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Six companies selected from a pool of applicants will compete in MEMS Industry Group‘s (MIG)’s MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase at MEMS Executive Congress.

This year’s finalists include:

Babolat’s Babolat PLAY Pure Drive is the first connected tennis racket. It allows every player to live a unique experience based on progression, fun and sharing. Players can get information about their game and analyze it, follow their progress, and even get an overview of their game with “Pulse” — a dynamic interface that changes according to the power, the technique and the endurance of a player’s game. Babolat PLAY’s gaming features help players stay motivated by allowing them to advance and unlock new levels. Tennis has become even more interactive, challenging and enjoyable!

Brewer Science’s TH1022 is an ultrafast temperature and humidity sensor that provides virtually instantaneous detection and offers a discreet, fully integrated, adaptable, and ultralow-power solution critical to the performance of today’s connected systems. Such systems may include wireless environmental monitoring systems and other applications for which long battery life is essential.

KegData developed an innovative beer monitoring solution using the principles of fluid dynamics. Beer is drawn off of a keg through KegData’s patented coupler. At the heart of the system is Freescale’s pressure sensor, which measures the differential pressure between beer and a propellant (CO2). All data is wirelessly transmitted to a central hub. This provides keg purveyors a more efficient way to manage inventory and prevent product waste.

mCube’s iGyro™ is the industry’s first software-based gyroscope optimized for Android smartphones and tablets. By enabling “virtual” gyroscope functionality on all mobile devices, mCube’s iGyro delivers immersive, 9DoF (9 degrees of freedom) motion gaming and augmented reality experiences to phone and tablet users, while halving the power, cost and board space compared to hardware-based discrete solutions. iGyro’s low power consumption and small size are ideal for the new generation of IoMT (Internet of Moving Things) applications, especially wearables.

Nod Labs’ Nod is the world’s most advanced gesture control ring that interacts with digital and physical objects through a simple wave of your hand, as if by magic. Nod is a universal controller, allowing effortless communication with all of the smart devices in your connected life, including phones, tablets, Google Glass, watches, home appliances, TVs, computers and more. The device is especially compelling when paired with head tracking in virtual reality settings, allowing users to game in the immersive reality environment without a clunky controller. Nod is waterproof to 5 ATM or 165 feet and comes in over 12 different sizes.

Spectral Engines‘ spectral sensors offer spectrometer performance at a sensor price point. As replacements for huge spectrometer machines, the company’s compact, lightweight, cost-effective and low-power sensors can be connected wirelessly to the IoT and cloud services. This enables installation of full spectroscopic systems for applications in which size and robustness matter, such as automated manufacturing lines and hand-held devices.

Join Us for MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase
Thursday, November 6, 10:45-11:45 a.m. at MEMS Executive Congress, JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa. The MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase is sponsored by Akustica, Bosch Automotive Electronics and Bosch Sensortec.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.17 billion in orders worldwide in September 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.94, according to the September EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 0.94 means that $94 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in September 2014 was $1.17 billion. The bookings figure is 12.9 percent lower than the final August 2014 level of $1.35 billion, and is 18.1 percent higher than the September 2013 order level of $992.8 million.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in September 2014 was $1.25 billion. The billings figure is 3.3 percent lower than the final August 2014 level of $1.29 billion, and is 22.5 percent higher than the September 2013 billings level of $1.02 billion.

“Following 11 months of above parity book-to-bill ratios, the three-month average ratio declined in September,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.  “While order activity moderated, equipment spending this year is expected to be robust and remain on pace for double-digit year-over-year growth.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

 

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
April 2014

$1,403.2

$1,443.0

1.03
May 2014

$1,407.8

$1,407.0

1.00
June 2014

$1,327.5

$1,455.0

1.10
July 2014

$1,319.1

$1,417.1

1.07
August 2014 (final)

$1,293.4

$1,346.1

1.04
September 2014 (prelim)

$1,250.4

$1,172.8

0.94

Source: SEMI, October 2014

IBM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES will acquire IBM’s global commercial semiconductor technology business, including IBM’s intellectual property, technologists and technologies.

