As part of the wrapping-up of the former DRAM memory producer, Qimonda an online auction of approximately 100 tools from its 300mm front-end fabrication operations in Dresden is set to start on March 16th, 2010 and to close on Tuesday March 30th 2010. The majority of the tool set at Qimonda’s 300mm fab in Richmond, Virginia was previously block-sold to Texas Instruments.
As a leading-edge producer, many of the tools on sale could be in strong demand, due to their immediate availability, thereby avoiding extended lead-times, a characteristic of lithography tools. The sale, organised by GoIndustry DoveBid have a number of Canon 365nm steppers as well as 193nm ArF and 248nm KrF scanners from ASML in the mix.
“It is rare to have these 300 mm fab Front End tools become available for auction.” says Jack Reinelt, CEO at GoIndustry DoveBid. “I’m sure it will raise interest in the major players, such as Samsung or UMC. This is the latest technology that creates most of the electronic products we use today.”
The sale is fully approved by the administrators of the Qimonda businesses and is part of a managed asset sales program.