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Analog Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADI), has unveiled its new India headquarters for the approximately 600 Bengaluru-based staff who make up ADI India. The new 175,000 square foot facility, which houses one of ADI’s top three global design centers, will focus on developing and selling cutting edge technologies and solutions for the global automotive, industrial, healthcare, consumer, Internet of Things (IoT), security, communications, and energy markets.

“We have created a culture of innovation, collaboration and engineering excellence at ADI, encouraging our engineers to explore, learn and share while giving them opportunities to work across teams and domains so they become well-rounded experts,” said Yusuf Jamal, Senior Vice President of ADI’s Industrial, Healthcare, Consumer, and IoT Solutions and Security Group. “We have been aggressively investing in our global facilities, including a recently announced U.S. expansion in Silicon Valley, to better attract and leverage local talent and skills and this investment in ADI India will better position us to accelerate growth and impact for ADI.”

Having started as a three-person product development center in 1995, ADI India’s headcount has grown by a factor of 200 over the last twenty years to support the evolving needs of ADI’s global customers. Mirroring ADI’s transformation from a manufacturer of modules and integrated circuits (ICs) to a provider of edge-to-cloud systems, and from a focus solely on hardware to one that includes software and data analytics, ADI India counts software, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), applications, product and test engineering, systems, and analog and mixed signal IC development among its broad suite of capabilities.

“ADI India has come a long way since its humble beginnings as an integrated circuit design center, having experienced an impressive expansion in the capabilities and range of functions being performed by our skilled employees here in Bengaluru,” said Sai Krishna Mopuri, Managing Director, ADI India. “As we move into this new facility, we plan to expand our university relations program work with reputed academic institutions, which includes fellowships, sponsorships and internship opportunities, through additional partnerships and talent acquisition from engineering colleges across the country.”

Siemens Corporation today announced that Barbara Humpton has been appointed CEO for the United States, effective June 1, 2018. Humpton (57) is currently CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. (SGT), a Federally-compliant U.S. organization structured to help address national imperatives in energy, infrastructure, automation and marine platforms.

“Barbara has broad knowledge of Siemens’ entire portfolio that will serve us well as we continue to grow the U.S. business,” said Lisa Davis, CEO of Siemens Corporation and Americas Region and Member of the Siemens AG Managing Board.

Humpton joined Siemens Government Technologies in 2011 as Senior Vice President for Business Development and was appointed to lead the company’s approach to the federal market in 2015. Prior to joining Siemens, Humpton held senior leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton, where she was a Vice President at both firms.

“I am honored to work with the 50,000 Siemens employees in the U.S. to address the market’s needs in electrification, automation and digitalization. It’s an exciting time to be at Siemens as we develop products and services that are shaping the future,” said Humpton.

Siemens has been in the U.S. for more than 160 years and has invested $35 billion in America in the last 15 years alone. With 50,000 U.S. employees and more than 60 manufacturing sites, Siemens in the U.S. is using its global leadership in engineering and technology innovation to meet America’s toughest challenges, delivering solutions for industry, hospitals, utilities, cities, and manufacturers: from efficient power generation, to digital factories and oil and gas fields, to medical diagnostics, to locomotives, to next-generation software used in every phase of product development.

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Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years.

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.42 billion in billings worldwide in March 2018 (three-month average basis), according to the March Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI. The billings figure is 0.4 percent higher than the final February 2018 level of $2.41 billion, and is 16.7 percent higher than the March 2017 billings level of $2.08 billion.

“March 2018 monthly billings for North American equipment manufacturers remain at robust levels,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “We are seeing sustained strength in the global semiconductor equipment market, aligning with our expectation for a fourth consecutive year of spending growth.”

The SEMI Billings report uses three-month moving averages of worldwide billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.
Billings
(3-mo. avg)
Year-Over-Year
October 2017
$2,019.3
23.9%
November 2017
$2,052.3
27.2%
December 2017
$2,398.4
28.3%
January 2018
$2,370.1
27.5%
February 2018 (final)
$2,417.8
22.5%
March 2018 (prelim)
$2,426.9
16.7%

Source: SEMI (www.semi.org), April 2018
SEMI publishes a monthly North American Billings report and issues the Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) report in collaboration with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ).

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

custer-1-424

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.

custer-2-424

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!

custer-3-424

Originally published on the SEMI blog.

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.”

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.”

UnitySC, a developer of advanced inspection and metrology solutions for the semiconductor and related industries, today announced that its board of directors has appointed Kamel Ait-Mahiout as chief executive officer. He has also been elected to serve on UnitySC’s board. Following the company’s recent announcement of the acquisition of HSEB Dresden, GmbH, this appointment marks the next step of the company’s aggressive growth strategy for its process control solutions.

Ait-Mahiout joins UnitySC after serving seven years as senior vice president and general manager at Amkor Europe. During that time, he successfully restructured Amkor Europe, strategically positioning the company as a dynamic, customer-oriented, and commercially strong organization. Under his watch, Amkor Europe’s revenue grew by more than 60%, despite the region’s challenging competitive environment.

“We are pleased to welcome Kamel as Unity’s new CEO,” said Patrick Leteurtre, chairman of the board, UnitySC.  “He has demonstrated his leadership experience, operational excellence, and strategic vision in the semiconductor industry for over 20 years. Kamel’s experience managing growth businesses makes him exceptionally well-suited to lead us through our next growth phase, and position Unity as the next market leader in advanced inspection and metrology equipment.”

“It is a pivotal time to be joining UnitySC. The company has built a strong reputation for technology and market leadership, particularly in new semiconductor applications, and has significant growth potential driven by its ambitious strategy,” said Ait-Mahiout. “The combination of great in-house technologies, high-value products, growth based on a solid backlog of profitable revenue, and a group of very talented employees in a dynamic and innovative company culture is a recipe for success and makes for a very exciting CEO opportunity. I am delighted to bring my experience to guide the company through its next growth phase and make it a key player in semiconductor process control.”

Prior to Amkor, Ait-Mahiout held various roles with Kyocera Microelectronics and Tekelec Temex. In addition to a technical engineering background, he has a deep understanding of supply chain and industrial strategy. Ait-Mahiout holds a Science Master EEA, Electronic Components Option from the University of Technology in Reims, France.