Tag Archives: letter-pulse-business

By Walt Custer, Custer Consulting Group

Global Manufacturing Growth has Slowed, but is Still Positive (Chart 1)

Most key countries/regions saw a slowdown in growth in March based on their respective Purchasing Managers Indices. And in one case – South Korea – manufacturing moved into contraction.

February 2018 March 2018
Japan 54.1 53.1
South Korea 50.3 49.1
Taiwan 56.0 55.3
China 51.6 51.0
Europe 58.6 56.6
USA 60.8 59.3

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PMI Points to More Modest Expansion (Chart 2)

The global Purchasing Managers Index is a timely and readily available leading indicator for both world semiconductor and semiconductor capital equipment shipments. PMI values greater than 50 indicate expanding manufacturing activity.  See www.markiteconomics.com for PMI values for all major countries.

 

Recent semiconductor equipment, semiconductor and PMI 3-month (3/12) world growth rates were:

SEMI Equipment +29% February
Semiconductors                +21% February
PMI (squared) +4% March

The PMI leading indicator now points to more modest but still positive growth ahead.

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Semiconductor Industry Still has Legs (Chart 3)

Another useful and timely leading indicator is a composite of monthly Taiwan Chip Foundry sales.  Taiwan-listed companies publish their revenues about 10 days after the month closes. Chart 3 compares the composite monthly revenues of 14 Taiwan listed foundries vs. global semiconductor sales. Due to Lunar New year shutdowns, February 2018 was weak but foundry sales rebounded in March. Chip demand appears to be holding!

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Originally published on the SEMI blog.

SPTS Technologies, an Orbotech company and a supplier of advanced wafer processing solutions for the global semiconductor and related industries, announced today that it has been awarded the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation 2018. The award recognizes SPTS’s development of novel physical vapor deposition (PVD) process solutions for Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) of semiconductor devices. Some of the advanced features and functionality developed for SPTS’s 300mm Sigma®fxP PVD system was made possible with funding assistance from a Welsh Government R&D grant. In addition to assessing the degree of innovation, the judging panel also evaluated SPTS on its corporate responsibility, which included employee affairs, customer and supplier relationships, and its impact on the environment and contribution to society.

“We are extremely proud to be recognized with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation,” stated Kevin Crofton, Corporate Executive Vice President at Orbotech and President of SPTS Technologies. “We provide advanced wafer processing equipment to the world’s leading semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturers, and an ongoing program of research and development coupled with our ability to commercialize our innovation has been key to building and sustaining a profitable business. This award belongs to our entire global organization – from those directly involved in the development of our advanced PVD solutions for the fast growing FOWLP application sector, to those who sold, manufactured, installed and supported the many 300mm Sigma systems that we’ve shipped into our customer base.”

Mr Crofton added, “The success of our wafer processing solutions for advanced packaging is a testament to the quality and competitiveness of UK developed technologies and products in the global markets. We are also very pleased to share credit for this award with the Welsh Government who demonstrated their commitment with the R&D grant that helped fund this and other advanced packaging development programs here at SPTS.”

Economy Secretary, Ken Skates said: “Huge congratulations to SPTS on winning another Queens Award for Enterprise and Innovation. SPTS is a prominent global business in South East Wales and an increasingly successful exporter, and this prestigious award is a well-deserved recognition of the company’s hard work and innovation.”

“The Welsh Government is proud to work with dynamic and forward thinking companies such as SPTS and we are pleased to have supported the company’s project to design and develop advanced packaging processes for semiconductors. There is no doubt that companies like SPTS are increasingly vital to our economy which is why my Economic Action Plan, which was published in December, seeks to support businesses to innovate, introduce new products and services and rise to the challenges of the future.”

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the UK’s most prestigious business awards, given only to companies or individuals who are outstanding in their field. Previously known as the Queen’s Awards to Industry, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise were introduced in 1966 to acknowledge businesses with outstanding performance in three categories – International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development.  The awards are open to any company operating in the UK and are announced annually on 21 April, The Queen’s birthday.

Johan Lodenius is joining the Board of JonDeTech, a Swedish company that develops and markets IR sensor technology based on nanotechnology aimed at consumer electronics and mobile phone mass markets. Mr. Lodenius is former Senior Vice President Marketing and Product Management of the American semiconductor and telecom corporation Qualcomm, a position in which he defined the company’s hugely successful strategy of marketing turn-key chip and software solutions to other cellphone manufacturers, one of the world’s most profitable services today.

