combined Renesas-Altium starts to make some sense. But the latter lacks the chip package tool to complete the proverbial – and literal – circuit.

NORTH YORK, ON – ZTest announced $4.2 million in revenue for the six-month period ending on Dec. 31, a record for the company and an 88% year-over-year increase.