Varian Semiconductor Equipment Honored by United Microelectronics Corporation
GLOUCESTER, MA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2001--Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA - news), a leading supplier of ion implantation systems, today announced that it has received the Outstanding Equipment Supplier of the Year Award from United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC - news), a world-leading foundry services provider headquartered in Hsinchu-City, Taiwan. The recipient of UMC's Outstanding Equipment Supplier of the Year Award is selected based on meeting stringent criteria in the areas of technology innovation, system performance and stability, on-time delivery, competitive pricing and unsurpassed customer support.
``Varian Semiconductor Equipment is a key supplier for UMC in the ion implantation sector,'' stated Roger Chung, UMC's division director for operations support. ``Varian Semiconductor Equipment demonstrates leadership in single wafer technology and consistently provides on-time delivery, customized support and stable up-time for our existing tools. This award recognizes their outstanding performance, and we look forward to further strengthening our partnership with Varian Semiconductor Equipment through future projects.''
``We want to thank UMC for acknowledging us with this honor,'' remarked Walt Sullivan, Varian Semiconductor Equipment's vice president of customer operations and chief information officer, who accepted the award on behalf of the company. ``This award is another example of our commitment to UMC and further proves our focus on achieving superior customer satisfaction. We take great pride in our products and services and are delighted to accept this award on behalf of all of our employees who work daily to maintain our status as the customer satisfaction leader.''
About UMC
UMC, a world-leading semiconductor foundry, operates seven wafer fabs in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park. UMC's Japanese subsidiary, Nippon Foundry Inc., has one fab in Japan and UMC's joint venture with Hitachi, Trecenti Technologies, is readying to ramp production in its 300mm fab in Japan. UMC has also started construction on a 300mm facility in Taiwan's Tainan Science Park, with pilot production scheduled to start by third quarter 2001. UMC is a leader in foundry technology, with facilities ramping to reach an annual output of 2.4 million eight-inch equivalent wafers per year in 2000. UMC's joint development program with IBM and Infineon Technologies is progressing with its schedule to introduce the WorldLogic standard 0.13-micron technology this year. UMC serves customers around the world through sales and marketing offices located in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. UMC can be found on the web at umc.com.
About Varian Semiconductor:
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. is an industry leader in designing, manufacturing, marketing and servicing ion implantation systems, semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Through the process and productivity advantages of single wafer technology, VSEA is providing chipmakers with high throughput, low cost and maximum yields. The company is based in Gloucester, Massachusetts and maintains offices around the world. Its stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol ``VSEA.'' Additional information and background is available on VSEA's website www.vsea.com.
Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, the statements concerning the industry outlook, the company's sales growth, market share, capacity utilization and technological improvements and benefits, and any statements using the terms ``believes,'' ``anticipates,'' ``expects,'' ``plans'' or similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: the short operating history for the company as a separate entity; volatility in the semiconductor equipment industry; significant fluctuations in the company's quarterly operating results; risks associated with the company's transition to a new information technology infrastructure; the impact of rapid technological change and the company's dependence on the development and introduction of new products; the company's concentration on ion implantation systems and related products; concentration in the company's customer base and lengthy sales cycles; the highly competitive market in which the company competes; risks of international sales; foreign currency risks; uncertain protection of patent and other proprietary rights; potential environmental liabilities; the company's reliance on a limited group of suppliers; the ability of the company's suppliers to respond to increased demand for parts; the company's dependence on certain key personnel; as well as other risk factors described from time to time in the company's periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cannot guarantee any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievement. The company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release. |
