Worldwide Highlights
04/01/2002
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
Backend drives tool orders in January
The backend drove equipment orders up for January, though frontend bookings appear to be at a low point for the downturn, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (Semi).
Semi revised the December bookings level from $652 million to $628.5 million. Consequently, January's bookings level of $636.9 million was 1.3% above December. Frontend orders declined month-over-month by 6%, while backend rose by a whopping 50%.
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The three-month average of worldwide billings in January was $784 million, 4% below the revised December level of $819.3 million. The North American book-to-bill ratio rose to 0.81, from December's revised ratio of 0.77.
January worldwide chip sales saw a seasonal downtick as well, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sales dropped in January to $10.01 billion, a decrease of 1.7% from December's $10.18 billion.
Compared to December 2001, sales in the Americas in January were essentially flat at -0.1%, and down 3.1% and 5.4% in Europe and Japan, respectively. In the Asia Pacific market, now the world's largest, January sales grew 0.4% over last month.
Worldwide frontend capacity also dipped in January, dropping to 69.1% from December's 69.9%, according to VLSI Research. VLSI forecasts that it will hit 69.2% in February.
USA
Newport Corp., Irvine, CA, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Micro Robotics Systems Inc., Billerica, MA, a privately held manufacturer of automated assembly and dispensing systems. The purchase price is estimated to be $55-$65 million, and the transaction was expected to close in 1Q02.
BOC Edwards, Wilmington, MA, has acquired 100% of Hydromatix Inc., Santa Fe Springs, CA, a manufacturer of liquid purification systems. Hydromatix technology will be integrated into the chemical management division of BOC Edwards to form a liquid abatement group.
Electroglas Inc., San Jose, CA, plans to move the manufacturing of its wafer probers from San Jose to Singapore. Initial production in Singapore is expected to begin in 2H02, with full production commencing by 2H03. Company headquarters will remain in San Jose, along with corporate administration, finance, sales, marketing, engineering, product design, and new products introduction activities.
Ibis Technology Corp., Danvers, MA, and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., St. Peters, MO, have signed a technical cooperation agreement to develop SIMOX SOI wafers. As part of the agreement, the companies will work together to develop new technology and improvements in SOI technology, products, and optimized silicon wafer substrates.
Pall Corp., East Hills, NY, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase the filtrations and separations group from USFilter Corp., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Vivendi Environment, for a total of $360 million in cash consideration.
HPL Technologies Inc., San Jose, CA, has signed an agreement to acquire TestChip Technologies Inc., a privately held Texas company that provides proprietary software and parameterized soft IP to accelerate time to production for new chip processes.
Simplex Solutions Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, provider of software and services for designing and verifying ICs, has acquired the software IP assets of the Coyote Systems business of Coventor Inc, Cary, NC. The IP assets, acquired for $2.5 million in cash, include the AutoIC product line.
Praxair Semiconductor Materials, Danbury, CT, has received QS 9000 certification for its North American operations. The certification includes process gases, gas delivery systems, bulk and on-site gas production, and site gas services for its global silicon and compound semiconductor operations. Also, Praxair has opened a demonstration facility in Niagara Falls, NY. The center offers fiber optics manufacturers first-hand operating experience and evaluation of Praxair's helium recovery technology, the company said.
EKC Technology, a ChemFirst Inc. company, Danville, CA, has received a patent in Taiwan extending its IP coverage related to its HAD cleaning technology. EKC is a supplier of high-purity chemicals for wafer-cleaning surface preparations, CMP, and photoresist/post-etch residue removal.
Brooks Automation, Chelmsford, MA, has signed a multiyear OEM agreement with Teradyne Inc., Boston, MA, under which Teradyne will embed Brooks' e-diagnostics technology as part of Teradyne's new eConnectNET product. The agreement will combine the efforts of players in the e-diagnostics field including Brooks, Teradyne, and KLA-Tencor, targeting an acceleration of the adoption of e-diagnostics solutions by the semiconductor industry.
