The blog is written by Semiconductor Fabtech's Editor-in-Chief, Mark Osborne. He has been covering the semiconductor and related industries for over ten years. Mark has been blogging tech since 2005.
Are you uncertain about the 2010 IC industry recovery? It may help to consider these actual data points and current expectations that offer support for an increasingly positive outlook for the IC industry this year. The 10 points listed should provide the reader with some encouragement with regard to the IC industry and its suppliers in 2010. Is it clear skies and smooth sailing for the rest of the year? Not, quite. Some potential “pot holes” on the road to 2010 success include: a possible spike in oil prices to greater than US$100 barrel; a major terrorist attack that weakens consumer confidence and the economy along with it; and/or, another major shock to the financial system like a major collapse of a country’s economy.
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Guest blog by Tod Higinbotham, Executive Vice President, Process Solutions, ATMI
In 4Q08, General Electric’s chief executive Jeff Immelt coined the term “reset economy.” He used this phrase in an attempt to describe what he expected to be a very different world after the global economic crisis came to an end as compared to before the meltdown. His belief was that businesses, governments, and consumers would operate very differently in the post-crisis economy and that GE needed to adjust to this new environment.
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On the surface (pun intended) there would seem to be of little interest or need to know more about the recent acquisition by Applied Materials of a small cap semiconductor equipment supplier, Semitool. The Montana-based wet processing specialist has been around for a long-time and perhaps because of where it is based, compared with many equipment suppliers clustered in Silicon Valley, it gets little attention in comparison. However, solar cell producers may well find that they get a knock on the cleanroom door soon from Applied, to discuss porous silicon processes and a wet processing tool called the ‘Raider.’
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The impact of the latest semiconductor industry downturn goes further downstream than the red ink on the balance sheets. According to SEMI’s World Fab Forecast updated recently, 19 fabs closed in 2008 and as many as 31 facilities are expected to have closed by the end of 2009.
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The recovering semiconductor market has prompted MEMC to raise the issue of increasing silicon wafer prices in the new year. As the industry downturn pushed the wafer producer into lowering prices as overall fab utilization rates plummeted and older 200mm fabs started to close for good, business went into the red. MEMC has just reported an operating loss during the third quarter of US$66.7 million.
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Texas Instruments has bid US$172.5 million for the 300mm fab equipment up for sale at Qimonda’s Richmond, Virginia facility. Bankruptcy court documents don’t reveal much else, except that TI is a stalking horse bidder in this case, which I think means that TI and Qimonda doubt that higher bids will be received but if they do, Qimonda will have to pay (from where!) a break-up fee.