EMS firms continue buying ways.

Boston -- EMS firms are on a first-quarter merger and expansion spree that makes up in quantity what it lacks in size.

Top tier EMS firm Celestica (celestica.com) in February acquired the Philippines manufacturing operations of Powerwave Technologies, a supplier of wireless infrastructure gear, for $19 million in cash. The transaction was expected to close in March. The deal includes the facility and a workforce of about 600. Celestica will continue to supply product to Powerwave (powerwave.com), its customer since 2002.

The site, in Cabuyao Laguna (which is near Manila), produces power amplifiers for use in wireless infrastructure networks. It was acquired by Powerwave from REMEC in September 2005.

On March 6, Celestica treasurer Paul Nicoletti on Monday suggested to an investor conference that a large acquisition is possible in the company's future. "I would say right now the opportunities, call it organic-slash-acquisition, are as high now as they've been over the last couple of years."

In Ottawa, Canada, Fabrinet (fabrinet.com), a top manufacturer of optical components, agreed to acquire the local operations of JDS Uniphase Corp. The deal covers JDSU's (jdsu.com) manufacturing operations in Ottawa, and was expected to be completed by April 1. Fabrinet will close the plant, which employs 300 and transfer the operations to lower-cost manufacturing locations. Fabrinet operates plants in Thailand and China.

This is the sixth plant Fabrinet has acquired from JDSU, and according to the company it will be the last piece of the relocation of operations to Asia. Previously, Fabrinet acquired JDSU plants in Fuzhou, China; Mountain Lakes, FL; Ewing, NJ; Singapore; and Bintan, Indonesia. (For a related story, see page XXXX.)

Meanwhile, Wistron, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing services firm known for building Xbox consoles and notebook PCs, is considering building a plant in Eastern Europe, the company's chairman said in an interview. Possible sites include the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania, chairman Simon Lin said. A decision will be made by the second quarter, he told DigiTimes in mid-February.

By locating in Europe, Wistron (wistron.com) would join other Taiwan-based EMS migrants such as Foxconn, Asustek, Quanta, Mitac, Inventec and Clevo (Inventec and Quanta have since closed their Eartern European plants). Other large Asian EMS companies that operate plants in North America include Foxconn, Beijing Brio of China and IMI of the Philippines.

Wistron, a spinoff from the Acer Group, currently operates two plants in China, plus facilities in the Philippines and Houston.

And in early February CTS Corp. (ctscorp.com) said it added a Class 10,000 cleanroom and wire bonding capability at its Moorpark, CA, EMS plant. The addition will permit CTS to process bare die through complete assembly and test.

Edited by Mike Buetow