While pricing for LED backlights will continue to drop in 2010 due to increased production volumes and improvements in technology, pricing for large-sized LCD panels is expected to rise in the first quarter as TV and PC makers build inventories. »

FCI, a leading manufacturer and provider of connector and cable assembly solutions, has acquired the assets of MergeOptics, a manufacturer of active optical cables (AOCs) and optical transceivers. Information Gatekeepers projects the AOC market to reach 48 million units by 2014. »

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry leaders, have agreed on energy-efficiency measurements, metrics, and reporting guidelines for data-center facilities. »

IPC's technical conference will address a host of unintended consequences as a result of the lead ban in electronics devices, implemented as part of the EU's RoHS Directive about four years. Some of those issues include new defects, reliability concerns, processing issues and challenges for high-reliability sectors, says IPC. »

iSuppli's preliminary forecast projects that the global DRAM market will reach $31.9 billion in 2010, up 40.4 percent from $22.7 billion in 2009, after three consecutive years of decline. DRAM revenues fell 3.7 percent in 2009, 25.1 percent in 2008 and 7.5 percent in 2007, according to the market researcher. »

Motorola announced last week that it intends to separate into two independent, publicly-traded companies some time in the first quarter of 2011. IMS Research says the proposed Enterprise Mobility Solutions And Networks Group (EMSN) "is a hidden gem with a strong future ahead." »

AVX upgrades its SpiTan software with new features for simulation and modeling of tantalum capacitors. The new SpiTan III software tool now includes the effects of temperature and voltage on DCL leakage current, equivalent circuits of capacitors with parameter values, and the addition of more than 80 new released codes. »

NEC and KWest unveil a turnkey design for portable consumer products that leverages NEC's EMMA Mobile 1 SoC, and KWest's Connected Media Framework. »

With the introduction of the company's second-generation SYNC system, the MyFord platform, Ford Motor Company also marks a change in the company's supplier strategy to using an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider to make the system, reports iSuppli. »