Online information source for semiconductor professionals

After the Chinese New-Year holidays, both leading Taiwan-based foundries, TSMC and UMC have got back to work early, placing orders with Lam Research. In-line with usual buying habits, TSMC placed the largest of the two orders worth approximately US$33.3 million. Read more >>

Both TSMC and UMC have placed purchase orders with KLA-Tencor this week, enabling the metrology and yield specialist to record bookings of almost US$70 million. Read more >>

Updated. Perhaps semiconductor equipment suppliers are offering January sales like the retail trade as the largest foundry in the world; TSMC has gone on spending spree over the last few weeks. Purchase orders have been placed ASML, Applied Materials, Novellus, KLA-Tencor and Tokyo Electron (TEL) that add-up to one of its strongest capital equipment spending periods in the last 12-months. Read more >>

According to the November Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI, bookings strengthened slightly from reaching a low in September and October. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in November 2011 was US$973.3 million, up 5% over the final October level of US$926.8 million but 35.7% below bookings of US$1.51 billion posted in November 2010. Read more >>

Rumours have circulated for years over the possible merger of Lam Research and Novellus Systems as there is little overlap in product portfolios. However, rumours have finally turned to reality in an all stock deal that values Novellus at US$3.3 billion. The deal is the second major acquisition within the top 10 equipment suppliers this year, following quickly on the acquisition of Varian Semiconductor by Applied Materials. Read more >>

Taiwan-based foundry, UMC has kept a tight reign on capital spending in 2011, advising in the third quarter that CapEx would be restricted to US$1.8 billion. As the year draws to an end, UMC has announced tool purchases from ASML and Tokyo Electron worth approximately US$127 million, ending the year with a spending flurry. Read more >>

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings continued its strong decline in the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest figures from SEMI. Bookings were US$7.6 billion, down 38% from the same quarter a year ago and 29% lower than the bookings figure for the second quarter of 2011. Read more >>

Wafer bonding and lithography equipment supplier EV Group has been tapped for one of its tools by Asahi Kasei E-Materials Corp. EV Group has shipped an IQ Aligner UV nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) system to the company, which will use the tool for development of materials for high-resolution wafer-level optics. Read more >>

Bookings took a bashing in September, according to the latest monthly book-to-bill figures released by SEMI. North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment booked only US$984 million in the month, down from US$1.162 billion in August, continuing a rapid decline that started in June, 2011. The bookings figure is 15.3% less than the final August 2011 level and is 40.4% below the US$1.65 billion in orders posted in September 2010. The decline in bookings on a quarter-to-quarter bases is approximately US$1.32 billion. Read more >>

Rudolph Technologies has shipped its ‘Wafer Scanner 3880 3D Inspection System,’ multiple ‘NSX’ Macro Defect Inspection Systems and its ‘Discover’ Yield Management Software Suite to a leading semiconductor manufacturer. The customer will use the systems for developing through silicon via (TSV) based processes for advanced 3D IC integration. Read more >>