World News
12/01/2001
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
Semi B-to-B up; SIA sees positive signs in chip sales
Some good news on the global front for September: Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) posted a book-to-bill ratio that was up slightly from August and the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) saw positive signs in its report of worldwide chip sales.
Semi's North American b-to-b ratio rose to 0.65 for the month, up slightly from the 0.61 posted for August. Semi said worldwide bookings for the month totaled $644 million, down 11% from August's revised level of $724 million and 78% below the $2.89 billion in orders posted in September 2000. Worldwide shipments in September totaled $993 million, 13% below August's $1.15 billion.
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Worldwide semiconductor sales may have declined to $10.22 billion for the month, down 2.5% from the $10.48 billion logged in August, but that's still an improvement from the 3.5% month-to-month decline reported in July, according to SIA. September is the third consecutive month that this number has improved. On a yearly basis, however, sales fell 44.6% from the $18.44 billion logged in September 2000.
VLSI Research of San Jose, CA, reported a slight drop in worldwide front-end capacity utilization for September, with a decline to 72.5% from August's 74.4%. VLSI also reported that the worldwide IC book-to-bill ratio slid to 0.81 for the month of September, down 0.22 from August's revised 1.03.
USA
Brooks Automation Inc., Chelmsford, MA, is set to acquire PRI Automation, Billerica, MA, in a deal worth some $380 million. The new firm, to be known as Brooks-PRI Automation, will reportedly be the largest fab automation company worldwide with $650-$700 million in revenue in FY01, and some $730-$750 million in revenue in FY02. The merger is set to be complete by February.
That merger capped off several other deals made by both companies in recent months. Brooks acquired the Swiss company Tec-Sem AG, and also completed the acquisition of General Precision Inc., Valencia, CA, a supplier of environmental solutions for the semiconductor industry. PRI Automation partnered with eMation Inc., Anaheim, CA, to add eDiagnostics capabilities to its TransFab integrated solution for semiconductor fab automation, and International Sematech has accepted a joint proposal from the two companies to develop prototype eDiagnostics technology for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Semi was awarded $5 million from the National Institute for Standards and Technology through the Advanced Technology Program to develop, prototype, and validate a security framework for electronic collaboration via the Internet as a means of enhancing semiconductor manufacturing productivity. Semi, serving as the project administrator for the cost-shared project that encompasses an approximately $10.1 million budget, will collaborate in a joint venture development partnership that includes AMD, domainLogix, ILS Technology, and Oceana Sensor Technologies. The joint venture aims to create — within three years — a security framework for electronic collaboration that will allow semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers to share information while protecting proprietary information on both sides.
The Electronic Chemicals Division of Ashland Specialty Chemical Co., Dublin, OH, has opened a new facility in Carrollton, TX, to support the equipment service needs of the region's microelectronics industry. The new facility is 40,000 ft2, the company's largest site for servicing semiconductor tool components.
The X Initiative has reported that eight additional companies have joined the semiconductor supply chain consortium, bringing its total membership to 23. New members include: MicroArk Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Monterey Design Systems Inc., Sunnyvale, CA; NurLogic Design Inc., San Diego, CA; Photronics Inc., Jupiter, FL; Prolific Inc., Newark, CA; Silicon Logic Engineering Inc., Eau Claire, WI; SiliconMap LLC, Livermore CA; and Virage Logic Inc., Fremont, CA.
TSK America Inc., Oakland, NJ, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Seimitsu, has been registered as compliant with the international quality management system standard ISO 9001:2000. The NJ facility designs, manufactures, and services semiconductor wafer-edge profiling and polishing equipment.
Entegris Inc., Chaska, MN, has completed the asset acquisition of TUMI Inc., San Jose, CA, a supplier of precision cleaning equipment, in a cash transaction. TUMI has manufactured Entegris' cleaning equipment for more than 10 years. The acquisition will enhance Entegris' silicon delivery systems and services offerings, and will work in tandem with two other companies Entegris acquired recently, Atcor Corp., San Jose CA, and Critical Clean Solutions, Gilroy, CA.
Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA, has opened its newest dedicated high-volume microprocessor facility using its copper-based 0.13µm process on 200mm wafers. The company invested $2 billion to construct and equip Fab 22, Chandler, AZ, which contains 133,000 ft2 of cleanroom space.
PPT Vision Inc., Minneapolis, MN, has achieved ISO 9001 certification of its quality management system. PPT Vision designs, manufacturers, and integrates 2D and 3D machine vision-based automated inspection systems for manufacturing applications.
