Sales in March 2013 were up slightly compared to February 2013 and March 2012.

Silex Microsystems, the world’s largest pure-play MEMS foundry, today announced that it has joined an international European Union-funded program aimed at developing a new MEMS manufacturing platform based on advanced inkjet-based printing technologies.

MOSIS, a provider of low-cost prototyping and small volume production services for custom ICs, has teamed up with imec, Ireland's Tyndall National Institute and ePIXfab, the European Silicon Photonics support center providing low-cost prototyping services for photonic ICs.

Amkor Technology, Inc. today announced that Stephen D. Kelley has been appointed to serve as president and chief executive officer and as a director of the company, effective May 8, 2013.

The first flexible high-resolution displays will be produced using materials handling techniques that have been developed to allow the use of existing thin transistor fabrication facilities. NICK COLANERI, Flexible Display Center, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ

The Nanodefect Center is tackling the big challenges in particle detection, characterization and mitigation for critical supply chain components and materials. VIBHU JINDAL, SEMATECH, Albany, NY

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.14 billion in orders worldwide in March 2013 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, according to the March Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.

Alliance Memory today extended its 128M and 256M lines of high-speed CMOS synchronous DRAMs (SDRAM) with new devices in a 54-ball 8 mm by 8mm by 1.2mm TFBGA package.

Silex Microsystems and BroadPak today announced the immediate availability of their jointly developed silicon interposer solution in high-volume manufacturing.

In 2012, global PCB industry saw a jump in terms of output value, benefitting in a large part from the rapid growth in the shipment of Apple and Samsung. However, there is no such possibility of a huge jump in 2013, as the report states the expected growth rate will slow down to 2.7%.

Signetics Corporation today introduced their new MapBGA package to the industry. This alternative to standard PBGA packaging has improved reliability and design flexibility due to its unique assembly process.

Fab equipment spending for Front End facilities is expected to be flat in 2013, remaining around $31.7 billion, increasing to $39.3 billion in 2014 — a 24% increase.

Packaging and assembly are key segments of the growing semiconductor supply chain in China.

Brooks Instrument, a provider of flow measurement and control instrumentation to the microelectronics industry, will launch the GF135 pressure transient insensitive (PTI) mass flow controller at SEMICON China, March 19-21 at Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Engineered Material Systems, a global supplier of electronic materials for circuit assembly applications, debuts its DB-1568-1 low-temperature cure die attach adhesive for attaching semiconductor die in temperature-sensitive devices.

The competitive landscape of the cellphone core integrated circuit (IC) business has completely transformed over the past five years, with Qualcomm Inc. and Samsung capitalizing on the rise of smartphones and 4G.