Industrial Flat Panels

INFICON to Acquire Adixen Scandinavia AB from Pfeiffer Vacuum

Bad Ragaz/Switzerland, (August 2, 2011). INFICON (SIX Swiss Exchange: IFCN) a leading, worldwide manufacturer of instrumentation and process control software for advanced industrial vacuum processes, announces its intent to acquire the hydrogen leak detection specialist Adixen Scandinavia AB from Pfeiffer Vacuum. The transaction is expected to be closed during the course of current the third quarter. INFICON and Pfeiffer Vacuum have agreed that INFICON will acquire Adixen Scandinavia AB, based in Linköping/Sweden. With about 20 employees mainly in R&D, marketing and applications, this entity is a global leader in leak detection with hydrogen as a testing gas. Such leak detectors are globally used to check applications with potentially higher leak rates in industries such as public utilities, automotive and fuel cell technology. This acquisition complements INFICON’s expertise in leak detection applications with potentially higher leak rates and will allow INFICON to address new market segments including public utilities, automotive and fuel cell technology. The two parties have agreed not to disclose further financial details. INFICON is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and advanced process control software that enhance productivity and quality in sophisticated industrial vacuum processes. These analysis, measurement and control products are essential for gas leak detection in air conditioning/refrigeration, and automotive manufacturing. They are vital to equipment manufacturers and end-users in the complex fabrication of semiconductors and thin film coatings for optics, flat panel displays, solar cells and industrial vacuum coating applications. Other users of vacuum based processes include the life sciences, research, aerospace, packaging, heat treatment, laser cutting and many other industrial processes. We also leverage our expertise in vacuum technology to provide unique, toxic chemical analysis products for emergency response, security, and environmental monitoring. INFICON is headquartered in Switzerland and has world-class manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and China, as well as subsidiaries in China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. INFICON registered shares (IFCN) are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. For more information about INFICON and its products, please visit www.inficon.com .

Flat panel HDTV sales are slowing down, at ... - U.S. Industrial News

Surprise, surprise: 3-D TVs haven’t been enough to get Americans to bust open their wallets for a new round of television upgrades.

Indeed, a slew of research reports and earnings statements from electronics companies indicate that the boom era of HDTV sales is coming to an end in the U.S., even as demand for high-def flatscreens accelerates in emerging markets like India and China.

For example, here’s what Sony had to say about its consumer products and services division in its quarterly report issued last Thursday:

Sales decreased 17.9% year-on-year (a 13% decrease on a local currency basis) to 732.3 billion yen (9,040 million U.S. dollars). Sales to outside customers decreased 18.1% year-on-year. This was primarily due to a decrease in LCD television revenue reflecting price declines resulting mainly from a deterioration in market conditions in the U.S. and Europe, and lower PC revenue reflecting price competition.

The Display Panel Business recorded an operating loss of 210 billion won on revenue of 7.09 trillion won, down 9-percent in sales compared with the same period last year.

Overall market shipments of LCD panels increased 8 percent quarter-on-quarter in expectation of the upcoming peak season and Chinese National Day, but panel inventory levels remained high due to slow set sales.

In the latest DisplaySearch Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, the total global TV shipment outlook for 2011 has been reduced by about 3% to 252 million units, as demand in many developed countries continues to be very soft. TV shipments in North America are only expected to grow about 2% this year after 4% growth in 2010, while Western European TV shipments will fall about 1.5%.

What does this all mean? Leading indicator of a double-dip recession?

Maybe.

Or maybe people are just spending their tech budgets on other things, namely smartphones and tablets.

Apple’s stupendous quarter stands out, of course, but Samsung also reported huge growth in its mobile division in that same quarter where TV sales looked so weak.

IHS iSuppli, for example, reported last week that demand for tablets and smartphones is soaring , and while shipments of small-size LCD displays are declining, displays for use in tablets are rising.

Now, consumers electronics makers probably aren’t thrilled about the prospect of people buying 0 tablets instead of 0 TVs.

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