Printed Circuit Design & Fab - January 2009 - (Page 10)

AROUND thE world in BRIEF OMG's Minnesota Chemical Facility Named One of America's Safest. OM Group announced that its electronic chemicals facility in Maple Plains (previously Electrochemicals) has been named one of America's Safest Companies by EHS today magazine. the facility, built in 1994, has a safety record that was called “nothing short of exceptional” by the magazine. Employees have worked over 12 years – 1.5 million hours – without a single lost-time injury, and two of those years (2006-2007) without an OSHA-recordable/restricted work activity incident. the facility employs approximately 60 people and supplies over 250 proprietary products for the printed circuit board and solar panel industries. Layoffs Planned. Asustek Computer Inc. has plans to layoff 5% of its total workforce, according to market insiders. Forecasted drops in annual profits and unrealized notebook and motherboard shipment goals have been blamed for the reduction, expected to affect nearly 200 employees. A drop in market demand resulted in only 1.47 million units shipped: 620,000 units in October, 550,000 units in November and a planned 300,000 units in December. Asustek shipped nearly 1.8 million motherboards in October, but shipments dropped 20% in November. December results are predicted to drop 5%, and annual shipments will finish the year at 22 million units–marking a 3% growth on the year. Its netbook shipment goal will remain at 5 million units. Park Electrochemical Corp. announced that its electronics materials business unit, New England Laminates Co., Inc., will close in January. the company says the closure is a result of the poor electronic materials market in North America. Existing customers of New England Laminates will be supplied and supported from Park’s facilities in Fullerton, CA and tempe, AZ. A one-time, pre-tax charge of nearly $1.3 million in the fourth quarter is predicted. EI Awarded DoD Contract. Endicott Interconnect technologies Inc. (EI) has been awarded a research and development contract by the US Department of Defense. the $12 million contract supports the continued development of advanced high-speed electronic packaging technologies, including printed circuit boards (PCBs), system development and substrate design. EI has expanded and modified its existing facilities and purchased equipment to support the scheduled work. the company also plans to hire additional employees. Sanmina-SCI Corporation has cut about 110 jobs at its printed circuit board facility in Owego. the layoffs included both temporary and permanent workers. In October, Jure Sola, CEO and chairman, stated that product demand was predicted to remain low for the fourth quarter, and the company would be watching costs, refocusing on market diversity and booking new orders. the company does not have plans for a major restructuring in 2009. Economic Crisis to Create a Mobile-Device Contraction in 2009 EL SEGUNDO, CA – In the third quarter of 2008, the mobile-device market contracted slightly, ending with 316.7 million units, down 1.1% sequentially, says iSuppli Corp. Mobile handsets, which account for the vast majority of this segment, will achieve shipments of 311 million units, down 0.3% compared to the second quarter. iSuppli has lowered its forecast of global mobile-device shipment growth to 8.9% in 2008, down from 10.4%, which will end the year at 1.287 billion units. “The outlook for 2009 is even more gloomy than for 2008,” observed Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli. “With the United States, Europe and Japan entering recessions, economic uncertainty and waves of layoffs mean consumers are likely to spend less on mobile products.” Shipments in 2009 are expected to decline 5.6% to 1.215 billion units. With more than three billion subscribers worldwide, the growth of the mobile-device market has been driven by upgrade purchases of existing customers, Teng noted. “While new subscriber additions are continuing at a healthy pace and are poised to grow by 563.9 million in 2008 and by 506.5 million in 2009, an overwhelming majority of the new subscribers are coming from the rural areas of emerging regions,” Teng said. “These subscribers primarily are purchasers of low-cost, entrylevel handsets. However, the pricier feature-phone and smart-phone market segments are driven by existing subscribers who are upgrading their mobile devices to take advantage of new features and advanced data services. As the economic climate deteriorates, these customers are delaying their purchases.” With the penetration of mobile handsets in emerging markets rising rapidly during the past few years, upgrades have grown to account for more than 50% of total mobile-device shipments in 2008. Because of this, mobile-device shipment growth has become more sensitive to the upgrade cycle, says iSuppli. If the replacement cycle extends by 4.7 months, the mobile-device market contraction will commence. If only 16% of 2008 subscribers upgrade to a new device in 2009, it will translate into a replacement cycle extension of 19 months. Under these circumstances, the outcome will be that mobile-device shipment volume will be reduced to 1.3 billion units in 2008 and to 1.1 billion units in 2009, with a market contraction of 12% in 2009, according to the research firm. However, at this time, iSuppli is not going that far, revising its 2009 mobile-device forecast – including both mobile handsets and external modems – to 1.2 billion units, down from 1.4 billion previously, with mobile handsets accounting for nearly all shipments in 2009. iSuppli estimates, in the mobile-device market, the replacement cycle will extend by 10.7 months in 2009 with a replacement rate of 18.1%. Based on iSuppli’s preliminary estimate, on top of the average selling price erosion and higher mix of entrylevel handsets in mobile devices, it is likely industry revenue will suffer a 10.7% decline in 2009. iSuppli believes mobile-device shipments in 2009 will contract by 5.6%. By the end of 2010, the mobile-device market should show signs of a revival with a year-overyear growth rate of 3.1%. Despite the economic meltdown and the rising unemployment rate, India will have added 9 million new wireless subscribers per month in 2008, while China’s subscriber base will have expanded at a rate of 7 million new subscribers annually. Firsttime buyers in the emerging market are still going strong and will represent 42% of the mobile-device market in 2009. 10 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB JANUARY 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - January 2009

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - January 2009 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI The Signal Doctor Positive Plating Final Finish Forum Making Sense of Laminate Dielectric Properties Design and Fab Tips for Improving Solder Mask Registration Automating the DDRx Interface Verification Process Printed Circuit Design & Fab Annual Buyers Guide: Special Suppliers Section Printed Circuit Design & Fab Annual Buyers Guide: Guide to Products and Services Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - January 2009

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