Analyses conducted by SIPLACE market researchers confirm the generally positive mood in the market and predict a continued upward trend. The manufacturers of SMT equipment and placement solutions increased the value of their worldwide deliveries in the first three months of 2011 by another seven percent over the already highly successful last quarter of 2010. The outlook continues to be positive, say the market researchers at SIPLACE, because new order bookings set a new record in the first quarter of 2011. The order bookings for SMT production equipment in March alone increased by 53 percent over February, which was already a strong month. While the overall picture is positive, there are differences between regional markets. Europe, North America and South America continued their steady rise after making it through the crisis and established themselves as the growth drivers in early 2011 with 66 percent more order bookings compared with the first quarter of 2010. In China, which emerged from the crisis sooner, the market calmed down, albeit at a high level. While shipments rose by 11 percent, new order bookings for the first quarter of 2011 were almost 10 percent below the strong first quarter of 2010.Stephanie Pepersack, who is in charge of market intelligence at SIPLACE The development of order bookings in the first quarter indicate that the overall picture continues to be very positive.The overall picture continues to be very positive, as indicated by the development of order bookings in the first quarter. As a premium supplier, ASM Assembly Systems with its SIPLACE brand benefits disproportionately from this trend and continues to increase its market share, partly because the boom in China and Asia in general is moving towards more advanced and flexible placement solutions like our SIPLACE SX line. The low-end segment, on the other hand, continues to decline in importance. While the installed bases are not yet comparable, the structure of the machine portfolios in China keeps edging closer to those in Europe and North America as far as new investments are concerned. If this trend continues, SIPLACE will keep benefiting as the industry technology leader, says Stephanie Pepersack, who is in charge of market intelligence at SIPLACE, about the latest market studies. ASM Assembly Systems  At the beginning of 2011, the SIPLACE team (formerly Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems) became a business unit of ASM Pacific Technology and operates now as ASM Assembly Systems. With its SIPLACE machines and innovative manufacturing concepts, ASM Assembly Systems GmbH  Co. KG is the world leading manufacturer of surface mount technology (SMT) placement machines and solutions. Since its beginnings in 1985, the company has installed almost 25,000 placement machines at over 2,500 customers all over the world. Electronics manufacturers in all industries such as telecommunications, automotive, IT, consumer electronics and automation use and depend on SIPLACE broad portfolio of solutions and services.For more information about ASM Assembly Systems (SIPLACE), please visit www.siplace.com.  ASM Pacific Technology As a subsidiary of ASM International based in Almere, Netherlands, ASM Pacific Technology (ASMPT), Singapore, has developed in only a few years into the world leading supplier of chip assembly, bonding and packaging systems and solutions. The ASMPT Group produces and markets machines for front-end and back-end chip assembly and semiconductor packaging. The company has plants in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia, and since January 1, 2011 in Germany. ASMPT has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1989.ASMPT is one of the stocks in the Hang Seng HK MidCap Index under the Hang Seng Composite Index, the Hang Seng Information Technology Industry Index, and the Hang Seng Hong Kong 35 Index.For more information about ASMPT, please visit www.asmpacific.com.