Taiwan sounds like an inhospitable environment for Cymer competitors. Perhaps, that is why Cymer took full control of their Taiwan based subsidiary - to maintain control of this important market.
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‘The most demanding customers’
Bernie Wood, director of corporate marketing at Mattson Technology Inc., a wafer processing equipment vendor in Fremont, CA, says of the foundries, “They are some of the most demanding customers in the world.” Foundries expect their capital equipment suppliers to be process experts who can demonstrate manufacturing efficiency, and “that comes through when they buy,” he adds.
Wood says, “Intel is [mistakenly] viewed as a manufacturing powerhouse. They use some of the oldest equipment in the business, some of the most outdated equipment, because of their ‘copy exactly’ requirements. With foundries, expect the opposite.” Because foundries want to show their customers they can provide the latest process technology, they are buying some of the most advanced capital equipment available, Wood states.
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The foundries don’t have the time or the money for debugging new equipment or processes, and they want results immediately from their suppliers. Today, leading equipment vendors must optimize their products for “out of the box” operation. And they must invest heavily in service and support in Southeast Asia.
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