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Mainland China's Design Engineers Focus Mainly on Increasing Functionality, Reducing Costs: Design Capabilities Survey

Posted on: Friday, 29 September 2006, 06:00 CDT

HONG KONG, Sept. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global Sources' (NASDAQ-GS: GSOL) 2006 China Design Capabilities Survey shows that more than 60 percent of mainland China design engineers focus mainly on increasing functionality and reducing costs.

(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030303/LNM011LOGO-b )

The report shows 63 percent of design engineers rated increased functionality among their top three design goals in the past 12 months. Respondents also cited reducing costs at 62 percent, and improving performance at 53 percent.

China Design Capabilities Survey was conducted by Electronic Engineering Times-China (EE Times-China), published by eMedia Asia, a joint venture between Global Sources and CMP. The survey, conducted in July 2006, drew 2,304 qualified responses from mainland China electronic engineers.

EE Times-China Publisher Mark Saunderson said: "The Design Survey benchmarks electronics design activity in the region, and analyzes the methodologies applied by mainland China's engineers.

"Mainland China's design engineers are not just manufacturing from plan, but are designing their own products, adapting them and bringing their innovations to the global electronics market. However, while mainland China's electronics industry is moving up the value chain, cost is still a primary factor and remains the region's competitive advantage."

Sixty Percent of Mainland China Engineers Working on Original Designs

The report shows 60 percent of mainland China design engineers produce or rework original designs.

-- 29 percent produce original designs based on existing products; -- 17 percent rework original designs; and -- 14 percent produce original designs. Mainland China Engineers Actively Involved in IC and Component Selection

The region's electronic engineers are involved at several stages of the design process, including identifying and selecting components used in their designs.

-- 33 percent decide on the part number and brand; -- 29 percent make recommendations to the project manager; and -- 25 percent jointly decide with the purchasing department. Engineers Plan to Support Mainland China's Homegrown Electronic Standards

The report shows mainland China's design engineers are interested in applying mainland China's electronics standards in the next two years. The top three technologies cited are:

-- DMB-T/H -- 29 percent; -- TD-SCMA -- 24 percent; and -- Chinese IPv6 -- 22 percent

Saunderson said: In mainland China, the future of electronics innovation lies with its design engineers. There are still many challenges, particularly keeping pace with the rapid changes in technology and standards.

"However, the increasing incidence of original design suggests the region's electronics engineers are overcoming these challenges."

Complete survey results are available at the EE Times-China website: Simplified Chinese: http://www.eetchina.com/SURVEYS/CDC06GB.HTM English: http://www.eetchina.com/SURVEYS/CDC06EN.HTM

Electronic Engineering Times-China and its website, http://www.eetchina.com/ , are an important part of Global Sources' product information services, which include Global Sources trade magazines, Global Sources Online (http://www.globalsources.com/) , China Sourcing Reports ( http://www.chinasourcingreports.com/ ) , Global Sources Direct ( http://www.globalsourcesdirect.com/ ) and the China Sourcing Fairs ( http://www.chinasourcingfair.com/ ) . For more information, visit http://www.corporate.globalsources.com/ .

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business (B2B) media company and a primary facilitator of two-way trade with Greater China. The core business is facilitating trade from Greater China to the world, using a wide range of English-language media. The other key business segment facilitates trade from the world to Greater China using Chinese-language media.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 530,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex, overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in 230 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. It delivers information on 1.8 million products and more than 130,000 suppliers annually through 11 online marketplaces, ten monthly magazines, over 100 sourcing research reports and 14 trade shows, including six China Sourcing Fairs. Suppliers receive more than 7 million sales leads annually from buyers through Global Sources Online ( http://www.globalsources.com/ ) alone.

Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for 35 years. In mainland China it has over 1,400 team members in 44 locations, and a community of over 1 million registered online users and magazine readers for Chinese- language media.

About eMedia Asia Ltd

eMedia Asia Ltd., a joint venture between Global Sources and CMP, is a leading integrated media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum. The joint venture provides new technology content, in print and online for thousands of technology specialists that drive the electronics industry in China and Asia. eMedia Asia Ltd. serves this community's ongoing need for the right information, at the right time through its integrated, local-language web networks, premier technical events and industry leading publications -- Electronic Engineering Times-Asia and Electronics Supply & Manufacturing-China, as well as Electronic Design-China, which is published in strategic alliance with Penton Media.

Global Sources Press Contact in Asia: Camellia So Tel: +852-2555-5043 Email: cso@globalsources.com Global Sources Investor Contact in Asia: Eddie Heng Tel: +65-6547-2850 Email: eheng@globalsources.com Global Sources Press Contact in U.S.: James W.W. Strachan Tel: +1-602-978-7504 Email: strachan@globalsources.com Global Sources Investor Contact in U.S.: Kirsten Chapman & Moriah Shilton Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, Inc. Tel: +1-415-433-3777 Email: kirsten@lhai-sf.com

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030303/LNM011LOGO-bPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Global Sources Ltd.

CONTACT: For media in Asia, Camellia So, +852-2555-5043 orcso@globalsources.com, or in U.S., James W.W. Strachan, +1-602-978-7504, orstrachan@globalsources.com, both of Global Sources; for investors in Asia,Eddie Heng of Global Sources, +65-6547-2850, or eheng@globalsources.com; or inU.S, Kirsten Chapman & Moriah Shilton, +1-415-433-3777, or fax,+1-415-433-5577, or kirsten@lhai-sf.com, both of Lippert/Heilshorn &Associates, Inc., for Global Sources

Web site: http://www.eetchina.com/SURVEYS/CDC06GB.HTMhttp://www.eetchina.com/SURVEYS/CDC06EN.HTMhttp://www.eetchina.com/http://www.globalsources.com/http://www.chinasourcingreports.com/http://www.globalsourcesdirect.com/http://www.chinasourcingfair.com/http://www.corporate.globalsources.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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