Singapore–Allegro Manufacturing Pte Ltd. announced today that it has secured investments from EDB Investments Pte Ltd. of Singapore, Hermes-Epitek Corp. of Taiwan, Lam Research Corp. of CA, Tokyo Electron Ltd. of Japan, and other private investors to form a semiconductor front-end equipment foundry in Singapore.

Way Tu, previously president of Asia Operations for Lam Research, will serve as the president and CEO of the new company.

Allegro will immediately begin outsourcing and manufacturing services for equipment manufacturers. Given that Asia Pacific is the biggest and fastest growing region for this huge semiconductor front-end equipment market, Allgero is poised for a strategic share of the pie, with sales estimated to hit US$30 million by 2003.

The company’s strategy is to be closer to its client-end customers, to provide competitive and compelling manufacturing solutions at lower costs by leveraging on local resources. By building on the strengths of its investors and the existing successful relationships between some of its partners, the new company will focus on addressing customers’ capacity and cost reduction needs by implementing complementary manufacturing capabilities. This will allow original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to focus on their core competency such as marketing, technology, product, and application development, according to Allegro.

Singapore, with its sophisticated infrastructure and world-class manpower, was chosen because it offers many advantages and opportunities for growth and expansion. In particular, Singapore’s semiconductor industry is home to 29 IC design houses, 14 wafer fabs, and 17 assembly and test plants, as well as a strong pool of supporting industries from across the US, Europe, Taiwan, and Singapore.