Japan

11/01/1997

Japan

Orders for Japanese tools on the rise. The Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan reported that orders for Japan-made production tools hit 110.85 billion yen (about $942 million) in June, 7.3% better than year-ago levels. This was the fifth consecutive month in which year-to-year improvement was logged, said the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper. The report also noted that orders placed for sale in Japan (including domestic and imported tools) showed improvement over year-ago levels for the second straight month, climbing 13.7% to 70.3 billion yen (about $598 million).

Japanese silicon wafer giant Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd. (SEH), Tokyo, will invest 100 billion yen (about $850 million) over two years to aggressively ramp its epitaxial wafer manufacturing capabilities in Japan, the US, and Europe. The huge investment is driven by an increasing adoption of epi wafers for shrink versions of 64-Mbit DRAMs at many leading memory companies, and anticipated widespread adoption of epi among Japanese companies for the 256-Mbit generation. SEH intends to boost its epi production capacity to 500,000, 200-mm wafers/month by March 2000. The firm`s Isobe Plant in Annaka City, Gunma Prefecture, is scheduled to have a 200,000 wafer/month capacity, and similar levels are planned for the Vancouver, WA, production facility. The company`s Livingston, Scotland, plant will start at the 80,000 wafer/month level this November.

Nikon Precision will invest about 80 billion yen (about $680 million) to expand its manufacturing facility at Kumagaya, Japan, as part of its effort to prepare for the next upturn in stepper business. The Kumagaya factory is now fully dedicated to deep UV production, with i-line work having been shifted to the Tochigi Nihon subsidiary. Following the expansion at Kumagaya, Nikon will be able to produce about 1000 units/year - 500 each of i-line and deep UV.