|
Eyeballing of EE Times' startups lists reveals comparative lack of equipment companies |
|
|
|
Sep 05, 2007 at 02:27 PM |
EE Times has issued the latest iteration (version 6.1) of its "60 Emerging Startups" list.
The roster is dominated by fabless semi, nanowhatsits, and EDA/DFM companies, with a handful of greentech/cleantech and flexible/printed electronics outfits thrown in for good measure. After reading through it, I asked myself, how does the new list compare with the very first one (called the "Silicon Strategies 60" in those days), which came out in April 2004? What I discovered revealed one very telling difference: a profound absence of nascent capital equipment companies.
Only Molecular Imprints, the nanoimprint lithography tool and materials company, represents the OEM community in Version 6.1; MII is also one of the handful of companies who's stayed on the list throughout every version. (Shouldn't there be an expiration date for how long one can remain an "Emerging Startup"?)
But the Version 1.0 roster included at least nine process and metrology equipment companies, as well as a few semi/nano materials firms. Some of those companies---metrology/inspection/process control outfits Revera and Negevtech, as well as MII competitor Nanonex--have become (semi)viable, post-early-stage players. Others, like Angstron Systems, have been acquired by larger concerns (by Novellus, in Angstron's case). Still others, like one-time NEC spinoff Fab Solutions, have disappeared (or at least fallen off this reporter's radar).
The demographic change in the Emerging Startups list seems to reflect the prevailing sentiment that it's too damn hard and way too expensive to start a new semiconductor/nanoelectronics manufacturing equipment company. The market has become too global, service and support is a pricey proposition, the margins have become too thin, bla bla bla.
But isn't it important to continue fueling the enterpreneurial spark in the equipment space? Surely, if they have a solid gameplan and stick to it, don't the little guys have a shot at either growing organically or through merger and acquisition with other small and midsized companies? Or more likely, might they end up being bought by one of the big existing players or some foolhardy multinational trying to enter the space?
If you look around, you can find examples of new (or at least newish) companies making noise in certain equipment sectors. Aquest has already scored some purchase orders and has a legit shot at capturing a chunk of the automated materials handling systems business. Chinese etch and CVD tool venture AMEC is carefully putting its data ducks in the row, looking toward a late 2007 rollout, with eyes on much more than the China fab market. If nanoimprint lithography takes off and becomes a part of volume manufacturing schemes in the LED, HDD, and semiconductor (AKA holy grail) industries, MII could become a nine- or ten-figure company (if it isn't gobbled up by one of the gorillas first).
The semiconductor and related micro/nano industries' (can you say "photovoltaic"?) capital equipment space may not be as intriguing and glamourous for newbies as it once was, but I wouldn't count it out on the basis of its absence from the latest Emerging Startups list.
|
