03/13/2002  VLSI Research Inc.'s 2001 Top 10 Equipment Suppliers list saw no movement at the top three spots, but companies four through 10 were jumbled about in the industry's worst year ever.

03/13/2002  Chandler, AZ & Shanghai, China - Amkor Technology Inc. and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (GSMC) have signed a letter of intent to form a multi-purpose alliance offering total supply chain solutions for customers in the rapidly growing microelectronics market in China.

03/11/2002  March 11, 2002 - Munich, Germany - Infineon Technologies AG has concluded its talks with the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers Winbond Electronics Corp. and Mosel Vitelic Inc., both of Hsinchu, and has signed a non-binding MoU with Winbond and agreements with Mosel Vitelic to increase its total production capacity for DRAM chips by more than 20,000 wafer starts per month.

03/11/2002  Raise capital from global sources, hire talent from a global pool, and pretty soon even a Chinese company starts planning to produce global technology for global markets - just like the rest of the world. Even with China's low costs and vast potential market, it looks like the only way to turn a profit making chips is with newer technologies and more value-added service. So Grace and SMIC are planning to make 0.18-micron chips, looking toward 0.13, and emphasizing customer service.

03/11/2002  March 11, 2002 - Migdal Haemek, Israel - Tower Semiconductor has successfully produced the first 0.18-micron wafer lot from its Fab 2 pilot line with higher-than-expected yields.

03/08/2002  March 8, 2002 - Milpitas, CA - California Micro Devices (CMD) has entered into a wafer supply agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (ASMC) of Shanghai.

03/08/2002  Hsinchu, Taiwan - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is suing a former worker who allegedly leaked trade secrets.

03/08/2002  With DRAM-dependent Korea hit by the rout in memory prices over the past year, it's no surprise that chipmakers there have cut capital spending to the bone. But what may be surprising is that for Korea, the worst year in the history of the semiconductor industry turned out to be a better one than 1998, when the country nearly went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the IMF.

03/07/2002  March 7, 2002 - Woodbury, NY - Veeco Instruments Inc. has entered a distribution agreement with Epion Corp., a JDS Uniphase company, to distribute Epion's gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) product to the data storage, MRAM, MEMs, photomask, and wireless telecommunications markets.

03/06/2002  March 6, 2002 - Munich, Germany - Infineon Technologies has released information on its development of what it claims to be the world's first molecular test biochip with integrated evaluation electronics. The device potentially simplifies test procedures and offers efficiency and cost advantages in testing of nucleic acids and proteins in areas such as clinical diagnosis and individual patient medication.

03/05/2002  Eindhoven, Netherlands, Geneva, Switzerland, and Hsinchu, Taiwan - Royal Philips Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) have reached an agreement on a new advanced 90nm CMOS process. The agreement between the three companies also includes the development of CMOS processes to the next technology node at 65nm and beyond.

03/05/2002  March 5, 2002 - Somerset, NJ - NanoOpto Corp., which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking, announced the establishment of initial production capabilities at its Somerset, NJ, nano-fabrication facility.

03/05/2002  March 5, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Toshiba Ceramics Co., a high tech material manufacturer, said that it, and three other companies, have reached an agreement on the outsourcing of silicon wafer processing in China.

03/04/2002  March 4, 2002 - South Portland, ME - Fairchild Semiconductor International has begun construction on a new 800,000 square foot manufacturing and automated warehouse facility in Suzhou, China.

03/04/2002 
Creating a company is a little like making a baby: you need the right people in the right place at the right time, with the seed of scientific innovation and some fortuitous chemistry. The creation of NanoOpto Corp., a fledgling firm building optical components based on nano imprint lithography, illustrates how every startup has a unique character and incubation.

03/04/2002 

03/01/2002  March 1, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Komatsu Ltd. has finalized plans to pull out of silicon operations in the US by selling off Advanced Silicon Materials LLC (ASiMI), a wholly owned subsidiary making polycrystalline silicon, company sources said.

03/01/2002  Shanghai, China - Photronics Inc. detailed plans to expand into Shanghai, China during a land grant signing ceremony with officials from the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Corp.

03/01/2002  TEMPE, AZ—After four years of research and development, Motorola Life Sciences, a business unit of Motorola, Inc., has begun developing biochips that will enable scientists and healthcare professionals to quickly and accurately analyze DNA, RNA and proteins from living cells.

03/01/2002  There is a tremendous amount of discussion of late regarding energy conservation in the operation of semiconductor facilities. It's my contention that the energy saved by this approach is relatively unimportant in the overall scheme of things. Of course, no one wishes to waste energy needlessly, but reducing energy consumption solely for the sake of energy conservation should be well down our list.