Tag Archives: letter-wafer-business

Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) today announced that Doug Alexander and MaryFrances McCourt have been appointed as new members of the Company’s Board of Directors. With these appointments, Amkor’s Board has been expanded to twelve members.

“We are pleased to have Doug and MaryFrances join Amkor’s Board,” said James Kim, Amkor’s Executive Chairman. “The demonstrated leadership skills and breadth of experience that they each bring to the Board will be great assets to the Company.”

Mr. Alexander was an original member of the advisory board of Actua Corporation (formerly named ICG Group, Inc.), a multi-vertical cloud technology company. Mr. Alexander joined Actua full-time in September 1997 as Managing Director and was appointed President in January 2009 where he served until December 2017. During his tenure at Actua, Mr. Alexander served in many senior management roles including as CEO of WiseWire Technologies, which was acquired by Lycos; CEO of ICG Europe; CEO of Traffic.com, which was acquired by Navteq; and CEO of Channel Intelligence, which was acquired by Google.

Mr. Alexander has served on the boards of directors for GovDelivery, Procurian, and Bolt. Mr. Alexander has also served as the Co-Chairman of the Philadelphia National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and is Chairman of the Management & Technology Executive Board at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Alexander holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. McCourt is Vice President for Finance and Treasurer at the University of Pennsylvania. In her role, Ms. McCourt leads Penn’s cash and short-term investment and capital financing strategies as well as oversees Penn’s financial functions. Ms. McCourt is responsible for the University’s multi-year financial planning efforts and collaborates closely with Penn Medicine leadership on its growth and financial planning. She directly manages the strategic and operational direction of a variety of functions, including the Comptrollers Office, financial training, global support services, research services, risk management and insurance, student registration and financial services and the Treasurer’s Office.

Prior to joining Penn, Ms. McCourt was the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University. Ms. McCourt has also served in financial-management positions for Agilysis, Inc., a diversified enterprise focused on technology and enterprise system solutions.

She earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Duke University and an MBA from Case Western University.

 

By Heidi Hoffman, SEMI

SEMI continues to transform to increase its impact on the success of the electronics industry supply chain. As one step in that process, SEMI President & CEO Ajit Manocha has formed a new group, Technology Communities, to better collaborate, align, and enhance all of SEMI’s technology-focused activities by operating them under one umbrella. The group is led by industry-veteran Mike Ciesinski, the new vice president of Technology Communities. Mike has more than 20 years’ experience creating and managing industry consortia and a strong record of fostering collaboration among industry, academia, and government research and development (R&D) agencies.

The charter of Technology Communities is to share best practices for SEMI’s special interest groups (SIGs), including hosting industry-wide CTO forums; providing regional insights; forming member, industry and academic consortia; and engaging with technology thought-leaders. The goal is to elevate the prominence of electronics technology in an effort to improve lives and enhance member profitability by speeding industry collaboration and opportunities for innovation.

SEMI SIGs serve as member groups that share information, explore common opportunities in a synergistic and non-competitive environment and provide a collective voice on issues within the global electronics industry. By segmenting the sprawling electronics supply chain into focused communities, SIGs foster more effective technical discussions and provide exclusive networking and speaking opportunities.

The Technology Communities encompasses Fab Owners Alliance (FOA), FlexTech, and MEMS & Sensors Industry Group (MSIG), as well as the SEMI Standards organization.  It supports key SEMI market verticals including Smart Manufacturing, Smart Data, and Smart MedTech.

Technology Communities also includes the Chemical & Gases Manufacturers Group (CGMG), the Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG), the Collaborative Alliance for Semiconductor Test (CAST), Semiconductor Components, Instruments and Subsystems (SCIS), the Strategic Innovation Platforms (SIP) and the Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap. Each one of these communities has a unique and focused mission.

For SEMI’s members, these groups mean more opportunities to meet with peers and customers and help to define industry direction.

Members can be confident that SEMI technology SIGs are led by experienced industry professionals with extensive networks and a strong technical knowledge in their respective areas. Alongside Ciesinski, SEMI veteran Tom Salmon leads FOA, while James Amano directs SEMI Standards. Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, PhD, is the new FlexTech leader and CTO, while Frank Shemansky, Jr., PhD, is the MEMS and sensors CTO and oversees the MSIG group.

