World News
02/01/2000
Worldwide highlights
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Tool bookings, chip sales hit records
For the second consecutive month, worldwide sales of semiconductors hit a new record, reaching $14.2 billion in November and marking another period of healthy activity for the industry, said the Semiconductor Industry Association in its latest global sales report.
While the Japanese equipment producers continued to see significant year-over-year sales improvements in October, their North American counterparts broke sales records in November, according to new reports from other trade associations.
November's $14.2 billion in semiconductor sales beat out October's record-setting $13.4 billion, a 6.2% increase, said the SIA. Europe and Asia Pacific saw the biggest month-to-month changes, each with an increase in sales of 7.8% in November. Sales in the Japanese market increased 7.7% in the month, followed by 2.9% growth in the Americas.
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On a year-to-year basis the total market saw an increase of 24.8%, compared to the same three-month period last year. In that category, Asia Pacific saw the biggest increase of 39.3% in sales, Japan followed closely with 38.6%. Compared to last year, America's sales increased by 16.4% and Europe saw an increase of 10.8%. "Memory product demand is particularly strong with flash memory increasing 74.2% year-to-date in 1999, primarily driven by wireless communications," said George Scalise, SIA president.
Separately, orders and shipments of semiconductor equipment from North American producers surpassed market expectations in November, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.10, said the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International trade group.
Bookings in the month totaled $1.70 billion — the highest to date, surpassing a previous high of $1.69 billion, which was recorded in February, 1996. Worldwide shipments in the month totaled $1.55 billion, up four percent from October. The figure also marks an increase of 69 percent over November, 1998 figures. All figures are three-month rolling averages. The resulting preliminary book-to-bill ratio of 1.10 is up from 1.08 recorded in October and 1.07 in September.
SEMI president Stan Myers attributed the continued strength in bookings and shipments to improving semiconductor sales and the "increasing adoption of new technologies."
In Japan, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) said new orders at the region's toolmakers (for domestic and export customers) totaled 120.2 billion yen (about US$1.2 billion) in October, which is an increase of three times over last year. However, October's figure decreased by about 17% over September's fiscal year high of 137.9 billion yen. Shipments from these producers dropped by about 45% month-to-month to 67.2 billion yen, for October, compared to September's figure of 130.9 billion yen. Despite the month-to-month decline, shipments were still up by 53.2% over last year. After slipping to 1.20 in September, the book-to-bill ratio, which is based on three-month moving averages, rose to 1.26.
In addition, in its monthly Industry Pulse Report, VLSI Research, San Jose, CA, said front-end fab utilization slipped to 93.3% in November, after reaching a 1999 high of 96.5% in October. The world IC book-to-bill for November was 1.01, VLSI said. The book-to-bill ratio achieved its highest level in June, with a figure of 1.16 (see table) but since then the book-to-bill figure has fallen and risen sequentially and now appears to be holding steady. Preliminary figures from VLSI indicate that chip sales and orders will increase slightly in December. — M.V.
USA
In a series of moves designed to return the company to fiscal health, CMP and polishing toolmaker Strasbaugh, San Luis Obispo, CA, has cut 40-45% of its workforce, temporarily suspended development of its Symphony CMP line, and hired Jim Burke as its new CEO.
The changes include a shifting of focus to more established product lines, the 6DS-SP production CMP system, 6EC R&D CMP system, and the 7AF backgrinder. A company spokesman noted that the suspended Symphony line does not have any "technical shortcomings," but indicated that Strasbaugh would require additional financial resources to continue its development.
Most of the 175 jobs cut under the reorganization were supporting the Symphony product line development.
The company has realigned the remaining engineers and staff to focus on the company's established CMP lines and backgrinding systems, as well as other R&D projects, including a third-generation CMP system. The spokesman noted that Strasbaugh is now about the same size it was a year ago.
CEO Burke comes to the 51-year old operation from San Jose, CA, -based Marshall Engineering, and has more than 20 years of finance and general management experience. He replaces president/CEO Tom Cadwell, who stepped out of the role in November after spending some 18 months with Strasbaugh.
