Cleanrooms in the News…

Varian Associates Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) will invest $10 million for additional manufacturing space and capital equipment at its Ion Implant Systems business in Gloucester, MA. The first phase will fund an additional 20,000 ft2 of manufacturing space, which will house a Class 10,000 final assembly and test area. In addition, Varian has completed the sale of its Electron Devices business to an investor group led by an equity fund sponsored by Leonard Green & Partners LP, for roughly $200 million in cash, and the assumption of certain liabilities.

VLSI Technology Inc. will increase its production capacity by 50 percent, rather than 25 percent as had been estimated earlier. Citing very strong demand for its ASICs and standard communication ICs, VLSI will speed up facilitization of existing cleanroom space at its San Antonio, TX, facility, and investigate possible expansion at other sites, including San Jose, CA. The new San Antonio line will use 6-inch wafers and have 0.35 micron capabilities; San Jose is migrating from 5-inch to 6-inch wafers.

Rockwell Telecommunications will invest $200 million to expand its Newport Beach facility by 20,000 ft2 of Class 1 cleanroom space. The expansion is due to increasing demand for personal telecommunications chips. The new Fab VI will be capable of 5,000 8-in. wafer starts/month, moving from 0.5 to 0.35-micron technology by early 1997. Fab VI is expected to be completed by mid 1996.

Eaton Semiconductor Equipment Division (Beverly, MA) is planning to construct a new manufacturing facility in Austin, TX, in late 1995 to meet increasing demand for their medium current product line, which includes the NV-8200P.