IBM will pay GLOBALFOUNDRIES $1.5 billion in cash over the next three years to take the chip operations off its hands. The cash consideration will be adjusted by the amount of working capital which is estimated to be $200 million.

Workers prep Global Foundries' newest semiconductor factory, "Fab 8" in Saratoga County, New York State Source: IBM

Workers prep Global Foundries’ newest semiconductor factory, “Fab 8” in Saratoga County, New York State. Source: IBM

GLOBALFOUNDRIES will also become IBM’s exclusive server processor semiconductor technology provider for 22nm, 14nm and 10nm semiconductors for the next 10 years.

It its official statement, IBM said the agreement will enable the company to further focus on fundamental semiconductor research and the development of future cloud, mobile, big data analytics, and secure transaction-optimized systems. IBM will continue its previously announced $3 billion investment over five years for semiconductor technology research to lead in the next generation of computing. GLOBALFOUNDRIES will have primary access to the research that results from this investment through joint collaboration at the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), SUNY Polytechnic Institute, in Albany, N.Y.

Through the acquisition, GLOBALFOUNDRIES will gain substantial intellectual property including thousands of patents, making GLOBALFOUNDRIES the holder of one of the largest semiconductor patent portfolios in the world.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES will acquire and operate existing IBM semiconductor manufacturing operations and facilities in East Fishkill, New York and Essex Junction, Vermont, adding capacity to serve its customers and thousands of jobs to GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ workforce. GLOBALFOUNDRIES plans to provide employment opportunities for substantially all IBM employees at the two facilities who are part of the transferred businesses, except for a team of semiconductor server group employees who will remain with IBM. After the close of this transaction, GLOBALFOUNDRIES will be the largest semiconductor technology manufacturing employer in the Northeast.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES will also acquire IBM’s commercial microelectronics business, which includes ASIC and specialty foundry, manufacturing and related operations and sales. GLOBALFOUNDRIES plans to invest to grow these businesses.

IBM took a related pre-tax charge of $4.7 billion in its third quarter. It also reported a 4 percent drop in revenue on Monday.

What the analysts are saying

In terms of its 14nm FinFET collaboration with Samsung, the acquisition and the sudden influx of top talent from IBM will certainly help get GLOBALFOUNDRIES up to speed, Robert Maire of Semiconductor Advisors LLC reported.

“Even though Samsung still holds the keys and most of the cards in their relationship, the addition of the IBM horsepower does help even things a little bit even though IBM hasn’t been a serious player in the semiconductor business for quite a while it still has a deep well of expertise,” said Mr. Maire.

Currently, analysts at Summit Research Partners are not concerned about the long-term financial impact of the acquisition.

“We think that at present, when the transfer of IBM’s chip manufacturing assets to GLOBALFOUNDRIES is done, this is a non-event to the semiconductor industry for the most part,”  said Srini Sundararajan, Semiconductor, Semi-cap Equipment Analyst at Summit Research Partners. “That is sad considering that there were times in the 90s that IBM and Intel competed with one another over bragging rights for technological advancements.”

“In terms of potential impact to semiconductor equipment companies, there would likely be minimal to no impact as potential capex spend would be absorbed within the capex spend of Global Foundries,” Mr. Sundararajan concluded.

By Bettina Weiss, VP, Business Development, SEMI

The 2nd annual SEMI Vietnam Semiconductor Strategy Summit, co-organized with the Saigon Hi-Tech Park and with FabMax as the premier sponsor, was held September 16-17, 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City. This year’s conference drew over 160 attendees from Vietnam, Europe, U.S. and other Southeast Asian countries for a full day of presentations, panel discussions, networking opportunities and interactions with government, the Ho Chi Minh City Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA) and the Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP).