The HQ team is joined by experienced, knowledgeable professionals in each of SEMI’s seven regions to provide a global network and cross-region collaboration.

It’s easy to get involved and the SEMI groups are always seeking new members and industry drivers. Visit SEMI Special Interest Groups for more details on SEMI’s special interest groups. We will also be bringing you more in-depth articles on each of the technology groups in SGU.

Most of the groups and committees are available to any SEMI member in good standing – simply request to join.  Come to one of our upcoming events – such as 2018FLEX and MSTC2018 — to discuss opportunities to participate.

Entegris, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ENTG), a developer of specialty chemicals and advanced materials solutions for the microelectronics industry, today reported its financial results for the Company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.

The Company reported sales of $1.3 billion for fiscal 2017, an increase of 14 percent from the prior year. Net income for the year was $85.1 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $44.0 million, asset impairment charges of $13.2 million, $2.7 million of severance expenses, $20.7 million related to the refinancing of senior notes, and $66.7 million related to the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In the prior year, net income was $97.1 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $44.3 million, asset impairment charges of $5.8 million, and $2.4 million of severance expenses. Non-GAAP net income for fiscal 2017 was $206.3 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, which increased from $132.8 million, or $0.94 per diluted share, in the prior year.

Fourth-quarter sales were $350.6 million, an increase of 14 percent from the same quarter last year and 1 percent higher sequentially. Fourth-quarter net loss was $28.3 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, which included amortization of intangible assets of $11.0 million, $20.7 million related to the refinancing of senior notes, and $66.7 million related to the effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Non-GAAP net income was $59.7 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, which compared to $34.3 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, in the same quarter a year ago. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company generated cash from operations less capital expenditures, or free cash flow, of $60.1 million.

Bertrand Loy, president and chief executive officer, said: “The fourth quarter marked our fifth consecutive record quarter, capping the most successful year in Entegris’ 51-year history. We grew fiscal 2017 sales 14 percent to $1.3 billion, achieving growth across all three divisions, driven by demand for our solutions in advanced memory, logic, and mainstream semiconductor production. We were very pleased with the quality of execution by the Entegris teams around the world. We delivered on our commitment to grow our bottom line at twice the rate of our top line, increasing our adjusted EBITDA by 35 percent to a record high of $357 million, or 26.6 percent of sales for the year. This strong cash flow is allowing us to create significant value through a balanced capital allocation strategy consisting of internal growth investments, strategic acquisitions, and returning available cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Mr. Loy added: “As we look ahead, we have great conviction that the semiconductor industry is in the midst of a multi-year period of growth driven by broadening demand related to artificial intelligence, automotive, industrial, and other new applications. Our value proposition, which is built on a broad array of solutions, is enabling us to expand our served markets and will allow us to continue to outpace our markets.”

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) today announced its top distribution partners for 2017. These awards honor the distributor in each region that led overall channel sales, grew market share, captured increased sales of products from ON Semiconductor’s acquisitions and scored highly on overall process excellence.

The top 2017 distribution partners are:

“Distribution sales accounted for approximately 60 percent of ON Semiconductor’s 2017 annual revenues,” said Jeff Thomson, vice president of global channel sales for ON Semiconductor. “The support of our worldwide distribution partners is fundamental to the success of ON Semiconductor’s ongoing plans to increase market penetration and growing revenue at a faster pace than the industry. The collaborative relationships and progressive sales programs we foster with our channel partners are an integral part of this ongoing plan. As advocates of these goals, each of the 2017 distribution partner award winners successfully grew product sales, generated significant new business, and effectively supported both our customers’ needs and ON Semiconductor’s initiatives for operational excellence. We are pleased to recognize these outstanding channel partners for their valuable contributions throughout 2017 and look forward to continued success in the coming year.”

Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it has been awarded the industrial gases supply for Samsung Electronics’ second semiconductor fab in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, western China.

The Xi’an fabrication line, within the Xi’an High-tech Zone (XHTZ), represents one of Samsung’s largest overseas investments and one of the most advanced fabs in China. It produces three-dimensional (3D) vertical NAND (V-NAND) flash memory chips for a wide range of applications, including embedded NAND storage, solid state drives, mobile devices, and other consumer electronics products.

