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» NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS IPC economic outlook and global sentiment report Labour, material and freight costs will continue to rise, say manufacturers Manufacturers expect to see continued increase in both labour and material costs over the next six months, although to a lesser extent than previously anticipated, according to IPC’s February 2023 Global Sentiment of the Electronics Supply Chain Report. On average, electronics manufacturers expect labour costs to increase 9.2 percent over 2022 levels; materials costs to rise 9.9 percent during the year and most surprisingly, they expect freight costs to rise 7.2 percent in 2023. “Though manufacturers anticipate freight costs to rise, depressed demand and improving supply chain dynamics are currently pulling freight costs down, a trend that should continue during the year,” said IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac. “Downward cyclical pressures will curtail volume which should keep prices in check. For some companies, declining freight costs are likely to be their most significant cost On average, electronics manufacturers expect labour costs to increase 9.2 percent compared to 2022 levels; materials costs to rise 9.9 percent and freight costs to rise 7.2 percent in 2023 savings in 2023. Economic fundamentals continue to slow,” said DuBravac. “However, despite aggregate softness, certain Source: Pexels/Tiger Lily segments continue to do well. For example, the defense and space equipment sector hit new high in January, aerospace is up significantly from pre-pandemic levels and other sectors key to the electronics industry are holding up well.” EU electronics manufacturing output fell in Dec. 2022 The report also shows that manufacturing sectors in Europe, the U.S., and China are all signalling contraction according to their respective PMI indexes, but in China and Europe at least, things are looking less bad this month. Despite signs of slowing demand, manufacturers continue to hire. The report also found that EU electronics manufacturing output fell in December after a one month increase in November. Output declined 1.4 percent and is down 0.9 percent over the last year. www.ipc.org German chipmaker acquires Canada-based GaN-based solutions provider Infineon to purchase GaN Systems for 0 million Source: Infineon Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems Source: Infineon Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon Infineon Technologies AG and GaN Systems have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon will acquire GaN Systems for USD 830 million (EUR 780 million). GaN Systems is a global technology leader in the development of GaN-based solutions for power conversion. The company is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and has more than 200 employees. “GaN technology is paving the way for more energy-efficient and CO2-saving solutions that support decarb onization. Adoption in applications like mobile charging, data center power supplies, residential solar inverters, and onboard chargers for electric vehicles is at the tipping point, leading to a dynamic market growth,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon. “The planned acquisition of GaN Systems will significantly accelerate our GaN roadmap, based on unmatched R&D resources, application understanding and customer project pipeline.“ “The GaN Systems team is excited about teaming up with Infineon to create highly differentiating customer offerings,,” Jim Witham, CEO of GaN Systems, said. ‘With our joint expertise in providing superior solutions, we will optimally leverage the potential of GaN. Combining foundry corridors with in-house manufacturing capacity en- ables maximum growth capability to serve the accelerating adoption of GaN in a wide range of our target markets.” As a wide bandgap material, GaN offers customer value by higher power density, higher efficiency, and size reductions, especially at higher switching frequencies. These properties enable energy savings and smaller form factors, making GaN suited for a wide range of applications. By 2027, market analysts expect the GaN revenue for power applications to grow by 56% CAGR to approx. USD 2 billion (source: Yole, Compound Semiconductor Market Monitor-Module I Q4 2022). In February 2022, Infineon announced doubling down on wide bandgap by investing more than EUR 2 billion in a new frontend fab in Kulim, Malaysia. The first wafers will leave the fab in the second half of 2024, adding to Infineon’s existing wide bandgap manufacturing capacities in Villach, Austria. www.gansystems.com | www.infineon.com 16 EPP Europe » 04 | 2023
Improved material flow from warehouse to production line ASMPT enters partnership with cts ASMPT has entered into a long-term partnership with German automation specialist cts GmbH that will improve material flow automation in electronics production from the warehouse to the production line. The portfolio of hardware and software solutions for electronics production will be complemented with cts’s storage systems and automatic transport and handling solutions (AMR and robotics). The former can thus offer its customers more flexibility within its modular and manufacturer-independent Open Automation concept for more efficient and integrated electronics production. Headquartered in Burgkirchen, Germany, the cts portfolio includes solutions for the automated storage of circuit board magazines as well as dedicated robotic solutions for PCB handling. It implements AMR solutions for the automated transport of materials using ASMPT‘s Factory Automation Software in a non-proprietary manner so that heterogeneous fleets can execute any transportation tasks with maximum efficiency. “cts is an important partner for ASMPT in automating material flow processes from the warehouse to the line,” explained Sven Buchholz, Head of Product Portfolio and Product Management at ASMPT. “This long-term partnership enables ASMPT to expand its offerings and its consulting expertise to cover the entire material supply process. As part of our Open Automation concept we can now offer our customers everything they need from a single source to fully automate their material flows in a way that is optimally coordinated with our software solutions on the shop floor and SMT factory levels.” “We are pleased to support ASMPT as a technology partner in the field of automated material supply technology in electronics production,” said Alfred Pammer, Head of Sales and Marketing at cts. www.asm-smt.com Source: ASMPT German comany cts is a systems integrator and supplier of comprehensive automation solutions for in-house materials handling PIEK Training & Certification IPC Training & Certification Consultancy Test Center PB’s & PBA’s Audit services IPC Validation Services PIEKTRAINING.com EPP Europe » 04 | 2023 17
