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Market News

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Research and Markets, a market research firm, announced the release of the "China PCB Industry Report, 2008."

ARLINGTON, VA – Among dire economic news, electronic component orders held steady in June, says the Electronic Components Association.

The June order index coincided almost exactly with the 12-month average, which has been moving up slightly, the association says.

The results synchronize with recent analyst reports from the technology sector, a major customer for electronic components. Forrest Research reports tech sales to corporations have increased 3% year-over-year, while consumer sales are flat. While this is a far cry from recent years of 10% growth or more annually, it allays fears of a technology bust similar to 2001, says the ECA.

STAMFORD, CT – Gartner Inc. reported semiconductor sales would grow in the second quarter, reaching about $65 billion, up 2% sequentially and 8% year-over-year.

Last month, the firm predicted flat growth for the quarter.

Gartner cited a report from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics that said May semiconductor sales were $20.5 billion; Gartner originally expected May sales of $19.8 billion.

The firm said first-quarter sales were $63.5 billion, up 4% compared to the same period last year.

For the first half of 2008, Gartner reportedly expects sales of $128 billion, up 5.5% compared to the first quarter of 2007.

The research firm said semiconductor sales revenue should total about $139 billion in the second half of the year, with 4% annual growth.

COVINGTON, KY -- Ashland Inc. announced it will buy Hercules Inc. for $2.6 billion.

Ashland will pay $18.60 in cash and a 0.093 share of Ashland stock for each share of Hercules stock, valuing that stock at $23.01 each, a 38% premium from Thursday's close. The deal will be financed by cash on hand and by committed debt from Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS).

Ashland said the acquisition will boost its presence in the specialty chemical market.

HERNDON, VA – A host of major OEM and EMS companies, under the auspices of iNEMI, has outlined a set of recommendations for managing Pb-free alloy alternatives.

The consortium members recommend the following to help manage the use of multiple solder alloys:

Drive convergence of Pb-free alloys.
Develop an industry-standard assessment methodology.
Establish performance guidelines.
Update standards.
Identify and differentiate alloys.

iNEMI members supporting these recommendations include Agilent Technologies, Celestica, Cisco, Delphi Electronics & Safety, Flextronics International, Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, Jabil Circuit, Motorola, Plexus Corp., Sanmina-SCI, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments.

INEMI’s recommendations are available at
http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ba/Pb-Free_Alloys/Alloy_recs.pdf