EMT Worldwide

News of the week

Foxconn to take 50% of EMS market in 2011
Driven by fast growth at Apple Inc., EMS provider Foxconn Technology Group is set to take more than half of global EMS industry revenue by 2011, up from 44.2% in 2009, according to iSuppli. “Foxconn’s customers are some of the hottest... ...FULL STORY

28 July 2010

This weeks releases...

‘Year-on-year growth is continuing in double digits’ (28 July 2010)
IPC has announced the June findings from its monthly North American PCB statistical program, and it appears that rigid PCB shipments were up 25.3% while bookings increased 29.3% in June 2010 from June 2009. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments were up......FULL STORY

SEMA’s first meeting (28 July 2010)
An enthusiastic cross-section of solar professionals met at the Omni Hotel in San Francisco on the final day of Intersolar USA exhibition to discuss the framework for the new Solar Engineering & Manufacturing Association (SEMA). At the meeting, the......FULL STORY

Record Q2 revenue for NI (28 July 2010)
National Instruments has reported quarterly revenue for Q2 2010 of $212 million, representing a 39% year-over-year increase and an 11% sequential increase. For the first half of 2010, the company reported a 30% increase in revenue and a 15% increase......FULL STORY

Foxconn’s next move (26 July 2010)
Last month, EMTWorldwide asked ‘Will Foxconn close its Chinese factories?’ amid reports that Hon Hai’s Chairman Terry Gou would move production to Taiwan,......FULL STORY

Getting lean, getting rewarded (26 July 2010)
Undertaking NVQ business improvement training has helped staff at Cambridgeshire-based CEM Prism Electronics become better problem solvers. Eight members of staff at Prism Electronics recently participated in the government-funded Business......FULL STORY

Distribution agreement leads to five new lines (26 July 2010)
Advanced Power Components (APC) has announced that it has signed an agreement with Ceramic & Microwave Products (CMP), part of Dover Electronic Technologies, to act as distributor and representative for five electronic component and system......FULL STORY

Also this month...

June book-to-bill ratio hits 1.19 (23 July 2010)
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.68 billion in orders in June 2010 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.19, according to the June 2010 Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. This means that......FULL STORY

Meeting royal approval (23 July 2010)
Sentec, the smart metering technology company, was congratulated by Her Majesty the Queen at a reception for Queen’s Award winners at Buckingham Palace. They received the prestigious award in the International Trade category for exceptional overseas......FULL STORY

Revision of surface mount design standard (22 July 2010)
IPC has just released the B revision of IPC-7351, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard. IPC-7351B provides designers and printed board fabricators with updated guidance on requirements of land pattern geometries......FULL STORY

MEMS performance improves (22 July 2010)
Imec demonstrates the value of its SiGe above-IC MEMS technology platform for improving performance of state-of-the-art MEMS with the development of new MEMS devices. These new devices are a 15µm SiGe micromirror and a grating light valve for......FULL STORY

Expanding microelectronics (19 July 2010)
University of Illinois engineers have developed a novel direct-writing method for manufacturing metal interconnects that could shrink integrated circuits and expand microelectronics. Integrated chips are made by wiring multiple transistors and......FULL STORY

Clothes that can hear (16 July 2010)
For more than a decade, Yoel Fink, Associate Professor of materials science and principal investigator at MIT's Research Lab of Electronics, has been working to develop fibres with sophisticated properties that enable fabrics that can interact with......FULL STORY

Cookson’s new flux facility (16 July 2010)
Cookson Electronics has constructed a new Alpha soldering flux manufacturing plant at its Enthone ‘s-Hertogenbosch site, in the Netherlands. The new plant has been designed for optimum flexibility, having 11 mixing vessels and the capability to......FULL STORY

A fab partnership (14 July 2010)
Toshiba has announced that it has started construction of a state-of-the-art fabrication facility, Fab 5, at Yokkaichi Operations; its memory production facility in Mie Prefecture. Responding to growing demand for the NAND Flash Memory, Toshiba and......FULL STORY

IPC comments on India’s e-waste proposal (09 July 2010)
Working together to address the latest round of proposed substance restrictions, IPC and the Indian Printed Circuits Association (IPCA) have submitted comments in response to the Indian Government’s Ministry of Environment and Forests draft......FULL STORY

