FRAMINGHAM, MA -- International Data Corp. today lowered this year's forecast for worldwide PC unit shipment growth to 4.2%, citing the overall economic outlook and market saturation.

TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in May for the 22nd consecutive month, but both new orders and production took hits.

SAN JOSE – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.6 billion in orders in April (three-month average basis), up 10.8% year-over-year and up 1.1% sequentially, says SEMI.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.98.

A book-to-bill of 0.98 means $98 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

AUSTIN – Package-on-package volumes will continue to grow, with a CAGR of 31% from 2009 to 2015, a leading research firm says. 

Applications driving this double-digit growth include mobile phones (especially smartphones), tablets, games, iPods, and digital cameras, TechSearch International says.

“When Amkor ramped PoP in 2005, the mobile processor clock was 330 MHz with a 0.65mm pitch interface to the top SDRAM/NOR combo memory," said Lee Smith, VP of marketing and business development at Amkor Technology. "Now processor speeds exceed 1 GHz with a 0.4mm pitch interface to the top low power DDR, with near term roadmaps exceeding 2.5 GHz and high-density PoP interfaces supporting two channel LP DDR2. With more than four billion mobile processors forecasted for smart device applications in the next four years, PoP growth and advancements will continue at a high rate.” 

PoP provides a cost/performance solution that solves business and logistics issues associated with stacking devices directly – something that cannot yet be met by 3D TSV technology, according to TechSearch. Memory and the logic packages can be tested separately before assembly. Standardization of the top memory package footprint allows memory packages from various suppliers to be interchanged. Memory devices are wire-bonded in the top package, but the logic device in the bottom package is migrating to flip chip, including copper pillar.