”As a result of a breakthrough in nanotechnology research, JonDeTech has developed and patented a completely new type of IR sensor that has the potential to become leading in the global marketplace”, said Mr. Johan Lodenius. “I look forward to contribute to this. JonDeTech’s IR sensors are down to a tenth as thick as conventional sensors, and can be manufactured in high volumes at low cost, which opens for a multitude of applications.”

Johan Lodenius also has an entrepreneurial background, leading the Swedish microprocessor company Coresonic to an exit as Taiwanese semiconductor giant MediaTek acquired it in 2012. Mr. Lodenius was part of MediaTek’s executive management team as Chief Marketing Officer until last year. Today he is self employed as business advisor and now also a Board Member of JonDeTech.
”Johan Lodenius brings exceptional technology know-how coupled with deep international business experience from global top-level cellphone and electronics markets to our company”, said JonDeTech’s CEO Robert Ekström. ”He has a deep understanding of how our markets function and act, and will be very valuable for us in our upcoming global expansion.”

The company recently announced that it will apply for a listing on Nasdaq First North Stockholm during the second quarter of this year, and in connection with this, aiming to receive up to SEK 30 million in a public issue.

JonDeTech’s sensors are very small and thin (thickness 0.2 mm) compared to conventional sensors, which allows them to be easily integrated into many different products. JonDeTech is primarily targeting international customers who develop applications within consumer electronics and the Internet of Things.

Intel’s huge water recycling plant, now under construction in Hillsboro, Oregon, is a key step toward meeting the company’s long-term water reduction and recycling goals.

Intel is reducing the water it uses in computer chip manufacturing. It also has set a 2025 worldwide goal to return 100 percent of its water to communities and watersheds for local use. Over the past 20 years, Intel has conserved about 60 billion gallons of water.

When the three-year Hillsboro project is complete, the facility will be able to recycle about 1 billion gallons of water every year – the equivalent of 90,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The plant will be Intel’s biggest water recycling facility in the world.

From inside his cab 150 feet above the Hillsboro, Oregon, job site, crane operator Darren Starks looks down on Intel’s under-construction water recycling plant. Starks can hoist skyward up to 40 tons at a time, and on a busy day is responsible for about 80 lifts of construction equipment, piping and other gear. When the recycling plant is completed, it will help Intel cut its manufacturing water use. Intel has set a goal to return 100 percent of its water to communities and watersheds for local use by 2025. (Credit: Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)

From inside his cab 150 feet above the Hillsboro, Oregon, job site, crane operator Darren Starks looks down on Intel’s under-construction water recycling plant. Starks can hoist skyward up to 40 tons at a time, and on a busy day is responsible for about 80 lifts of construction equipment, piping and other gear. When the recycling plant is completed, it will help Intel cut its manufacturing water use. Intel has set a goal to return 100 percent of its water to communities and watersheds for local use by 2025. (Credit: Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)

Versum Materials, Inc. (NYSE: VSM), a materials supplier to the semiconductor industry, announced today the grand opening of its new research and development (R&D) facility at its semiconductor materials manufacturing site in Hometown, Pennsylvania. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place April 10, 2018. Versum employees, members of the community, local government, customers and strategic partners attended the event.

The R&D laboratory is dedicated to new materials used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Scientists in the facility will synthesize and purify new molecules down to parts per billion impurity levels and below using the latest technologies available in the industry. The researchers can assess the applications for these new molecules and scale up the molecules to larger quantities for customer evaluation. These new organometallic compounds will be deposited on semiconductor wafers through cutting-edge technologies to test their performance for semiconductor applications. Additionally, the facility is capable of small-volume manufacturing and advanced analytical and quality assessment.

State Senator Dave Argall commended Versum for being the region’s third largest employer and for the company’s investments in the local community. Approximately 30 employees, half of which hold advanced degrees in chemistry or chemical engineering, are based in the new facility. The company’s Hometown campus now totals 250 highly-skilled employees.

The latest expansion is part of a $60MM multi-year investment in the Hometown campus. Last year the company announced it had increased production capacity and modified equipment configuration to reduce manufacturing bottlenecking. Versum’s Hometown manufacturing facility produces a variety of high purity specialty gases and chemicals for semiconductor manufacturers around the world, including Tungsten Hexafluoride, WF6 and Nitrogen Trifluoride, NF3. WF6 is used as a metallization source for the formation of tungsten interconnects between multiple layers in semiconductor devices. It is an important material in the production of both logic and memory (DRAM and NAND) devices. NF3 is primarily used for chamber cleaning of chemical vapor deposition reactors.

