11/27/2006 November 27, 2006 - Edward Braun, chairman and CEO of Veeco Instruments Inc., plans to transition out of the CEO role during 2007. He will continue as CEO until a replacement is selected by a succession planning committee, led by independent director Roger McDaniel.
11/27/2006 Carlyle Group, a Washington D.C.-based investment firm, plans to buy Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE). Taiwanese ASE received an indication of interest from a consortium of private equity firms led by Carlyle, offering to buy 100% of the package-and-test business at NT $39 per share, equally approximately NT $179 B, or $5.46 B U.S.
11/27/2006 November 27, 2006 - In what could be the biggest acquisition ever in Taiwan, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. says it has fielded an offer from a consortium of investors led by The Carlyle Group, worth roughly $5.46 billion. Carlyle was part of the consortium of investors that bought Freescale earlier this year, and recently assisted in buyout deals for Jazz Semiconductor, AZ Electronics, and Toshiba Ceramics.
11/27/2006 Agere Systems gave four suppliers corporate awards, and recognized 15 companies in total for supply-chain commitment. At the fourth annual Strategic Supplier Initiative in San Jose, CA, the company named notable suppliers for cost, technology, responsiveness, quality, and supply assurance performance.
11/27/2006 Heidelberg Instruments announced the sale of an advanced DWL200 maskless laser lithography system to the Angstrom Microstructure Laboratory of the University of Uppsala, Sweden.
11/22/2006 STI Electronics, Inc., added a cleanroom environment to its Madison, AL, facility to support imbedded component/die technology (IC/DT) research and manufacturing, and other microelectronics manufacturing and assembly operations.
11/22/2006 November 22, 2006 - Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. has extended its partnership with Chinese foundry SMIC to make 8Gbit data flash using advanced process technology, with devices ready for market by 2008.
11/22/2006 November 22, 2006 - Global orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment slipped in 3Q06 but sales chugged right along, and both are enjoying growth well above a year ago, according to data compiled by SEMI and SEAJ.
11/22/2006 Innos, the UK-based nanotech research and development company, said it is providing integration engineering support and prototyping services for the UK Framework 6 Network of Excellence SiNANO project.
11/22/2006 SUSS MicroTec., the Munich, Germany-based supplier of precision manufacturing and test equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, announced that the University of Alberta's NanoFab has selected its new ELAN CB6L wafer bonding equipment for its research and production activities.
11/22/2006 SEMI reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached $10.97 billion in the third quarter of 2006. The billings figure is 14 percent higher than the second quarter of 2006 and 38 percent above the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered in cooperation with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from more than 150 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.
11/21/2006 Congrats to Richard Dyck, president of TCS-Japan and the next recipient of SEMI's annual Bob Graham Award for outstanding contributions in semiconductor equipment and materials marketing... And kudos also goes out to Roger Grace, Northeastern U. grad who is sponsoring funding at his alma mater to support nanomanufacturing education for future scientists...
11/21/2006 Fresh off a tour of several Chinese chipmakers, senior analyst Christian Dieseldorff of Strategic Marketing Associates tells WaferNEWS who impressed him the most, who has the most ambitious expansion plans (and who's in trouble), and where most of China's fabs will look to fund their expansion efforts.
11/21/2006 Business will keep slowing down for the equipment segment's 800-lb. gorilla and the overall industry, but it's more of a seasonal trend than a worrisome cyclical downswing, and should only last another quarter or so before picking up steam again, according to Applied Materials execs, discussing their company's fourth-quarter and year-end 2006 performance and 2007 projections.
11/21/2006 November 21, 2006 - Days after a business unit reorg and executive shuffle, Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. has announced layoffs of about 8% of its workforce in all parts of the organization, but mainly in R&D and operations and including management positions. The company will take a $300K charge in 4Q06 to cover termination expenses and other costs, but foresees saving $2 million in 2007.
11/21/2006 November 21, 2006 - Ibis Technology Corp., a developer/provider of SIMOX-SOI implantation equipment, has promoted Charles McKenna, EVP and COO, to the position of president/CEO effectively immediately, replacing Martin Reid who assumes the role of executive chairman and will continue day-to-day duties in areas of market development and business strategy.
11/21/2006 November 21, 2006 - FormFactor Inc. has filed new patent litigation against Micronics Japan Co. Ltd. (MJC) alleging infringement upon four US patents covering the company's wafer probe card technology.
11/21/2006 Intematix Corp., a Fremont, Calif., materials developer and provider, announced it has raised $16.5 million in a Series C venture capital financing round led by Crosslink Capital and Samsung Ventures.
11/21/2006 Eyelit Inc., a San Jose, Calif., manufacturing software provider for visibility, control and coordination of manufacturing operations for the electronics, life sciences, MEMS and semiconductor industries, announced that Touchdown Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of advanced MEMS probecards, has purchased Eyelit's Enterprise Manufacturing Execution suite to manage and control its production operations.
