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Editor's Blog

The blog is written by Semiconductor Fabtech's Editor-in-Chief, Mark Osborne. Mark is also the Senior News Editor for Photovoltaics International and the PV-Tech website. He has launched multiple technology titles in print and online covering manufacturing in the automotive, shipping, semiconductor and solar sectors in a publishing career spanning three decades. Mark started blogging in 2005, the first technology editor to do so and has worked online since 1996. A veteran manufacturing technology journalist and editor, Mark as been responsible for a series of innovative formats for delivering technical content to an engineering-based audience.

Double take on Applied Materials targeting litho supplier ASML

09 July 2008
According to yesterday’s EETimes daily newsletter, ASML, the lithography tool supplier headquartered in the Netherlands, is having a tough week. Applied Materials thinks that the company’s offer to buy it was at a fair price, and Nikon has now taken the complete Intel Corp. account for immersion tools - a potential scoop for EETimes yesterday. Read more >>

AMD far from 20 percent rule

03 July 2008
Microprocessor market share data from iSuppli Corp. highlights that Intel and AMD are as far apart as they can be in terms of each company’s share of the MPU business. Intel continues to be in control of around 80 percent of the market with only slight fluctuations at that level for over a year. Read more >>

Rumors of the Apple effect’s demise have been greatly exaggerated

02 July 2008
Only yesterday, Semico Research said that the usual boost given to the NAND flash market by Apple each year, dubbed the ‘Apple effect’ as it ramps new products, hasn’t happened this time around, aggravating the oversupply situation in the NAND market. Read more >>

Memory madness set to continue

30 June 2008
In a not uncharacteristic move, the SIA tried to generate a bit of positive PR spin about the memory market in its latest May semiconductor sales report. Citing words of wisdom from Micron Technology’s latest financial conference call, the SIA claimed that DRAM demand remained strong, due to the continued increase in bit content for PCs that should see around a 50 percent growth and reach 2Gb per computer. Add to this the fact that DRAM sales were actually up 6.4 percent, compared to the industry’s 2.8 percent for May 2008, and you have a nice pretty picture! Read more >>

Take the money and run: Part 2

23 June 2008
A deal to buy the front-end operations of ASM International hit a small hurdle with ASM’s rejection of Applied Materials' second offer. However, there seems to be no outright show-stopper emerging at this point as ASM’s executives have their backs against the wall over previous lacklustre performance of the division for nearly a decade. Read more >>

Bored with 450mm

18 June 2008
It’s not the debate over the 450mm wafer transition that is boring me, rather the fact that the majority of recent stories written concerning the larger wafer size have focused on asking a range of companies about it - companies that quite simply are not going to be at the forefront of the move. In fact, many will probably never make the move! Read more >>

Weasel words of Paul Otellini

10 June 2008
Veteran hack David Manners has a great story over at Electronics Weekly about the ongoing battle between ARM Holdings and Intel Corp. over low-power microprocessors. Read more >>

Dodgy market forecast found again!

10 June 2008
Many years ago, a market research report on the lithography equipment supplier market share positions stood out like a sore thumb because Canon’s share had suddenly shot up inexplicably. I wasn’t alone in seriously questioning the figures, as the then-news editor at European Semiconductor, Mike Cooke, also thought the figures were wrong and went off to do his own checking. Read more >>

NAND flash recovery fading fast

23 May 2008
According to Toshiba’s Senior Vice President Shozo Saito, the NAND flash producer is anticipating price erosion of 50 percent in 2008. Is that being optimistic? It seems to be so when you consider that ASPs fell by 36 percent in 1Q08, according to iSuppli Corp. Read more >>

AMD ducking and diving over 450mm wafer transition

21 May 2008
I am taking the lead from new Editor-in-Chief at Solid State Technology magazine Pete Singer, who reported the news from their own ConFab event being held this week in Sin City via a newsletter. ConFab is a closed event to the rest of the media but I have posted a link to Pete’s story below. Read more >>