03/21/2002  March 21, 2002 - Santa Clara, CA - Applied Materials Inc. has unveiled a new Process Module Technology Center, a facility for semiconductor process technology development.

03/21/2002  Nanometrics, a company with a long history in film metrology, has introduced an optical CD metrology tool for the sub-130nm market that has made libraries of templates superfluous.

03/19/2002  March 19, 2002 - El Segundo, CA - International Rectifier Corp. (IR) has acquired the assets of European Semiconductor Manufacturing and its sub-micron semiconductor manufacturing facility in Newport, Wales, to further support the growth in IR's proprietary products.

03/19/2002  March 19, 2002 - Newport Beach, CA & Washington, DC -- Conexant Systems, Inc. and The Carlyle Group have signed a definitive agreement to establish an ISO-9000 certified wafer fab, which will have 100,000 square feet of ISO Class 3 cleanroom space.

03/14/2002  Taiwan - The world's two largest foundries - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. - said increasing chip demand may lead them to expand capex plans for 2002.

03/13/2002  March 13, 2002 - Newport Beach, CA, and Washington - Conexant Systems Inc. and The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, have completed the transaction to form a new specialty foundry company.

03/13/2002  Chandler, AZ & Shanghai, China - Amkor Technology Inc. and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (GSMC) have signed a letter of intent to form a multi-purpose alliance offering total supply chain solutions for customers in the rapidly growing microelectronics market in China.

03/11/2002  Raise capital from global sources, hire talent from a global pool, and pretty soon even a Chinese company starts planning to produce global technology for global markets - just like the rest of the world. Even with China's low costs and vast potential market, it looks like the only way to turn a profit making chips is with newer technologies and more value-added service. So Grace and SMIC are planning to make 0.18-micron chips, looking toward 0.13, and emphasizing customer service.

03/11/2002  March 11, 2002 - Munich, Germany - Infineon Technologies AG has concluded its talks with the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers Winbond Electronics Corp. and Mosel Vitelic Inc., both of Hsinchu, and has signed a non-binding MoU with Winbond and agreements with Mosel Vitelic to increase its total production capacity for DRAM chips by more than 20,000 wafer starts per month.

03/11/2002  March 11, 2002 - Migdal Haemek, Israel - Tower Semiconductor has successfully produced the first 0.18-micron wafer lot from its Fab 2 pilot line with higher-than-expected yields.

03/08/2002  Hsinchu, Taiwan - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is suing a former worker who allegedly leaked trade secrets.

03/08/2002  March 8, 2002 - Milpitas, CA - California Micro Devices (CMD) has entered into a wafer supply agreement with Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (ASMC) of Shanghai.

03/08/2002  With DRAM-dependent Korea hit by the rout in memory prices over the past year, it's no surprise that chipmakers there have cut capital spending to the bone. But what may be surprising is that for Korea, the worst year in the history of the semiconductor industry turned out to be a better one than 1998, when the country nearly went bankrupt and had to be bailed out by the IMF.

03/05/2002  March 5, 2002 - Somerset, NJ - NanoOpto Corp., which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking, announced the establishment of initial production capabilities at its Somerset, NJ, nano-fabrication facility.

03/05/2002  March 5, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Toshiba Ceramics Co., a high tech material manufacturer, said that it, and three other companies, have reached an agreement on the outsourcing of silicon wafer processing in China.

03/05/2002  Eindhoven, Netherlands, Geneva, Switzerland, and Hsinchu, Taiwan - Royal Philips Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) have reached an agreement on a new advanced 90nm CMOS process. The agreement between the three companies also includes the development of CMOS processes to the next technology node at 65nm and beyond.

03/04/2002 

03/01/2002  March 1, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Komatsu Ltd. has finalized plans to pull out of silicon operations in the US by selling off Advanced Silicon Materials LLC (ASiMI), a wholly owned subsidiary making polycrystalline silicon, company sources said.

03/01/2002  Shanghai, China - Photronics Inc. detailed plans to expand into Shanghai, China during a land grant signing ceremony with officials from the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Corp.

03/01/2002  System A45 is an automatic pick-and-place system designed to handle wafers up to 8-inches with low pick-up force and features an improved ink dot and wafer mapping capability