02/08/2002  Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and startup IC house Shanghai Tsinghua Chip Crystal Microelectronics Co. announced first silicon for a 2.4 GHz RF transceiver chip manufactured with Chartered's 0.18-micron RF CMOS process.

02/07/2002  Netherlands & Germany -- ASML Holding NV and lens partner Carl Zeiss confirmed the availability of 193nm imaging systems in 2002 to satisfy increased market demand for leading edge 0.10-micron ArF imaging solutions.

02/07/2002  Shanghai, China - DuPont Photomasks Inc. plans to upgrade the capability of DuPont Photomasks Co. Ltd., Shanghai, its joint venture photomask manufacturing facility.

02/06/2002  Feb. 6, 2002 - Sunnyvale, CA - AMD will acquire Alchemy Semiconductor, a privately held company that designs, develops, and markets high-performance, low-power MIPS-based microprocessors for personal connectivity devices such as PDAs, Web tablets, and portable and wired Internet access devices and gateways. The acquisition is expected to be completed during 1Q02.

02/06/2002  February 6, 2002--WALTHAM, MA--CyOptics Inc., a developer of indium phosphide-based active optical components has opened a $10 million wafer fabrication facility to produce high performance modulators, lasers and detectors packaged both as stand-alone devices and as hybrid super components.

02/05/2002  Seems like every morning brings another surprising report from Japan about some potential idea for government-industry cooperation, not just in R&D, but in actual production. Worried about how they're going to come up with the capital needed to invest in next generation fabs while they're losing so much money, Japan's chipmakers are talking about ideas ranging from government support for the memory industry to some sort of national foundry for 0.1-micron system chips.

02/05/2002  Feb. 5, 2002 - Fremont, CA, - ChipPAC Inc. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) have entered into a non-exclusive alliance designed to support customers with end-to-end solutions from wafer fab to packaging and test and final distribution in China and global market.

02/04/2002  Feb. 4, 2002 - Seoul, Korea - Hynix Semiconductor Inc. is now in talks with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG.

02/01/2002  Singapore - AMD and UMC have formed a comprehensive alliance to establish a joint venture to own and operate a 300mm wafer fab in Singapore for high-volume production of PC processors and other logic products.

02/01/2002  Inspection requirements for wafer-level packaging processes

02/01/2002  The controversy arises not from the cleanroom concept itself, but from the production processes conducted within this specific type of cleanroom. A cleanroom can be a healthy environment, even aseptic.

01/31/2002  Increased complexity and functionality in semiconductor devices has placed a greater emphasis on interconnects, where delays have become one of the most significant factors affecting chip performance.

01/31/2002  Jan. 31, 2002 - Taipei, Taiwan - Several chipmakers in Taiwan have decided to postpone the annual overhaul of their production equipment until March or April in order to boost output of semiconductors during the first quarter.

01/30/2002  Jan. 30, 2002 - Newbury Park, CA - Semtech Corp., a supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, expects to get 100% of its silicon wafers from outside sources by the end of calendar year 2002.

01/29/2002  Jan. 29, 2002 - Armonk, NY - SEMX Corp. has entered into a letter of intent with an undisclosed party to sell the stock of American Silicon Products, B.V., its European-based wafer reclaim services operation which is located in the Netherlands.

01/28/2002  Jan. 28, 2002 - San Jose, CA - Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, and Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd. have entered into a joint agreement covering planned collaborations on development, manufacturing, marketing, and sales of analog and mixed-signal ICs.

01/28/2002  It's actually a good sign for the semiconductor industry that one of the top three foundries already hit its capacity utilization bottom - and the other two big foundries aren't far behind.

01/28/2002  Fremont, CA - The silicon operations of Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. officially merged under the new name Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corp. (SUMCO) on Feb. 1, 2002.

01/25/2002  Jan. 25, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Final approval has been obtained for a merger between the silicon operations of Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp., a marriage that will bring the industry's number three and four companies to the number two position in sales of silicon wafers.

01/25/2002  Washington, DC - The US International Trade Commission decided has decided to investigate whether Nikon's patents have been infringed upon by Dutch company ASM Lithography.