IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced today the March 2017 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Although sales and orders continued below last year’s levels, the PCB book-to-bill ratio continued upward, reaching 1.07. Total North American PCB shipments in March 2017 were down 4.7 percent compared to the same…
DetailsThe Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $30.9 billion for the month of March 2017, an increase of 18.1 percent compared to the March 2016 total of $26.2 billion and 1.6 percent more than the February 2017 total of $30.4 billion.…
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Acquisitions by NXP, Microchip and Cypress had a big impact on the ranking of microcontroller suppliers in 2016. One of the biggest shifts was NXP overtaking Renesas to become the top microcontroller (MCU) supplier thanks to its acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor, according to IC Insights’ April Update to The McClean Report. Several major acquisitions – attributed to strong…
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The pace of manufacturing growth in the U.S. cooled somewhat in April, even though the segment continues to expand. New orders and factory employment decelerated from March levels while the nation’s leading production index, the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI, declined by 2.4 percent to 54.8. Any number above 50 indicates growth, and most of the…
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For nearly three years, I’ve been predicting that 2017 was the year for flash/solid state disks (SSD) to leave hard disk drives (HDDs) in the dust. Now that it has finally come to pass, we are hit by a perfect storm on the flash die supply side. With a transition to 3D NAND running late,…
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The printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication industry is older than most of us still working. It is overdue for modernization. We have not seen any transformational manufacturing changes in the PCB bare board boards industry during the last 15 years. What we have seen is the installed capacity moved to China. (It has been reported…
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LONDON—STMicroelectronics NV said Thursday (April 27) that President and CEO Carlo Bozotti agreed to remain at the helm of the company for one more year. ST also elevated his presumed successor, Chief Operating Officer Jean-Marc Chery, to the position of deputy CEO. On a first quarter earnings call Thursday), Bozotti said he agreed to remain…
DetailsEMI Solutions has announced that the company has successfully completed the required quality management system process implementation to attain its AS9100 Certification. The quality standard, designed to meet the demands of the defense and commercial aerospace industries, requires passing strict audit requirements as well as rigorous evaluations of its manufacturing and design engineering processes. “Our…
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Work is called work for a reason. However, the fast-paced and demanding world of work today is taking its toll on employees, new research has found. For supply chain workers, tasked with critical and strategic tasks of the organization, avoiding burnout is critical. Today’s workers are more at risk than ever before, with pressure and…
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TOKYO – Last week’s announcement by Chinese Internet behemoth Baidu on Project Apollo – the company’s plan to “open up” its autonomous driving platform to others – surprised many auto industry watchers, largely because autonomous car development remains embryonic. However, given Baidu’s heavy R&D investment in artificial intelligence technologies, and the many business deals the…
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