JDS Uniphase Corp., Ottawa, Canada, and Adept Technology Inc., San Jose, CA, have agreed to enter into an automation development alliance for optical component and module manufacturing. Adept will be JDS Uniphase's development partner for optical automation processes and solutions, and JDS will make an investment of $25 million in Adept stock. This alliance continues and extends the companies' year-long development and supply relationship.
Flow control solution provider FuGasity Corp., Allen, TX, has opened a final assembly, test, calibration, and customer support facility in Amherst, NH. The 13,000 ft2 facility includes a Class 100 cleanroom.
ASM International NV, Bilthoven, Netherlands, and NuTool Inc., Milpitas, CA, have formed a strategic alliance on copper/low-k insulators. ASMI also said it will take a 15% minority interest in NuTool.
JAPAN
Nippon Sanso and Taiyo Toyo plan to combine their development, production, and distribution of semiconductor gases through a new 50-50 joint venture. The new company, Japan Fine Products, will be Japan's largest gas supplier when it starts operations in April, with sales of around $250 million, and about a 40% market share. Each company will maintain its separate sales organization to market the jointly produced gas. Each will lease its production facilities to the new venture, and Toyo will put up another $17 million for new facilities. They also plan to combine their gas cabinet and other gas equipment businesses within three years.
 Japan tool orders slid 20% in July to Y86 billion. |
Toppan Printing has developed production technology for making e-beam masks for the 70nm node. The company claims to have made Japan's first 4-in. reticle with a 140nm pattern, now being used in development of Nikon's e-beam steppers for the 70nm to 35nm nodes. Toppan says it plans to ship samples of an 8-in. version by late next year, when Nikon plans to start shipping its e-beam projection lithography tool to users' own development labs. Toppan is saying little about its technology, except that it uses dry etching, reportedly with specialty gases on silicon in a process similar to semiconductor manufacturing.
Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp., both of Tokyo, Japan, are set to form a technical alliance to develop next-generation silicon wafers expected to improve the processing speed and energy efficiency of semiconductors. Canon has been conducting research on SOI wafers since 1990, and has a product line for test products, which Toshiba will use to make chips and give technical advice on improvements.
EUROPE
BOC Edwards, Crawley, UK, has agreed to purchase the vacuum and pressure interests of Smiths Group, London, UK, for $19 million. The deal was to be completed by the end of November, subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to add more than $75 million to the annual sales revenue of BOC Edwards.
Atmel Corp., San Jose, CA, Multilink Technology Corp., Somerset, NJ, and United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS), Ulm, Germany, have teamed up with the University of Ulm to create a joint R&D group — The Competence Center on Integrated Circuits in Communications (CCICC). The CCICC will be located on U-Ulm's campus and will conduct R&D activities on ICs primarily for analog functions in wireless and high-speed optoelectronics systems using Atmel's SiGe and UMS' GaAs processing facilities.
Infineon, Munich, Germany, has reduced its planned capex for FY02 by nearly $550 million.
The company also plans to reduce its worldwide work force by some 5000 employees. By the end of CY01, Infineon will have cut its team by 2400 jobs, of which 1900 are positions held outside of Germany.
Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd., Rehovoth, Israel, has received two US patents. Patents no. 6,281,974 and no. 6,292,265 detail unique methods and apparatus for measurements of patterned structures and for monitoring a CMP process applied to metal-based objects, the company said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dongbu Electronics Ltd., Eumsung, Korea, and Tower Semiconductor Ltd., Migdal Haemek, Israel, have agreed to jointly develop CMOS manufacturing processes that will be compatible with mainstream foundry processes. As of 1Q02, the companies will begin offering foundry-compatible 0.18µm processes.
A joint venture between China and Taiwan — Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), Shanghai, — has begun production of a prototype 200mm wafer, according to Korean industry sources. SMIC made the prototype wafer with a minimum circuit width of 0.25µm. SMIC, which has a production line capacity of 15,000 wpm, plans to mass produce chips — including DRAM — beginning in January. The joint venture also plans to build nine production lines by 2010, which is expected to boost production capacity to 200,000 wafers/year. Another China-Taiwan joint venture, Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., is building a wafer fab in Shanghai also capable of producing 200,000 200mm wafers/year.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Hsinchu, Taiwan, plans to start mass production of wafers using 0.1µm processing technology in 2Q02 on 200mm wafers.
The company's no. 4 200mm wafer plant has started testing wafers made with 0.1µm processing technology. TSMC plans to start trial production of 300mm wafers using 0.1µm technology in January 2002.