In a message dated 11/01/2000 1:48:02 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> > There appears to be an acknowledged shortage of some components, and I
>  > remember in the past there was a glass fabric capacity issue, is there a
>  > current capacity or shortage of PWB laminate materials or limiter on
>  > fabrication capacity?

Hi Ted!

One of our PCB suppliers sent us two FAX'es that they got sent this year from
their laminate suppliers, one was back in March, and the other was August.
Basically, the FAX'es were saying that the raw materials for laminate were
becoming scarcer and more expensive...the prices went up about 6% on orders
after March, and another 6% on orders after August.

One other thing I heard in the past that might be driving the price up for
the raw materials, was that the glass fiber manufacturers were mostly
focusing on higher profit fiber-optic quality glass fibers rather than the
less profitable commercial quality glass fiber used to make the cloth for
laminates...could be wrong about that, but that's what I read in some article
I found on the WEB...

-Steve Gregory-

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