MKS Instruments, Andover, MA, has created two business units: Pressure Measurement & Control Products and Materials Delivery & Analysis Products. The two newly created units will replace the Measurement & Controls division, which was divided to accommodate growth in the semiconductor industry. MKS has also named Robert L. Klimm VP and GM of materials Delivery & analysis products. Joe Maher, who led the Measurement & Controls business unit, will become VP and GM of pressure measurement & control products. Both Klimm and Maher will report to Peter Younger, president and CEO of MKS.
Tosoh SMD, Grove City, OH has acquired New Kensington Business, New Kensington, PA, from Alcoa Specialty Materials Division. Tosoh plans to transfer the technology and equipment from the New Kensington facility to its headquarters in Ohio.
Metrology system supplier Nanometrics, Sunnyvale, CA, has acquired an exclusive license to optical tester technologies from data storage test equipment maker Phase Metrics, and says the deal is expected to help "expedite development of new metrology systems" for the semiconductor industry. The Phase Metrics license includes intellectual property and technical information for use exclusively in the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. In the transaction,
Nanometrics will purchase certain inventory, and pay a one-time royalty and ongoing royalties based on unit sales. A Nanometrics spokesman said the technology "will be used for integrated-type applications."
With the hopes of closing the gap between semiconductor design and sub-wavelength manufacturing, ASML MaskTools (a wholly owned subsidiary of ASM Lithography), Santa Clara, CA, and Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, OR, have signed a collaborative agreement to explore the need for full-chip manufacturability verification using multiple optical process extensions. The deal combines knowledge in imaging equipment, software and advanced processes to develop an integrated process solution.
Corning Inc., Corning, NY, will acquire Optovac, North Brookfield, MA, a manufacturer of calcium fluoride optics, from its parent company, EM Industries Inc., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Germany. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Silicon Valley Group Lithography, Wilton, CT, has opened a new customer satisfaction center and expanded its marketing organization. The new center was designed to expand SVG's technical support to the company's customers worldwide.
CyberOptics Corp., Minneapolis, MN, has sold the assets and licensed software of its CyberScan Cobra industrial metrology product line to Optical
Gaging Products Inc. (OGP), Rochester, NY. The CyberScan Cobra is a portable laser inspection system that provides two-dimensional or three-dimensional surface profiles. As a part of the agreement, CyberOptics will become the exclusive supplier of all laser triangulation sensors for application in the Cobra and OGP's line of metrology measurement products.
Wacker Silicones Corp., Adrian, MI, and Arch Chemicals Inc., Norwalk, CT are negotiating a joint venture to develop, manufacture, and market polishing agents for CMP slurries. A tentative start-up date was scheduled for January.
Aera Corp., Austin, TX, announced that it had acquired InPod Inc., Austin, TX. InPod manufactures modular chemical delivery substrate pods.
Aera's President and CEO Brad Beaty said that InPod's offerings will help Aera better service OEMs; plans are to integrate InPod's chemical delivery systems with Aera's MFC expertise.
Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (AE), Fort Collins, CO, a manufacturer of products used in plasma-based thin film technology, has opened a new subsidiary in Taiwan, establishing a direct presence in the country after a decade of product distribution there. The company, Advanced Energy Taiwan Ltd., will handle market development, sales, repair, and technical support for AE's Taiwanese customers. Located in Taipei, AE Taiwan began operations in December.
Kulicke & Soffa Industries' joint venture company Flip Chip Technologies (FCT), Phoenix, AZ, has signed a 10-year technology transfer agreement with assembly, packaging, and test manufacturer Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd. (SPIL). Beginning in 4Q00, SPIL will use FCT's proprietary Flex-on-Cap wafer bumping and redistribution technologies to manufacture advanced flip chip packages at its Taichung, Taiwan, assembly facility. In addition, SPIL engineers will be trained in Phoenix and FCT engineers will provide on-site support at the Taichung factory during start-up.
Southwest Silicon Technology Corp. (SST), Ardmore, OK, had its grand opening, in early February. SST is a reclaim facility for 6-8in. silicon wafers that will specialize in low trace metals and tight LPD specifications.
