The switch to 450mm will be the largest, most expensive retooling the semiconductor industry has ever experienced. Will you be ready? 450mm fabs, which will give an unbeatable competitive advantage to the largest semiconductor manufacturers, are likely to cost $10 billion and come on-line in 2017, with production ramp in 2018. Unprecedented technical challenges still need to be overcome, but work is well underway at an R&D center in upstate New York, at the Global 450mm Consortium, G450C, and at the imec consortium in Europe. Hear from the G450C General Manager, Paul Farrar Jr., on the current status of activities, key milestones and schedules, and imec’s senior business development director, Lode Lauwers, on why 450mm is important for Europe, and the status of 450mm research on processes and devices.