Versum’s Senior Vice President of Materials, Ed Shober addressed the attendees stating, “We enable the largest tech companies around the world to stretch the boundaries of science and technology, whether it be supporting computing power, mobility, connectivity, artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality, the Internet of Things, Big Data and machine learning. Versum Materials is at the core of enabling all these technologies. Our Versum Materials team delivers valued products and solutions that bring this cutting-edge innovation to the market safer, faster, easier and more reliably than ever before.”

Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: KLIC) (“Kulicke & Soffa”, “K&S” or the “Company”) announced today that it has received the highest level of recognition, the prestigious 2017 Supplier Excellence Award, from Texas Instruments.

Texas Instruments works with more than 11,000 suppliers worldwide, and Kulicke & Soffa has received this accolade following a rigorous round of evaluation covering K&S’s commitment to ethical behavior, as well as its exceptional performance in areas including productivity, environmental and social responsibilities, technology, responsiveness, assurance of supply and quality.

“We are honored to receive this recognition from Texas Instruments and deeply value the close partnership we have built with them. We will continue to work to deliver innovative and quality solutions to support our broad base of customers now and in the future,” said Hoang Huy Hoang, Kulicke & Soffa’s Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Aftermarket Products & Services Business Unit.

“At TI, our customers depend on us for quality parts to help them innovate and grow, and we share these same rigorous expectations of quality from our suppliers,” said Rob Simpson, Vice President of TI Worldwide Procurement and Logistics. “The Supplier Excellence Award winners have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to delivering the products and services we need at the performance we expect.”

Nexperia, a developer of discretes, logic and MOSFET devices, today announced the successful completion of a refinancing of its current facilities with USD 800 million equivalent of senior credit facilities. This includes a significant proportion of Revolving Credit facility. The proceeds will be used to refinance existing outstanding debt and for Capex expenditure to fund future growth.

The facilities were arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC, acting as Global Coordinators, and were syndicated by a group of nine global banks. The refinancing is fully supported by JAC Capital and Wise Road Capital, Nexperia’s two main shareholders, and provides a flexible financing package at very attractive terms to support the further growth of Nexperia going forward.

Comments from Frans Scheper, Nexperia’s CEO: “This is the first time that Nexperia has approached the financial markets as an independent company, so we are very pleased with the enthusiastic response. Refinancing the outstanding debt will result in significant savings and give us greater flexibility, while the extra credit will enable us to pursue our ambitions fully with investment in new facilities and manufacturing technology.”

Nexperia is a Netherlands-headquartered, global manufacturer of discrete semiconductor components. The company is investing in increasing its capacity and footprint, having recently made a significant expansion to its Guangdong Assembly and Test Facility in China.

Pixelligent, the high-index advanced materials manufacturer, today announces $7.6M in new funding to help further drive product commercialization and accelerate global customer adoption.

This round of funding includes strategic investments from two new strategic partners, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., LTD. (“TOK”) a leading Japanese advanced materials manufacturer, and Kateeva, Inc. a leading provider of inkjet deposition equipment for the rapidly growing OLED and HD Display markets. This latest investment was led by The Abell Foundation, with strong support from other Baltimore-based investors, including participation from TCP Venture Captial’s – Propel I and Propel II venture funds.

“The partnership with TOK will provide Pixelligent access to TOK’s vast and highly respected formulation expertise, helping us to accelerate product development and customer adoptions on a global basis. As our leading display customers are also requesting that our materials are compatible with inkjet manufacturing equipment, the partnership with Kateeva is a critical step in accessing the expertise and knowledge required to meet this requirement,” said Craig Bandes, President & CEO Pixelligent Technologies.

“We have been working with Pixelligent for a significant period of time now and feel confident that they have the best and most compatible high refractive index nanodispersions for improving the efficiency and performance for some very important optical device applications. Combining Pixelligent’s PixClear® materials with TOK’s world-class high-value added formulations will enable us to address many demanding applications in fast growing markets. These new materials will be formulated to enable application by a variety of methods — nanoimprint, photolithography and inkjet, to name a few — and will enable us to deliver the expanded functionality and performance to all of our customers demanding ultra-high refractive index coatings,” said Katsumi Ohmori of TOK.

“Kateeva has been working with Pixelligent for the past 18 months as our OLED Display customers are actively looking for ways to improve the efficiency and performance of their displays. Incorporating Pixelligent’s PixClear® nanoadditives to increase the refractive index of numerous layers inside the OLED display stack has the potential to deliver significant increases in light extraction and improve the overall performance of our customers’ display products,” said Alain Harrus, Kateeva’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

“Both of these companies are industry leaders in markets that are critically important to Pixelligent. Having companies of this caliber invest in, and partner with Pixelligent is a great validation of value we have created and the value we are delivering,” said Bandes.

