Hon Hai Plans to Build Mega Production Base in Brazil

Foxconn Group, Hon Hai Group's subgroup in China, will invest US$12 billion in Brazil in the next five to six years to produce computer and mobile-phone components and parts, as well as iPad tablet PCs for Apple, revealed Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, who is on a visit to China.

A spokesman of Hon Hai remarked (April 13) that "We will go to whichever place where there is a market." He admitted that Hon Hai is evaluating the investment project in Brazil but refused to disclose the details.

Aloizio Mercadante, Brazil's minister of science and technology, revealed that the Brazilian government has been in talk with Foxconn for three months and hopes the company can start assembling iPad in Brazil in late November. He noted that Foxconn plans to build a "smart city" in Brazil, consisting of factories and dormitories for employees, and hire 100,000 employees, including 20,000 engineers, for its Brazilian operation.

Brazil is one of emerging countries with huge development potential, thanks to its abundant resources and large consumption market.

A local newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported that Terry Kuo, chairman of Hon Hai, was originally to meet with President Dilma Rousseff to discuss the investment project but the trip was canceled due to Japan's massive earthquake. Hon Hai has actually started assembling iPad in Brazil at a limited scale, according to the newspaper. Currently, Hon Hai's assembly operation for iPad takes place mainly in its Longhua factory in Shenzhen and Chengdu factory in Sichuan.

Hon Hai now runs two factories in Jundiai City of Brazil, mainly for contract production for HP and Sony.

Market players remarked that the establishment of assembly factories in Brazil will pave the way for the entry of Apple products into that market and bring more orders to Hon Hai, since it is Apple's largest assembly partner.

New Pediatric Nanomedicine Center Links Health Care and Engineering

The Center for Pediatric Nanomedicine (CPN) is the first of its kind in the world.

Directed by Gang Bao, the center will involve researchers from Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

"Because nano-scale structures are compatible in size to biomolecules, nanomedicine provides unprecedented opportunities for achieving better control of biological processes and drastic improvements in disease detection, therapy and prevention," says Bao, the Robert A. Milton Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.

Nanomedicine involves the development of engineered nanoscale structures and devices for better diagnostics and highly specific medical interventions to treat diseases and repair damaged tissues. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

The CPN is part of the Emory-Children's Pediatric Research Center led by the two institutions, including partnerships with Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse School of Medicine.

With the leadership of Dr. Paul Spearman, Children's chief research officer and vice chair for research in the Emory University Department of Pediatrics, 14 key priority centers have been identified. These are hematology and oncology; immunology and vaccines; transplant immunology and immune therapeutics; pediatric healthcare technology innovation; cystic fibrosis; developmental lung biology; endothelial biology; cardiovascular biology; drug discovery; autism; neurosciences; nanomedicine; outcomes research and public health; and clinical and translational research.

Emory and Georgia Tech already have had significant and successful research partnerships in nanomedicine funded by the National Institutes of Health. These have included nanotechnology center of excellence for the detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease, the development of personalized and predictive oncology, and the development of engineered protein machines for treating single-gene disorders.

"Nanotechnology can be applied to many diseases, and the application of nanotechnology could have a profound impact on improving children's health," says Bao.

Current centers located in the joint Georgia Tech-Emory biomedical engineering department include the Center for Translational Cardiovascular Nanomedicine (funded by a $14.6 million, five-year grant from NHLBI/NIH) and the Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines (funded by a $16.1 million, five-year grant from NIH).

The discoveries made in these centers also will be applied to research in pediatric diseases. For example, scientists in the center for nucleoprotein machines are focused on developing a technology to correct single-gene defects that lead to human disease. They hope to use this approach to treat and eventually cure sickle cell disease, first focusing on curing a mouse model of sickle cell. The new technology would then be applied to human sickle cell patients.

"Nanomedicine is expected to dramatically exceed what has occurred in the field thus far, and our belief is that it will revolutionize medicine," says Bao. "We plan to make this new pediatric nanomedicine center a leader in applying these unique discoveries to treating and curing children's diseases."

