Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - Market News

Market News

SAN JOSE, CA – The Semiconductor Industry Association called on the US Senate to exempt certain highly educated, foreign-born graduates of domestic universities from annual employment-based green card limits, as proposed in legislation introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH).

HONG KONG -- Greenpeace identified three containers of electronic waste shipped illegally to Hong Kong. China bans import of electronic waste but it is legal in the U.S. to export it.

TOKYO -- The JPCA Show is typically not one where many orders are placed on the floor. Rather, specifications are discussed, tires on equipment are kicked, materials are introduced, and the exhibition of evolutionary progressions is the norm. And yet, equipment suppliers were in many cases optimistic.

SHANGHAI, CHINA – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) will hold its workshop in Shanghai on July 28, to allow the electronics industry to view and present feedback on the 2009 iNEMI Roadmap.

SANTA CLARA, CA – Agilent Technologies has acquired the assets of Taiwan-based Escort Instruments, a supplier of low-cost test and measurement instruments and a subsidiary of Unitech Printed Circuit Board.

Unitech had a 60% stake in Escort Instruments. The purchase involves about NT$100 to 150 million (US$ 3.3 to 4.2 million) worth of assets. The acquisition includes Escort's R&D, marketing, intellectual property (IP) and the majority of the subsidiary's low-cost instrument product portfolio, Agilent said. The purchase should be completed in July.

SAN JOSE – The industry is at an interesting time in history because macroeconomics is struggling, yet the semiconductor market will continue to grow over the next three years, said George Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).