September 23, 2003 – Applied Materials is reportedly considering shutting down its wafer cleaning business, which would result in the closure of its Israeli subsidiary Oramir Semiconductor Equipment, according to the Israel Business Arena. Oramir was acquired by AMAT in June 2001 and merged into its PDC division.
The Israeli daily notes Chicago-based investment bank Berean Capital has speculated that AMAT is considering exiting the wafer cleaning business due to slow sales of its Oasis Clean system for 0.13-micron devices in 300mm fabs. An AMAT spokesperson declined to discuss product plans with the paper.