Air Products has been supporting this project since 2014 from a large site housing two large air separation units (ASUs), a hydrogen plant and a bulk specialty gas delivery system. Under the new award, Air Products will expand its site by building several large ASUs, hydrogen and compressed dry air plants, and a bulk specialty gas supply yard to supply ultra-high purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen and compressed dry air to the new fab, which is scheduled to be operational in 2019.

“Samsung is a strategic and longstanding customer for Air Products. It is our honor to have their continued confidence and again be selected to support their business growth and this important project in western China,” said Kyo-Yung Kim, president of Air Products Korea, who also oversees the company’s electronics investment in the XHTZ. “We have been supplying the project with proven safety, reliability and operational excellence. This latest investment further reinforces our global leading position and commitment to serving our valued customer, as well as the broader semiconductor and electronics industries.”

Continuing to build its strong relationship with Samsung Electronics, Air Products also recently announced the next phases of expansion to build two more nitrogen plants serving the customer’s giga fab in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

A leading integrated gases supplier, Air Products has been serving the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to most of the world’s largest technology companies. Air Products is working with these industry leaders to develop the next generation of semiconductors and displays for tablets, computers and mobile devices.

SiFive, a provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP, today announced Shafy Eltoukhy as vice president of operations. Eltoukhy, a veteran of Microsemi and Intel, will lead SiFive’s DesignShare activities and ensure the smooth rollout of new Core IP, SoCs and services.

Over the course of his career, Eltoukhy has been awarded 24 patents, and is the author of more than 20 technical articles. He brings this expertise to SiFive with a goal to help the company expand its DesignShare program, which gives any SoC designer, inventor or maker the ability to harness the power of custom silicon with little to no upfront risk. Since its inception, companies including Analog Bits, eMemory, FlexLogix, Rambus, Think Silicon and UltraSoC have joined the DesignShare ecosystem. He will also help to coordinate SiFive’s fast-growing hardware and software engineering teams with key partners as the company launches new products and services.

“SiFive’s mission – to lower the barriers for innovation in the silicon industry – immediately resonated with me when presented with the opportunity to work with the team,” Eltoukhy said. “Knowing firsthand the challenges involved in bringing a new SoC to market, I immediately recognized SiFive’s ability to resolve the issues that customers and designers have faced for decades. I am thrilled to join the SiFive team and am honored to have the opportunity to help revolutionize the semiconductor industry.”

Eltoukhy brings three decades of experience to his role at SiFive, having most recently served as vice president and business unit manager for the analog mixed signal division at Microsemi. Earlier in his career, Eltoukhy was vice president of operations and technology at Open-Silicon, where he released to production over 150 ASIC and complex SoC products. He also served as Vice President of Technology at Lightspeed Semiconductor, where he joined the founding team that invented structured ASIC technology with a goal to simplify ASIC design cycle and reduce development cost. As Director of Technology Development at Actel Corporation (now Microsemi), he participated in the early development of the first and second generation of Antifuse FPGA products. He has also held senior engineering positions at semiconductor pioneers Intel and Fairchild. Eltoukhy holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Cairo University.

“We are thrilled to have someone with Shafy’s credentials join the SiFive executive team,” said Naveed Sherwani, CEO of SiFive. “His experience as a founder and leader of numerous startups is invaluable to SiFive as we strive to breathe new life into a stagnant industry. His perspective will benefit not only to SiFive but the semiconductor market writ large as we work to simplify the design process.”

Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) today announced that the Patent Re-examination Board (PRB) of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in China, ruled on Jan. 23 that all patent claims relating to patent number ZL 01822507.1 held by Veeco Instruments Inc. (Veeco U.S.), and titled “Susceptorless reactor for growing epitaxial layers on wafers by chemical vapor deposition”, are invalid. The court cited “lack of novelty and non-obviousness” for its decision.

The patent ruled invalid is the Chinese counterpart of the patents (U.S. 6506252 and U.S. 6726769) asserted by Veeco U.S. in an infringement action taken last year against AMEC’s wafer carrier supplier, and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

AMEC thoroughly analyzed the patent when first developing its MOCVD technology. The company found that the technology covered by the patent was preceded by substantial prior art dating back to the 1960s. As such, the patent should be invalid. AMEC had earlier filed petitions to invalidate the counterpart patents in the Intellectual Property (IP) offices of China, South Korea and the U.S.