This latest financing builds on the momentum of the past twelve months, where the company dramatically increased its product development efforts in the rapidly growing OLED Display, HD Display, and AR/VR markets, was named the 2017 Manufacturer of the Year by Frost & Sullivan, and increased its manufacturing yields by over 100%. Collectively the OLED Display, HD Display, AR/VR, and Solid State Lighting target markets represent an estimated $11 billion of advanced materials sales in 2018 growing to nearly $18 billion by 2023.

Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a semiconductor test handler manufacturer and provider of test automation technical services, today announced it is a recipient of the 2017 Texas Instruments Supplier Excellence Award (SEA).  The SEA is TI’s highest level of supplier recognition.  Boston Semi Equipment is among an elite group of suppliers chosen by TI for their exemplary performance in the areas of Cost, Environmental & Social Responsibility, Technology, Responsiveness, Assurance of Supply, and Quality.

“The TI Supplier Excellence Award is public recognition of the focus and effort that Boston Semi Equipment commits to continually improving the performance of our company and the solutions we provide our customers.  We appreciate the opportunity to provide products and services to Texas Instruments, and it is an honor to be recognized by TI as an excellent supplier,” stated Colin P Scholefield, President.  “I am proud of the performance of the Boston Semi Equipment team.”

Imec, a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics, energy and digital technologies and partner in EnergyVille, has been named the coordinator of an ambitious 3-year European Union (EU) funded project, “ESPResSo” (Efficient Structures and Processes for Reliable Perovskite Solar Modules), that gathers known leaders in the field of perovskite PV technology to revolutionize Europe’s photovoltaics (PV) industry.

The ESPResSo consortium has been granted over 5M euro by the European Union to overcome the limitations of today’s state-of-the-art perovskite PV technology, bring perovskite solar cells to the next maturity level, and demonstrate their practical application. The members of the consortium include the fundamental research organizations Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy; perovskite solar cell scale-up and industrialization members imec, Belgium, Universita degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata (UNITOV-CHOSE), Italy and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany;  and experts in sustainability and renewable energies CSGI (Consorzio Interuniversitario per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase), Italy and University of Cyprus, Cyprus.  Members representing materials development include Dycotec Materials LTD, United Kingdom, Dyenamo AB, Sweden and Corning SAS, France; equipment manufacturer, M-Solv LTD, United Kingdom; along with perovskite solar cell technology developers Saule Technologies, Poland, and building-integrated photovoltaics developer, Onyx Solar Energy SL, Spain.

With its low-cost materials and low temperature deposition processes, perovskite-based PV technology has the potential to takes its place in the thin-film PV market. Perovskite solar cells have already demonstrated high efficiencies (above 22%) that rival those of established mainstream thin-film PV technologies like copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) and cadmium-telluride (CdTe). The challenge is now to transfer the unprecedented progress that the perovskite PV cell technology has made in recent years from its cell level into a scalable, stable, low-cost technology on module level.

“Every aspect of our lives – from our homes to our workplaces, hospitals, schools and farms – depends on the nonstop availability of energy,” stated Tom Aernouts, imec group leader of thin-film photovoltaics.  “Perovskite cells demonstrate clear potential to support world’s energy demands cost-effectively. The ultimate aim of the partners of the ESPResSo project is to achieve this by bringing perovskite photovoltaics from the lab to the fab.”

The ESPResSo team targets alternative cost effective materials, novel cell concepts and architectures, and advanced processing know-how and equipment to overcome the current limitations of this technology. The consortium aims to bring the cell performance close to its theoretical limit by demonstrating cell efficiency of more than 24% (on 1cm²) and less than 10% degradation in cell efficiency following thermal stress at 85°C, 85% RH for over 1000h. Scale up activities utilising solution processed slot-die coating and laser processing will additionally deliver modules with more than 17% efficiency showing long-term (>20 years) reliable performance as deduced from IEC-compliant test conditions.

The ESPResSo team also envisions integrating modules in façade elements demonstrating a levelised cost of electricity (LCoE) of ≤ 0.05€/kWh. Prototyping advanced, arbitrary-shaped architectures with specific materials and process combinations will emphasize that new highly innovative applications like on flexible substrates or with high semi-transparency are well accessible in the mid- to longer-term with this very promising thin-film PV technology.