CanAsia Has Cleanroom

CanAsia is engaged in the designing, manufacturing and distributing optical modules to mobile device makers in China. Currently there are two predominant digital camera sensor technologies: Charge-coupled Devices (CCD) and Complementary Metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS). Within CMOS sensor type, there are three main types of construction: (a) Chip Support Package (CSP), (b) Chip on Board (COB) and (c) Chip on Flex (COF). COF is the latest generation using flexible substrate. CanAsia focuses its business in COB and COF, and it has an in-house Class-100 Clean Room (ISO Class 5) facility which is required for COB and COF production.

CanAsia has established relationships with key mobile phone manufacturers and suppliers in China. CanAsia sells directly to its customers and has not appointed distributors or agents anywhere.

PPI/Time Zero to Open Virginia Facility

Electronic manufacturing services provider PPI/Time Zero is planning to open a facility in Waynesboro, creating 65 jobs within the next year.

The company will invest $1.15 million for the operation. The facility will be located at Solutions Place, a 340,000-square-foot facility owned by Allied Logistics.

New Jersey-based PPI/Time Zero has made aerospace, defense, medical and industrial electronics for about 40 years.

The Virginia Department of Business Assistance is providing funding and services through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program to support the company's recruitment and training activities.

University of Notre Dame College of Engineering Finds a Partner in Olympus

The University of Notre Dame has named Olympus a key partner for its prestigious College of Engineering (www.nd.edu/~engineer/index.html). The college recently constructed a new 160,000-square-foot, $70 million structure called Stinson-Remick Hall, which houses a nanotechnology research center, the University's new Energy Center, an undergraduate interdisciplinary learning center and a 9,000-square-foot semiconductor processing and device fabrication clean room. Olympus will equip the device fabrication cleanroom of Stinson-Remick Hall and provide researchers at the College of Engineering with advanced microscopes, camera equipment and software to meet a variety of optical imaging needs.

According to Robert Dunn, the managing director for the facility, engineers using Stinson-Remick Hall have a two-fold mission: conducting leading-edge research and working with students to educate future engineers. "Notre Dame is doing advanced work in semiconductor research, and the Olympus tools, along with our relationship with Olympus, are helping us meet both of these vitally important goals," he said. Notre Dame boasts a long history of engineering developments in a variety of fields from the construction of the first hand-driven wind tunnel in America to the successful transmission of one of the first wireless messages in the country.

The digital imaging and analysis solutions provided by Olympus will make it possible for researchers to perform metrology tasks and then share images acquired on the optical tools. The instruments include the flagship LEXT OLS4000® laser scanning confocal 3D measuring microscope. The world's first laser-based, dual-confocal system optimized to operate at 405 nanometers; the system allows researchers, engineers and technicians to measure and image angles up to 85 degrees accurately. It also offers what may be the first-ever accuracy and repeatability guarantee provided by an industrial confocal system manufacturer.

The University of Notre Dame also has installed semiconductor inspection microscopes from Olympus. These include two MX51® inspection microscopes. One of the microscopes is configured for critical near-infrared observation through silicon for nondestructive viewing of structures deep inside semiconductor circuit wafers. In addition, an MX61 wafer inspection microscope configured for general optical inspection will be available for use.

"We are pleased to partner with the University of Notre Dame's prestigious College of Engineering to help equip the landmark Stinson-Remick facility," said Matt Smith, director of sales and marketing for Olympus America Inc.'s Scientific Equipment Group - Industrial Microscopes. "Nanotechnology, energy development and semiconductor engineering are among the most challenging and important areas of development for our nation's future, and Notre Dame boasts a long history of ground-breaking developments in engineering."

"Our new engineering building is a landmark for studies that will help create new possibilities for American industry and society," said Gary H. Bernstein, Frank M. Freimann Professor of Electrical Engineering and a key technical coordinator involved in developing the facility and selecting tools. "Partnerships like the one we have with Olympus are very important to the facility's future."

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