Fig 1

 

Building on the success of the inaugural Summit in September of 2013, attendees and speakers commented on the sense of progress and growing vitality of the emerging semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in Vietnam. In his welcome remarks, Kai Fai Ng, president, SEMI Southeast Asia spoke to the importance of Vietnam in Southeast Asia, and SEMI’s plans to facilitate business interactions between Vietnamese and Southeast Asian companies, support efforts in workforce development and education, and continue to strengthen the relationship with key stakeholders in the country.

Of particular interest to the audience was the keynote presentation by Dr. Pham Ba Tuan, senior expert at CNS, the company tasked with executing the 200mm fab project in Saigon Hi-Tech Park that was announced last year. Tuan stressed the importance of domestically manufactured devices to satisfy a rapidly growing need in Vietnam thanks to the country’s young population and high university graduation rates. Tuan indicated that, depending on the product choice and the cost structure of the new wafer fab, at least 5,000 wafer starts per months would be needed. Fab capacity would be a function of product mix, so wafer starts need to be adjustable from 5,000 to 10,000 wafer starts per month. This would necessitate an investment of “a few million USD” to enable equipment purchases, fab construction and infrastructure readiness.

Source: Saigon Industry Corporation (CNS)

Source: Saigon Industry Corporation (CNS)

Tuan emphasized the fact that the choice of technology was a crucial factor for the wafer fab, since it influences investment volume, product portfolio, as well as the ability to develop a skilled workforce throughout the manufacturing process. The choice for the wafer fab in Saigon Hi-Tech Park is 180nm on 200mm wafers, a node and substrate size choice that will enable the production of a wide variety of products. According to CNS, revenue from all products made in technologies down to 180nm already account for US$1 billion.

Fig 3

The project timeline presented at the SEMI conference shows construction to begin in Q3 2015 and equipment move-in starting in Q2 2016.

Fig 4

The CNS presentation was followed by a brief company introduction to NXP delivered by Mr. Frederic Vincentini.

Kicking of the second session on Semiconductor Manufacturing in Vietnam, Ms. Sherry Boger, general manager, Intel Vietnam, provided an update on Intel’s plans to extend the production of flagship products to Vietnam — such as the Haswell microprocessor, which was recently announced. Intel’s Vietnam facility is the largest assembly and test facility in the global Intel network, employing over 3,000 Vietnamese employees when fully ramped.

Fab-Finder’s Todd Curtis shared his company’s learning experiences when they started doing business in Vietnam. He stated that the Fab-Finder management team brought over 100 years of semiconductor experience to the table — but 0 years in this country, making it imperative to rapidly get up to speed with respect to laws and taxes, cultural differences and sensitivities and different business practices. Mr. Curtis made a point of thanking his Vietnamese business partners, legal and tax advisors, HSIA and the Saigon Hi-Tech Park for the education they provided.

Prof. Cor Claeys of Imec presented Imec’s Open Innovation Model. Given the ever shrinking features, the complexity of new devices and applications and the rising cost in R&D, Claeys stressed the need for collaborative efforts in the semiconductor industry in order to keep up with the increasing need and speed of innovation.

Open Innovation

Source: Samsung

Source: Samsung

Contrasting Imec’s Open Innovation model with the traditional R&D approach – where most of the R&D is done in-house, no IP is shared and projects occur in silos –Claeys emphasized the need to share risk, cost, talent and IP among R&D partners in order to jointly reap the benefits of an accelerated, cost-effective RD activity.

This discussion provided a nice introduction into two presentations in the afternoon addressing technology transfers, IP creation and protection. Ms. Radhika Snirivasan, Ph.D., from IBM talked about the process by which technology transfers occur, and how opportunities and risks can be managed. Snirivasan described technology transfers as “quintessential” to any technology installation and shared IBM’s methodology, from preparation and training through installation and debug, qualification and yield learning to product qualification and ramp. She pointed to the added value when IP transfers are managed in highly customizable and flexible scenarios, providing protection and safeguards against risks such as the transfer infrastructure, adequacy of documentation and lack of technology readiness/maturity.

