October 19, 2006 – Aviza Technology Inc., Scotts Valley, CA, has received a GBP 1.2 million (US $2.2 million) multiyear grant from the Welsh Assembly Government’s Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) program, to help with Aviza’s planned GBP 6.4 million (~$12.0 million) expansion of R&D capabilities at its site in Newport. The funds will help create more than 30 technical positions, as well as support expanded responsibilities for an additional 50 jobs.

Aviza (and Trikon, which it acquired last year) manufacture PVD, etch, and CVD systems at the Newport site, as well as all of the company’s single-wafer equipment, including the Celsior single-wafer ALD system. Activities at Newport will continue to focus on surface film process and technologies for single wafer applications, according to a company spokesperson.

The RSA grant is a discretionary grant established by the Welsh Assembly Government to aid businesses with capital investment projects in the Assisted Areas of Wales. To-date, a total value of GBP 650 million ($1.22 billion) were made to businesses undertaking capital investment projects in Wales worth a total of about GBP 2.83 billion ($5.29 billion), which have created approximately 50,000 new jobs and preserved some 20,000 existing jobs.