Texas Instruments said that there were 15 recipients of the company's 2007 Supplier Excellence Award (SEA) out of over 14,000 suppliers that were all evaluated according to the program criteria such as cost, environmental responsibility, technology, responsiveness and assurance of supply and quality, amongst others. 

"Our suppliers play a vital role in TI's commitment to solving customer problems, and the SEA program is an opportunity for us to recognize those across our global supply chain that meet the highest standards of excellence," said Rob Simpson, Vice President, Worldwide Procurement and Logistics at TI. "We're very proud of our SEA recipients and appreciate the continued value they deliver to TI and its customers."

Winners of note included Toppan for photomasks, a regular winner of supplier awards in 2007, Siltronic for bare wafers, and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates for ion implanters - the only front-end equipment company listed. None of these were listed in the 2006 awards.