Fig 6

Dr. John Schmitz of NXP elaborated on the subject by presenting NXP’s view on the growing importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) since knowledge has become a critical driver in the economy. “IPRs are the economical manifestation of technical and business knowledge,” said Schmitz, stressing that IPRs provide a mechanism of protection against misuse. Speaking to current and future patent portfolios, he stated the requirement for future patents to be aligned with the overall company strategy, but stressed the inherent risk of having to look at least 5 years ahead — a mandate he contrasted with the product lifecycle of mobile phones, which is currently about 6 months.

The last formal presentation of the day was M+W Group’s “Integrated Approach for Semiconductor Wafer Fab Implementation,” presented by Mr. Andreas Authenrieth, M+W Group. His presentation focused on the prerequisites for a sustainable and cost-effective fab design, with particular emphasis on energy efficiency, environmental technology and the use of renewable energy. Authenrieth also included the use of secondary equipment in his presentation, explaining the importance of correlating tool specifications with technology requirements, paying close attention to consumables and spares and managing equipment testing and documentation. These considerations could be of particular importance for the CNS wafer fab project.

The 2nd annual SEMI Vietnam Semiconductor Strategy Summit concluded with two panel discussions: The first panel – investing and operating in the technology sector in Vietnam – was moderated by Eduard Hoeberichts, FabMax and included two presentations which addressed both the side of the operator and the side of the government. Johnny Choo of ON Semiconductor shared the experience as an operator of two back-end facilities in Vietnam and highlighted the very positive experience over the last several years as well as some of the areas for potential improvement.

This perspective was consistent with the observations that Sherry Boger of Intel made in the morning presentation. Dr. Le Hoai Quoc as president of Saigon High Tech Park presented the capabilities of the High Tech Park as well as the general government support in various areas for operators and new investors in Vietnam. The “two sides of the coin” perspective led to a lively discussion at the end of the panel session.

Fig 7

 

The second panel – Education and Workforce Development – was moderated by Ms. Bettina Weiss, SEMI, and included: Ms. Sherry Boger, Intel Vietnam; Dr. Carel von der Poel, Technical University Delft; Dr. Pham Ba Tuan, CNS; and Cao Nguyen, ON Semiconductor. The importance of developing a skilled talent pool in Vietnam was also a prominent topic in SEMI’s 2013 Vietnam Semiconductor Strategy Summit. Panelists engaged in a lively debate about the need to do more for women in high tech, partnerships with international universities and special programs like HEEAP (Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program) which Intel is very actively supporting, as well as the Technical University Delft/DIMES Center, which has been engaged with Vietnam’s Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering and the Ministry of Science and Technology in various programs. According to Dr. van der Poel, it would be fairly easy to extend these programs to the semiconductor space, as Vietnam starts focusing on workforce readiness in this sector.

At the networking reception, attendees and speakers alike commented on the sense of progress and excitement over the last 12 months. Local attendees in particular appreciated the rich presentations and perspectives from the conference speakers, and international companies, including our sponsors, left with a lot of new contacts and business opportunities in country — and the sense that Vietnam is very serious about becoming a stakeholder in the global semiconductor market.

SEMI is grateful for the support of the sponsoring companies who helped make this year’s Summit possible:  FabMax, CNS, M+W Group, Advantest, Fab-Finder, GES, Lam Research, NXP, QAM, and Surplus Global.

The Board of Directors of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a global semiconductor foundry, today announced a joint venture company focused on 12″ wafer foundry services with Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and FuJian Electronics & Information Group.

