04/09/2002  International SEMATECH, Austin, TX, has placed the first purchase order for an MS-13 EUV Microstepper, to be built by Exitech, Oxford, England, and installed in SEMATECH's Resist Test Center.

04/09/2002  April 9, 2002 - Durham, NC - Cree Inc. plans to open a Japan office in Tokyo to bring Cree's technology and engineering support closer to the Japanese customer.

04/08/2002  April 8, 2002 - China - South Korea-based Jusung Engineering and China's Zongyi Group are to establish a joint venture named Jusung Nantong Technology Co. Ltd. in Jiangsu province.

04/05/2002  April 5, 2002 - Taipei, Taiwan - United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) has called off a deal involving the sale of its 200mm wafer equipment to a chip-equipment broker, citing mounting demand for chips that use 0.25- and 0.35-micron technology.

04/04/2002  April 4, 2002 - Santa Clara, CA - LTD Ceramics Inc., a manufacturer of technical ceramic materials and components, said that Applied Materials has failed in its attempt to obtain a preliminary injunction against the company.

04/04/2002  Taipei, Taiwan - Mainland Chinese chipmakers are accelerating expansion plans and slashing foundry prices to preempt challenges from Taiwan's top two chipmakers, which are expected to move part of their 200mm wafer facilities to the mainland.

04/04/2002  April 3, 2002 - East Fishkill, NY, and Tokyo, Japan - IBM, Sony Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., and Toshiba Corp. have signed a multi-year agreement to jointly develop advanced semiconductor technologies based on SOI and other IBM materials advances.

04/02/2002  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. has raised its capex for this year by more than US$400 million in light of strengthening demand for ICs.

04/01/2002  April 1, 2002 -- HSINCHU, Taiwan -- An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked Taiwan over the weekend. However, the quake registered 4 where many of the foundries are located in Hsinchu.

04/01/2002  There has been much progress in the past year on wafer thinning, with portable electronics providing the driving force for thin die

04/01/2002  A common topic of discussion on these pages and in the industry as a whole is the convergence of wafer processing and packaging technology

04/01/2002  For some time now we've been concerned about energy conservation in semiconductor manufacturing cleanrooms. Papers have been written, seminars have been conducted, consultants have proliferated and engineers have gone back to drawing boards where they've produced solutions-some quite innovative and others rather exotic

04/01/2002  Hsinchu, Taiwan - United Microlectronics Corp. (UMC) announced today that effective April 1st, Robert Tsao will no longer serve as the company CEO. The position will be taken over by Vice Chairman John Hsuan, while Tsao will continue to serve as chairman for the company.

03/29/2002  Ottawa, Canada - Zarlink Semiconductor announced the sale of its wafer fab in Plymouth, UK, as well as IP and related foundry businesses, to companies controlled by X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG of Erfurt, Germany for US$30 million, represented by US$12 million in cash on closing and a secured note of US$18 million repayable over three years.

03/29/2002  Taipei, Taiwan - The Taiwanese government has relaxed a ban on fab investment on the mainland, according to reports from the Associated Press.

03/29/2002  March 29, 2002 --Taiwan -- In a late night speech, Taiwan's Premier Yu Shyi-kun said Taiwan companies that want to do business in China will be "allowed to produce less-advanced computer chips in China if they move on to make more sophisticated products in Taiwan," according to Taiwan AP.

03/26/2002  March 26, 2002 - Taiwan - US export laws may play a small role in the controversy surrounding plans to allow Taiwan's semiconductor companies to expand into mainland China.

03/25/2002  March 25, 2002 - Singapore and San Jose, CA - Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing are working together to help the mixed-signal market reduce cycle times on designs with new Chartered foundry process design kits (PDKs).

03/25/2002  KLA-Tencor has unveiled a new set of automated tools for process window construction and analysis. The Process Window Monitor series automates the construction of process windows based on focus exposure matrices analyzed using KLA-Tencor CD or optical CD metrology tools.

03/21/2002  March 21, 2002 -- Shanghai, China -- M+W Zander, a Jenoptik subsidiary, has received a follow-on order from China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to engineer and construct a cleanroom.