AN AMERICAN designer and maker of semiconductor assembly equipment plans to upgrade to a new $50 million global headquarters in Singapore to strengthen its presence in Asia. Yesterday, Kulicke & Soffa, which manufactures various technical tools, announced the construction of the new state-of-the-art facility at Serangoon's industrial estate. Originally based in Pennsylvania, Kulicke & Soffa...

MR KOICHI Hori laments the loss of Japan's once cast-iron grip on the world of electronics technology. He sighs as he notes that his home country has been overtaken by South Korea, Taiwan and recently, mainland China - which has also overtaken Japan as the world's second biggest economy. Mr Hori, 67, an iconic name within Japan's corporate world, is a management consultant and chairman of...

SINGAPORE Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) yesterday posted a 21 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit to $134.4 million, from $111.1 million a year ago.

The rise in earnings was despite revenue dipping 1.7 per cent from $1.57 billion to $1.54 billion - of which 60 per cent or $930 million constituted commercial sales.

For the three months ended March 31, 2012, the...