Based on the agreement, UMC will submit an investment application with ROC government authorities for approval to invest in the joint venture established by Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and FuJian Electronics & Information Group. The joint venture will be based in Xiamen, China. UMC anticipates its investment could reach approximately US$1.35 billion in the next five years, with funding starting in 2015 deployed in installments based on the progress of the joint venture. UMC’s participation will comply with ROC rules and regulations and will be subject to review for approval by the Taiwan government authorities.

“China’s domestic semiconductor market has become the world’s largest,” Po-Wen Yen, CEO of UMC, said. “Current levels of domestic semiconductor demand far outweigh China’s production supply, with semiconductor import revenue surpassing that of crude oil. As the semiconductor industry is closely monitored by the Beijing government, China has implemented national policies to expedite the development of its domestic IC design and semiconductor manufacturing through a multi-prong approach to support and expand its IC industry. We believe our decision to establish local manufacturing is our best approach to benefit from this substantial China growth and to gain additional foundry opportunities worldwide. The joint venture not only provides our customers the option to source IC components that are made in China, but also locates us within the Chinese market to enhance UMC’s service and support for local fabless customers. We anticipate the joint venture can propel the next round of UMC’s foundry business growth.”

CEO Yen continued, “The benefits for choosing Xiamen for the fab location are numerous. Xiamen is one of the five cities designated byChina as a municipality with independent planning status. Xiamen boasts excellent living standards and high quality of life; it is only a short distance from Taiwan, with similar culture, language and climate, allowing seamless support from UMC’s headquarters in Taiwan. Furthermore, Xiamen has a well-established infrastructure to supply sufficient local engineering talent to establish a world-class foundry base for the company.”

UMC currently owns an 86.88 percent stake in HeJian Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. which mainly provides 8″ foundry services for Asia-Pacific and mainland Chinese customers. Today’s announced joint venture will manufacture 12″ wafers, initially offering 55nm and 40nm technologies. Capacity will reach 50K per month, with total investments targeted at US$6.2 billion. In addition to expanding UMC’s manufacturing scale, increasing global foundry market share and stimulating revenue growth, this joint venture will better fulfill customers’ demand, process technology, and integration requirements to achieve the highest synergies for UMC group.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing and design, today announced that worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $28.4 billion for the month of August 2014, an increase of 9.4 percent from the August 2013 total of $26 billion and an uptick of 1.3 percent over the July 2014 total of $28.1 billion. Year-to-date sales through August are 10.1 percent higher than they were at the same point in 2013. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

“The global semiconductor market continued to demonstrate broad and sustained strength in August, and sales remain well ahead of last year’s pace,” said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. “Demand is strong across nearly all semiconductor product categories, and the industry has now posted sequential monthly growth for six consecutive months, thanks in part to continued strength in the Americas market.”

Toohey also noted that continued U.S. semiconductor industry strength bodes well for the overall U.S. economy. He cited an SIA whitepaper released this week that found that the U.S. semiconductor industry is one of the top contributors to U.S. economic growth of any domestic manufacturing industry. To learn more, read the SIA whitepaper here.

Regionally, year-to-year sales increased in Asia Pacific (12.3 percent), Europe (10.9 percent), and the Americas (7 percent), but decreased slightly in Japan (-1.7 percent). Sales were up compared to the previous month in the Americas (2.3 percent) and Asia Pacific (1.7 percent), held flat in Japan, and decreased slightly in Europe (-1.3 percent). Sales increased across all regions for the three-month period from June to August compared to the previous three-month period from March to May.