“We are pleased that based on our compelling evidence, the Chinese Patent Re-examination Board has ruled Veeco’s patent invalid,” said Dr. Zhiyou Du, senior vice president, COO & general manager of AMEC’s MOCVD product division. “We are confident that the same decision will be reached by the Patent Trial and Appeal Boards of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and the Korean IP office.”

Dr. Du continued: “To be enforceable, a patent must meet the requirements of patent law. It is intolerable to us that Veeco U.S. would attempt to stifle competition by leveraging an obviously invalid patent to file a lawsuit against AMEC’s wafer carrier supplier.”

In a separate development that occurred on Jan. 12, 2018, Chinese customs temporarily detained two EPIK700 MOCVD tools upon their arrival in China. The tools, shipped by Veeco Asia, are suspected of infringing AMEC’s patent (CN 202492576). The detention was consistent with Chinese law. AMEC is contemplating further legal action, which may include filing a patent infringement lawsuit with the Chinese court.

The enforcement action by Chinese customs on Jan. 12 followed a ruling last Dec. by the Fujian High Court in Chinawhen it granted AMEC’s motion for an injunction against Veeco Shanghai. The injunction prohibits Veeco Shanghai from importing, manufacturing, selling or offering for sale to any third party any MOCVD systems and wafer carriers used in the MOCVD systems that would infringe AMEC’s patent in China.

Dr. Gerald Yin, chairman and CEO of AMEC stated: “AMEC will never tolerate infringement of its IP rights. We will vigorously defend against violations and will always proactively protect our IP investment. Of course, we prefer to concentrate on innovating high-value products and providing quality services to customers instead of wasting time and resources on lawsuits.”

Dr. Yin concluded: “The Chinese LED industry should not be distracted or harmed by litigation involving Veeco U.S., our wafer carrier supplier, and AMEC. Therefore, we are open to reaching a solution that is beneficial for all three parties.”

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX), a global supplier of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, today announced the promotion of Tim Archer to the position of president, effective immediately. Mr. Archer will continue to serve as chief operating officer of the company, a position he has held since June 2012. Martin Anstice, Lam’s chief executive officer and current president, will continue as CEO.

“Tim has played a key role in leading the company through a period of transformational growth,” said Mr. Anstice. “The promotion to president is a natural evolution which recognizes Tim’s significant leadership to the success of Lam Research and the high-quality and complementary partnership that we share. It is wonderful to recognize his contributions and potential in the Office of the CEO with me; we have the privilege of working alongside an outstanding global leadership community at Lam.”

Mr. Archer was appointed chief operating officer of Lam Research in June 2012 when the company completed its acquisition of Novellus Systems, Inc. Mr. Archer was previously the chief operating officer of Novellus. He joined Novellus in 1994 and held a number of positions at that company, including executive vice president of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Satisfaction; executive vice president of the PECVD and Electrofill Business Units; and senior director of technology for Novellus Systems Japan.

As president and COO, Mr. Archer will focus on driving the operational priorities of the organization and be accountable for delivery of results across the entire company. His key focus will include ensuring that Lam continues to deliver enabling products and services to customers in a differentiated manner.  As CEO, Mr. Anstice will continue to focus on the strategic agenda and have comprehensive engagement with the full community of stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, partners, and investors.

Samsung Electronics and Apple remained the top two semiconductor chip buyers in 2017, representing 19.5 percent of the total worldwide market, according to Gartner, Inc. Samsung and Apple together consumed $81.8 billion of semiconductors in 2017, an increase of more than $20 billion from 2016.

“Samsung Electronics and Apple not only retained their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions, they also radically increased their share of semiconductor spending through 2017,” said Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner “These two companies have held on to the top positions since 2011 and they continue to exert significant influence on technology and price trends for the whole semiconductor industry.”

Eight of the top 10 companies in 2016 remained in the top 10 in 2017, with the top five chip buyers remaining in the same positions (see Table 1). LG Electronics returned to the top 10 and was joined by newcomer Western Digital, which grew its semiconductor spending by $1.7 billion in 2017. BBK Electronics rose one place to sixth position, increasing its semiconductor spending by $5.7 billion.