Japan
Toshiba, Tokyo, has announced that the firm will sell its LSI testing system manufacturing and marketing division, which is a part of Asia Electronics Inc., Tokyo, (Toshiba's LSI tester subsidiary) to Advantest, Tokyo, in April 2000. Toshiba will receive approximately 7 billion yen for the sale. As a part of the deal, 225 employees of the LSI tester division will be relocated to Advantest.
Hitachi, Tokyo and United Microelectronics Corp., Taiwan, plan to jointly establish a 300mm semiconductor manufacturing firm this month. Hitachi will own 60% of the venture, which will leave UMC with the remaining 40%. The joint venture will establish a 300mm wafer processing line at the N3 facility located at Hitachi's Naka Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture. Pilot operation will start in February 2001. Hitachi and UMC expect the facility to be fully operational by April 2001. The estimated production capacity is 7000 12-in. wafers\month. The two companies plan to split the wafers 50-50, giving each a total of 3500 wafers\month.
Cabot Corp., Geino, Japan, is expanding its Microelectronics Materials Division (MMD) by 150 percent at its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Japan. To support the expansion and meet customer demands, Cabot also intends to increase its work force by 200%. Construction was expected to be completed in January. The expansion comes just one year after the company opened a 4000-square-meter facility in the Oaza-Kitakoyama Industrial Park.
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Inc., Tokyo, Japan, plans to build a hydrogen peroxide manufacturing facility in Taichung, Taiwan. Construction was scheduled to begin in January.
With its revenues steadily returning to healthy levels, Tokyo Electron Ltd. estimates that annual sales for this fiscal year will total 317.2 billion yen (about US$3.1 billion), up 31% from last year.
TEL's group sales in the semiconductor industry, including its LCD business, for the first half of fiscal 1999 totaled 143.4 billion yen (about US$1.4 billion), up 8% from the same period a year ago. Total sales overseas were up by 11%, while sales in Japan increased by 4% over last year. By region, sales in Korea, US, Europe, and Taiwan were flat or saw slight improvements, while sales outside of those areas were down by 21%.
Looking forward, TEL is projecting sales of nearly 500 billion yen in fiscal 2001, up more than 57% from the 317.2 billion yen projected for the 1999 fiscal year.
Under the full-year FY99 projections, domestic sales are expected to be up 11% to 88.0 billion yen, with exports accounting for 229.2 billion yen, up 41% from last year. Coater/developer products are expected to return 31% of revenues, with furnaces and etchers tied at 25%.
Asia/Pacific
In an effort to expand its product offerings, ChipPAC Inc., Santa Clara, CA, plans to roll out full ball grid array (BGA) capabilities in China in 2000. ChipPAC's Shanghai, China, plant will use its facility to accommodate the addition of the BGA line. ChipPAC hopes the expansion will strengthen its position in advanced laminating products.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Lehigh Valley, PA has acquired the remaining shares in Korea Industrial Gases Ltd., Korea. Back in 1980, Air Products entered a joint venture agreement with KIG; at that time, Air Products owned just under 50% of KIG. Since the purchase, KIG is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Products.
Europe
In the hopes of bringing the number of shares down to level more common with companies of its size, Trikon Technologies Inc., Newport, Wales, offered a one-for-ten stock split in December. This will leave the company with approximately 9.4 million common shares outstanding. During the 1997-1998 downturn, Trikon converted a majority of its long-term debt to equity; this conversion resulted in the issuance of a large number of shares. "We expect that the reverse split will provide our shareholders with increased marketability and liquidity," said Jeremy Linnert, CFO.
Ericsson Microelectronics, Stockholm, Sweden, and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Singapore, will extend their manufacturing relationship by co-developing two deep-submicron technologies. The two technologies are radio frequency CMOS and BiCMOS. The target applications would be for Bluetooth system-on-chip and wireless communication applications.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp., has fully qualified Soitec's Unibond silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using Soitec's Smart Cut technology. Soitec mass produces the SOI wafers at its new facility in Bernin, France. The wafers are produced using commercial equipment with a proprietary process called Smart Cut, which uses ion implantation and wafer bonding technologies.