In other news, Brooks Automation has completed the acquisition of Intelligent Automation Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA, a custom automation company.
ZiLOG Inc., Campbell, CA, a designer and manufacturer of semiconductors, has relocated its headquarters to San Jose, CA, from Campbell, CA, in order to save an estimated $5 million annually. The company's contact numbers will remain the same.
NASA's Ames Research Center is constructing a 200-acre research park in Silicon Valley to focus on nanotechnology, among other cutting-edge sciences. The U. of California and Carnegie-Mellon U. will be anchor tenants at the Moffett Field campus. Companies such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, and Oracle have signed on to pursue R&D initiatives that will impact air traffic control, Internet communications, space exploration, highway safety, and health care. Completion is envisioned in the next 10-20 years, and the eventual outcome will be about 2.5 million ft2 of construction.
Anorad Corp., a Rockwell Automation business that produces ultra-high precision position stages, motion systems, linear motors, and servo controls, has been awarded ISO 9001 certification at its headquarters facility in Hauppauge, NY.
Entegris Inc., Chaska, MN, and Dainippon Ink and Chemicals (DIC) have signed a patent-licensing agreement. Under the agreement, DIC will be licensed to make, use, and sell IC trays that employ Entegris' patented design. DIC will have exclusive license — with the exceptions of Entegris, its affiliates, and agents.
Japan
Hitachi Ltd.,Tokyo, Japan, and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Taipei,
Taiwan, have discontinued their joint management of Trecenti Technologies Inc., the 300mm company in Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Trecenti will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi. The transaction will close this month. Trecenti's UMC employees will return to their parent company, while those transferred or dispatched from Hitachi will remain there.
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The Japanese government plans to invest $115 million (¥15.3 billion) to support a consortium to develop low-cost production technology for large flat panel displays. Work will be done at Dr. Ohmi's Tohoku University lab. Sharp confirms it will participate. Local media reports that Tokyo Electron, Dainippon Screen, and other suppliers of equipment and materials will also be involved, along with Seiko Epson and Hitachi.
LSI Logic Corp., Milpitas, CA, plans to cut production in Japan, in line with its restructuring in the US. LSI Logic Japan Semiconductor Inc. plans to offer 300 of its 560 employees early retirement packages and will demote the remaining permanent employees to contract workers. The unit will continue production until September.
Asia Pacific
UMC, Taipei, Taiwan, and AMD, Sunnyvale, CA, have formed a joint venture to own and operate a 300mm wafer fab in Singapore for high-volume production of PC processors and other logic products. Additionally, UMC and AMD have signed a foundry agreement under which UMC will produce PC processors to augment AMD's Dresden Fab 30 production capacity for devices produced on 130nm and smaller geometry technology. They will form a joint venture, AU Pte. Ltd., to own and operate the Singapore facility. Commercial production is expected to begin using 65nm technology in mid-2005.
Kulicke & Soffa, Willow Grove, PA, plans to establish a supply chain in China for the company's equipment products and shift a portion of its manufacturing to a facility outside of Shanghai. Additionally, machine integration for the microelectronics group will join ball bonder manufacturing at the K&S Singapore facility. The transfer of microelectronics to Singapore will begin later this year. The China facility is expected to be fully operational by late 2003.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., Taipei, Taiwan, will start installing production facilities in its 300mm fab in 2Q02. The fab is slated for commercial production by year's end, with a capacity of 20,000 wafers/month using 0.13μm process technology. Additionally, Powerchip will start building its second 300mm plant in the near future.
Saigon Investment Group Ltd. (SIG), San Francisco, CA, has received a license to manufacture semiconductor wafers in the My Tho Industrial Zone, Tien Giang Province, Vietnam, making it the first company to be involved in wafer production in the country. SIG will use a total $30 million to build a factory capable of manufacturing 120,000 wafers/year or 10,000 wafers/month, using a 24-hour working schedule.