Industry News

Member States REACH competent authorities and the European Commission announced last week that starting from August 2009 the REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) will be updated every six months. Member States' nominations for which substances should join the list will be published in February and August each year.

REACH Article 33 requirements for all suppliers to inform customers whether their products contain any of the substances in concentrations > 0.1% w/w start immediately when a new Candidate List of very high concern substances is published. Component suppliers and equipment manufacturers who supply to businesses are required to inform their customers immediately at the point of supply. For products supplied to households, the manufacturer must provide substance declarations within 45 days of request.

For more information see http://www.environcorp.com

The contract electronics manufacturing markets ended 2008 in a challenging situation. For the first time, since 2002, the top EMS providers experienced a market share contraction.

Even the largest electronics manufacturing service provider, Foxconn, saw its multi-year rally fade as sales only marginally increased 1.3% during 2008.

Other contract electronics manufacturers, including Flextronics, Celestica, Sanmina and Elcoteq experienced revenue contractions of -1%, -5%, -32% and -13%, respectively.

Due to the global recession and financial crisis, electronics contract manufacturers, including ODMs, find themselves with new challenges in 2009. OEM bankruptcies (Nortel), OEM consolidation (IBM and Sun Microsystems), fading demand, overcapacity, predatory pricing, and other problems are bound to impact future results of the slowing contract manufacturing market in electronics.

For more information see http://www.isuppli.com

The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive impacted every facet of the supply chain and forced the electronics industry to make enormous, expensive and burdensome changes, forever transforming the electronics industry landscape.

The European Union (EU) is currently revising the RoHS directive and may restrict additional substances, create additional compliance requirements and make the exemption process even more difficult. Contact EU Council and Parliament officials now to prevent unwarranted RoHS regulations. Encourage EU officials to base their decisions on science and ensure that the final revised RoHS Directive does not restrict Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), the flame retardant used in more than 80 percent of printed circuits.

Visit http://www.ipc.org/global-efforts to view expert analysis of the proposed RoHS review.

Record numbers of solar-energy equipment were installed in California last year, a good sign for Taiwanese photovoltaic manufacturers including Gintech Energy Corp. and Motech Industrial Inc. for 2009.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission, installation of solar-power equipment in the state reached 158 megawatts last year, more than double the 78 megawatts in 2007.

Industry watchers in Taiwan pointed out that the record installation volume suggests the state remains a lucrative market for Taiwanese solar-equipment manufacturers this year. They noted official subsidies, particularly during this recession, would further fuel consumption of solar equipment.

California State Government began in 2007 to offer a 20-50% tax reduction to consumers of solar-power generator, to which state officials attribute such record installations. Also, consumers aiming to cut power bills also help to drive the robust installations.

Industry watchers believe President Barak Obma's energy policy, which promotes the use of renewable energy, will help drive up American demand for solar-energy equipment, spelling good opportunities for Taiwanese equipment manufacturers running outlets in the States, including Motech, Sino-American Silicon Products, Inc., Waferworks Corp. and E-Ton Solar Tech Co., Ltd.

http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?id=38352

With increasing popularity of LED (light emitting diode) backlight notebook PCs to generate demand for 1.5-2 billion LED chips in 2009, Taiwanese LED makers, including Epistar Corp., Everlight Electronics Co. and Opto Tech Corp., are hopefully to benefit from the sales boom in the future, according to industry sources.

Institutional investors indicated that LED-backlit notebook PCs will very likely serve as growth engine for Taiwanese makers' LED chip shipment in 2009, as the penetration rate of the models in the notebook PC market is expected to sharply rise to 30-50% in the second half of the year.

http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?id=37908