August 2014

Billions

Month-to-Month Sales

Market Last Month Current Month % Change
Americas

5.43

5.55

2.3%
Europe

3.27

3.23

-1.3%
Japan

2.99

2.99

0.0%
Asia Pacific

16.38

16.66

1.7%
Total

28.07

28.44

1.3%

Year-to-Year Sales

Market Last Year Current Month % Change
Americas

5.19

5.55

7.0%
Europe

2.91

3.23

10.9%
Japan

3.05

2.99

-1.7%
Asia Pacific

14.83

16.66

12.3%
Total

25.98

28.44

9.4%

Three-Month-Moving Average Sales

Market Mar/Apr/May June/July/August % Change
Americas

5.07

5.55

9.6%
Europe

3.13

3.23

3.4%
Japan

2.87

2.99

4.2%
Asia Pacific

15.71

16.66

6.0%
Total

26.78

28.44

6.2%

 

Boston Semi Equipment LLC (BSE) today announced it has combined all of its automated test equipment (ATE) businesses under the Boston Semi Equipment brand name. Effective immediately, the Test Advantage Hardware and MVTS Technologies businesses will operate using the Boston Semi Equipment name. This follows the company’s announcement in July that it was integrating all sales and service for ATE, Prober and Test Handler products into the Boston Semi Equipment field sales organization.

Boston Semi Equipment has now built an organization of tester, handler and prober integration specialists to address the semiconductor industry’s need for a vendor-independent test cell solution provider. BSE can provide equipment configured to the customer’s exact requirements, deliver a complete test cell solution across all tester platforms fully utilizing the original OEM technology, and provide service and support to keep ATE at peak performance.

“We believe we have created the largest ATE-focused organization outside of the OEMs,” stated Bryan Banish, CEO of Boston Semi Equipment. “Our ATE organizations have been delivering standard ATE configurations, test services, custom equipment solutions, and service and support programs for our semiconductor ATE customers since 1994. Because we have experience on all major current generation and legacy ATE models, we can support any and all ATE-related projects to meet our customers’ test needs.”

BSE acquired Test Advantage Hardware in 2010 and has steadily expanded the company’s capabilities in current-generation ATE platforms. In June, 2014 the company also acquired MVTS Technologies (MVTS), which has extensive experience extending the life of legacy ATE, maximizing the investment of semiconductor companies in their test assets. The combined capabilities provide Boston Semi Equipment customers with an alternate source for high quality and economical ATE equipment, service, and test cell solutions. 

Boston Semi Equipment LLC is a semiconductor equipment company that has established a reputation as a reliable source for affordable back end test equipment, fab tools and service solutions for semiconductor manufacturers and OSATs worldwide.

Today, SEMI opens registration for the SEMICON Japan 2014 exposition and programs through its website at www.semiconjapan.org. SEMICON Japan 2014, Japan’s largest exhibition for the microelectronics manufacturing supply chain, will take place at Tokyo Big Sight in the Tokyo metropolitan area on December 3-5. For the first time, SEMICON Japan will feature a show-within-a-show  “World of IoT” to showcase applications and technologies of companies enabling the IoT revolution, including Toyota Motor, Intel, IBM, Toshiba and Cisco.

“Japan is a key region for the semiconductor industry, with the largest installed fab capacity globally, according to the recent SEMI Fab Forecast report,” said Osamu Nakamura, president of SEMI Japan. “With more than fifty 200mm production fabs for MCU, MEMS, analog and power devices, and with a strong supply chain producing over 50 percent of global semiconductor materials and approximately 35 percent of the global semiconductor equipment, Japan is at the forefront of semiconductor technology. Japan is a major platform for the promising new Internet of Things (IoT) technology, leveraging its strength that will help drive our industry’s growth over the next decade.”

While IoT technologies have begun to emerge in the market, the most exciting technologies are yet to come, but will require collaboration across the electronics supply chain to make them a reality. World of IoT will facilitate the communication across the IoT ecosystem from silicon to applications. The growth of IoT applications presents new opportunities for existing fabs, as well as materials, metrology, secondary equipment, productivity solutions, components and sub-systems, test, and packaging technologies.

SEMICON Japan 2014 will also expand its programming for visitors with four stages on the show floor — TechSTAGE North and South,TechXPOT East and West, and SEMICON Japan SuperTHEATER in the conference tower — to provide more than 100 hours of technical and business sessions.  The sessions on the stages and the theater are free for pre-registered SEMICON Japan 2014 exposition attendees.