Table 1. Preliminary Ranking of Top 10 Companies by Semiconductor Design TAM, Worldwide, (Millions of Dollars)

2016 Ranking

2017

Ranking

Company

2016

2017

2017 Market

Share (%)

Growth (%) 2016-2017

1

1

Samsung Electronics

31,426

43,108

10.3

37.2

2

2

Apple*

30,390

38,754

9.2

27.5

3

3

Dell

13,544

15,702

3.7

15.9

4

4

Lenovo

13,384

14,671

3.5

9.6

5

5

Huawei

10,792

14,259

3.4

32.1

7

6

BBK Electronics

6,411

12,103

2.9

88.8

6

7

HP Inc.

8,906

9,971

2.4

12.0

8

8

Hewlett Packard Enterprises

6,124

7,199

1.7

17.5

11

9

LG Electronics

5,162

6,537

1.6

26.6

13

10

Western Digital

4,470

6,210

1.5

38.9

Others

212,906

251,206

59.9

18.0

Total

343,514

419,720

100.0

22.2

TAM = total available market

Source: Gartner (January 2018)

A significant price increase of DRAM and NAND flash memory had a big impact on semiconductor buyers’ ranking through 2017. Most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), even the big ones, could not avoid the risk of a memory chip shortage and rise of memory prices through 2017. Supply shortages occurred not just in the memory IC market, but also in other semiconductor chip markets, such as microcontrollers and discrete, as well as in the passive component market, which benefited the suppliers but troubled the OEMs. On the other hand, successful OEMs are often differentiating their products with their own captive silicon solutions. The increase in OEMs’ captive chip spending is a great risk for commercial chip vendors’ future growth.

Semiconductor spending by the top 10 OEMs increased significantly, and their share reached 40 percent of the total semiconductor market in 2017, up from 31 percent 10 years ago. This trend is expected to continue, and Gartner predicts that, by 2021, the top 10 OEMs will account for more than 45 percent of total global semiconductor spending.

“With the top 10 semiconductor chip buyers commanding an increasing share of the market, technology product marketing leaders at chip vendors must focus on their leading customers,” said Mr. Yamaji. “They will need to prioritize direct sales and technical support resources to these top customers by exploiting online technical support capabilities and outsourcing the support for long-tail customers to third-party partners and distributors.”

Annual semiconductor unit shipments (integrated circuits and opto-sensor-discretes, or O-S-D, devices) are expected to grow 9% in 2018 and top one trillion units for the first time, based on data presented in the new, 2018 edition of IC Insights’ McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry (Figure 1).  For 2018, semiconductor unit shipments are forecast to climb to 1,075.1 billion, which equates to 9% growth for the year.  Starting in 1978 with 32.6 billion units and going through 2018, the compound annual growth rate for semiconductor units is forecast to be 9.1%, a solid growth figure over the 40 year span.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Over the span of just four years (2004-2007), semiconductor shipments broke through the 400-, 500-, and 600-billion unit levels before the global financial meltdown caused a big decline in semiconductor unit shipments in 2008 and 2009.  Unit growth rebounded sharply with 25% growth in 2010 and displayed another strong increase in 2017 (14% growth) to climb past the 900-billion level.

The largest annual increase in semiconductor unit growth during the timespan shown was 34% in 1984, and the biggest decline was 19% in 2001 following the dot-com bust.  The global financial meltdown and ensuing recession caused semiconductor shipments to fall in both 2008 and 2009; the only time that the industry experienced consecutive years in which unit shipments declined.  The 25% increase in 2010 was the second-highest growth rate across the time span.

The percentage split of total semiconductor shipments is forecast to remain weighted toward O-S-D devices.  In 2018, O-S-D devices are forecast to account for 70% of total semiconductor units compared to 30% for ICs.  Thirty-eight years ago in 1980, O-S-D devices accounted for 78% of semiconductor units and ICs represented 22% (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Figure 2

Semiconductor products forecast to have the strongest unit growth rates in 2018 are those that are essential building-block components in smartphones, automotive electronics systems, and within systems that are helping to build out of Internet of Things.  Some of the fast-growing IC unit categories for 2018 include Industrial/Other—Application-Specific Analog (26% increase); Consumer—Special Purpose Logic (22% growth); Industrial/Other—Special Purpose Logic, (22%); 32-bit MCUs (21%); Wireless Communication—Application-Specific Analog (18%); and Auto—Application-Specific Analog (17%). Among O-S-D devices, CCDs and CMOS image sensors, laser transmitters, and every type of sensor product (magnetic, acceleration and yaw, pressure, and other sensors) are expected to enjoy double-digit unit growth this year.