Semicon West this year proved to be an exhausting event like no other, however there was a level of refreshment in the air that kicked off at SEMI's press conference, held the day before the show started.

UMC released second quarterly financial results yesterday (July 27, 2005), which didn't do much for equipment companies expectations that the second half of the year would see a return to capital equipment spending on the back of improving foundry utilisation. Granted, UMC seemed relatively happy that fab utilisation had reached 65 percent compared to recent guidance of 60 percent but in terms of historical correctness utilisation figures need to pass the 85 percent to trigger fab expansions.

Dr. Paolo Gargini, Director of Technology Strategy for Intel Corporation, has confirmed the company will be adopting 193nm ArF immersion lithography technology, starting with critical layers only, at the 45nm tech node. The news comes from an investor note sent to Jeffries International investors by its European semiconductor analyst, Titus Menzies today. According to the report, Intel's Gargini confirmed during ISS Europe, held in Berlin earlier in the week, that immersion lithography would be extended to non-critical layers at the 32nm node with EUV lithography still planned to be introduced for critical layers at that node.