Programs on SEMICON Japan SuperTHEATER will include:

  • Semiconductor Executive Forum – Toshiba and Applied Materials will present their perspectives on technology and business innovations.
  • IT Forum – Microsoft, Line and Google will discuss the future in terms of big data and IoT.
  • IoT Forum – CISCO, Sony and Intel will present their business and technology strategies for the IoT era.
  • 2.5D/3D IC Forum – ASE, Xilinx and Toshiba will discuss the 2.5D/3D architectures.
  • Manufacturing Innovation Forum – Intel, IBM and NGR will discuss the innovations required for sub-10nm chip manufacturing.

Japanese-English simultaneous translation will be available for the sessions on SEMICON Japan SuperTHEATER.

SEMICON Japan 2014 is the place for the latest industry insights and networking opportunities. SEMICON Japan 2014 also provides exhibitors an excellent opportunity to meet major device and equipment companies —  Advantest, Ebara, Dainippon Screen Mfg., Disco, Tokyo Electron, Nikon, Texas Instruments, Hitachi High-Tech, Murata Machinery and TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor — through the Supplier Search Program.

SiTime raises $25 Million


September 23, 2014

SiTime Corporation, a MEMS analog semiconductor company, today announced that it has closed $25 million in new financing, which consisted of a combination of structured debt facility of $15 million provided by Capital IP Investment Partners LLC and strategic equity investment from other investors.

“SiTime has had a strong and enduring vision – to revolutionize the timing market with MEMS and analog technologies. Today, that vision is a reality, achieved through single-minded focus and rapid innovation. We have the best MEMS technology, the broadest product portfolio, the largest customer base, the highest shipped volumes, and are the preferred timing supplier for exciting new applications such as wearables and Internet of Things (IoT),” said Rajesh Vashist, CEO of SiTime. “This financing, along with our leadership position, forms an unbeatable combination for future growth and innovation. We are pleased that CapIP recognizes SiTime’s market and revenue leadership and we value their industry expertise and ability to work with us to tailor the financing to our business objectives and long-term strategy.”

“CapIP is delighted to partner with SiTime to help fuel the company’s next phase of innovation and commercialization which will extend its market leadership position in MEMS-based timing. SiTime’s unique mix of highly differentiated IP, an exceptional leadership team and proven execution in a large and growing market resulted in a compelling investment thesis for CapIP,” said Riyad Shahjahan, partner at Capital IP Investment Partners. “We are confident that CapIP’s debt facility, specifically designed to maximize operational and financial flexibility, will enable SiTime to continue to capitalize on the sizable market opportunity for its silicon MEMS timing solutions.”

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.35 billion in orders worldwide in August 2014 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.04, according to the August EMDS Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.   A book-to-bill of 1.04 means that $104 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in August 2014 was $1.35 billion. The bookings figure is 5.0 percent lower than the final July 2014 level of $1.42 billion, and is 26.5 percent higher than the August 2013 order level of $1.06 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in August 2014 was $1.29 billion. The billings figure is 2.0 percent lower than the final July 2014 level of $1.32 billion, and is 19.5 percent higher than the August 2013 billings level of $1.08 billion.

“The SEMI Book-to-Bill ratio has been at or above parity for 11 consecutive months, and both current month bookings and billings continue to trend well above 2013 levels,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “Strong equipment spending growth for the year is observed across the fab and test and assembly segments.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill
March 2014

$1,225.5

$1,297.7

1.06
April 2014

$1,403.2

$1,443.0

1.03
May 2014

$1,407.8

$1,407.0

1.00
June 2014

$1,327.5

$1,455.0

1.10
July 2014 (final)

$1,319.1

$1,417.1

1.07
August 2014 (prelim)

$1,293.3

$1,346.2

1.04

Source: SEMI, September 2014

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the SEMI Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).