HRH The Prince of Wales visits Charcroft Electronics (09 July 2010)
A plaque commemorating the 25th anniversary of Charcroft Electronics’ move to Dol-y-Coed, in Llanwrtyd Wells, has been unveiled by HRH The Prince of Wales. During a tour of Charcroft’s distribution offices and CECC-approved manufacturing......FULL STORY

€1.9m space contracts awarded (09 July 2010)
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, has recently announced contracts worth €1.9 million for a firm developing new technologies for space launchers and satellites. The contracts are with the European Space Agency......FULL STORY

Beware of zombies! (09 July 2010)
There’s a new menace to the UK Electronics Manufacturers industry – so-called zombie companies. Apparently, there are now 102 companies in the UK Electronics Manufacturers industry that are classed as zombie businesses. These companies have seen......FULL STORY

New facility helps to win contracts and doubles workforce (09 July 2010)
Scottish Enterprise (SE) Chief Executive Lena Wilson (pictured), together with Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism have performed the official opening of European Circuits Limited’s (ECL) new state-of-the-art manufacturing......FULL STORY

‘Promoting new standards in skills, education and innovation’ (09 July 2010)
Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies, and the United Kingdom Electronics Alliance (UKEA) have announced a partnership agreement. The partnership aims to involve more employers in tackling the......FULL STORY

By royal appointment (08 July 2010)
Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it will nominate Frans van Houten as its next President and Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 April 2011. The successor to Gerard Kleisterlee (who will retire from Philips on the same date), van......FULL STORY

Rapiscan manufacturing facility achieves ISO 28000:2007 (08 July 2010)
Supplier of security inspection systems, Rapiscan, has announced that it has achieved ISO 28000:2007 certification for its Malaysian-based manufacturing facility. The ISO 28000:2007 management system specification has been developed and introduced......FULL STORY

Avnet completes acquisition of Bell Microproducts (07 July 2010)
Avnet has revealed that it has now completed its acquisition of Bell Microproducts in an all cash merger for $7.00 per share. This equates to an equity value of approximately $252 million and a transaction value of approximately $631 million......FULL STORY

Chimei Innolux signs agreement with Hitachi Displays (07 July 2010)
It has been announced that Chimei Innolux Corporation (CMI) and Hitachi Displays have signed a strategic technical collaboration agreement. According to this agreement, Hitachi Displays will improve medium size IPS LCD panel supply capacity by OEM......FULL STORY

Chip sales in May rose by 4.5% (07 July 2010)
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors in May 2010 were $24.7 billion; a sequential increase of 4.5% from April and a year-on-year increase of 47.6% from May 2009. “Global sales of......FULL STORY

IPC celebrates Canadian victory (07 July 2010)
In a triumph for IPC members and the Canadian electronics industry, the Canadian Department of the Environment has elected not to ban five rosin-containing substances from all products manufactured and sold in the country. The Department concluded......FULL STORY

Nano-sized light mill drives micro-sized disk (07 July 2010)
Light mills – rotary motors driven by light – that can power objects thousands of times greater in size are quickly becoming a reality. Researchers with the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the......FULL STORY

£8.4m investment in plastic electronics (05 July 2010)
David Willetts MP (pictured), Minister for Universities and Science, has announced details of an £8.4 million investment in plastic electronics. Thirteen businesses have been successful in winning the funding via two competitions run by the......FULL STORY

Semiconductor inventory remains low (05 July 2010)
Despite a small increase in the first quarter of 2010, chip inventory levels among semiconductor suppliers remain at low levels, and Days of Inventory (DOI) appear to be significantly less than company financial reports indicate, according to......FULL STORY

UK takes major engineering mission to China (05 July 2010)
Business representatives from some of Britain’s most successful engineering companies are taking part in a week-long mission to the biggest engineering market in the world – China. The UK Advanced Engineering China Showcase, organised by UK Trade......FULL STORY

Forget 2010 – what about 2011? (05 July 2010)
In their Global Semiconductor Monthly Report for June 2010, Future Horizons state that April set the ball rolling for a blockbuster second quarter, making what will now be five successive quarters of growth. Their 3% Q2 growth forecast looks, by......FULL STORY