Cymer may seemingly have 3 customers, but in reality virtually every semiconductor manufacturer is one as well. Cymer has established facilities in every region where semiconductors are made in order to support them with spare parts and service, in many cases directly and not through the equipment makers. Cymer had 1633 lasers installed as of Q3 last year, and each of these installations should be regarded as a customer who'll be purchasing replacement parts, service, and upgrades.
As for competition, Cymer noted in the Jan 9 Needham conference that they are gainng market share against Ushio, because Ushio has had problems mass-producing their product, and that they have more DUV installations than their two largest competitors combined. They also pointed out that Cymer is the only company with a full family of lasers at all 4 wavelengths involved in semiconductor manufacturing, whereas the competition has 'a product,' to use Robert Akins' words.
Regarding barriers to entry, the aforementioned 4-wavelength family represents a big obstacle. So does the fact that Cymer invests heavily in R&D and has obsoleted their own products 4 or 5 times now, and plan to continue to do so. That R&D has also attained them many patents, which are barriers in and of themselves. Cymer has also been making large investments in internal process improvements for years, and it shows in their product quality. Anyone wanting to get in on the game has a heavy capital investment ahead of them if they want to go head to head with Cymer's products. There's also the not-insignificant matter of Cymer having hired many of the top people in the field, and a competitor would either have to lure them away or be faced with trying to find other folks in this rather esoteric speciality.
In summary, I think Cymer is well positioned and worthy of inclusion on a list of 'best-of' semi equipment companies. |
