Kulicke & Soffa's Manufacturing Operation in China Reaches Manufacturing Milestone
Tuesday September 30, 9:57 am ET
WILLOW GROVE, PA--(MARKET WIRE)--Sep 30, 2003 -- Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. (NasdaqNM:KLIC - News) announced today that its facility in Suzhou, China reached a manufacturing milestone with the shipment of the one millionth capillary produced at that site. (Capillaries are expendable tools used with wire bonders in the semiconductor packaging process. Each wire bonder uses 1-3 capillaries in a 24 hour period, depending on the application.) Operating as Kulicke & Soffa Suzhou Limited, the 145,000 square foot facility is currently producing approximately 50% of the total K&S capillary output. Manufacturing of cantilever test products is also scheduled to commence at this facility during the December quarter.
Oded Lendner, Vice President of Worldwide Operations at K&S stated, "K&S Suzhou, Ltd. achieved its 1,000,000th part shipment milestone in record time, only 9 months after production commenced in January, 2003. Most of our customers are already purchasing production quantities of K&S capillaries manufactured in China. We are on target to continue ramping up capillary production in this new factory."
He continued, "We will continue to balance shipments from two manufacturing sites for both high-end and low-end capillaries. Many of our key customers have specifically asked K&S to rapidly respond to their demands for quick turn around of product qualification and manufacturing ramping. Multiple manufacturing sites provide a definite competitive advantage for meeting these high priority requests."
Jack Belani, Vice President of Marketing at K&S added, "Coupled with our existing capacity, the new China facility provides the additional production needed to meet growing customer demands. It also enhances our ability to serve customers in China, Taiwan, and the rest of Southeast Asia. The Suzhou facility is now able to serve a large spectrum of our customers' needs, by providing a full range of capillaries: from large models (required for low-end discrete packages) to bottle-neck models used for bond pad pitches as small as 50 microns and below."
About Kulicke & Soffa
Kulicke & Soffa (NasdaqNM:KLIC - News) is the world's leading supplier of wire bonding equipment in the semiconductor assembly market. K&S is the only equipment supplier that also develops and manufactures the products that touch a semiconductor chip's wire bonding pad surfaces, starting with electrical testing and ending with specially formed wire interconnections that remain as a part of the chip's package. These products include: test probes; bonding wire; and capillaries, which provide an all-inclusive interconnect process when used with the company's wire bonding equipment. In addition, the company offers Flip Chip wafer bumping services and technology. Chip scale and wafer level packaging solutions include Ultra CSP® technology. Test interconnect products include standard and vertical probe cards, ATE interface assemblies and ATE boards for wafer testing, as well as test sockets and contactors for all types of packages. Kulicke & Soffa's Web site address is kns.com.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are found in various places throughout the press release. While these forward-looking statements represent our judgments and future expectations concerning the development of our business, a number of risks, uncertainties and other important factors could cause actual developments and results to differ materially from our expectations. These factors include, but are not limited to, those listed or discussed in Kulicke & Soffa Industries' 2002 Annual Report on Form 10-K and: the risk of failure to successfully manage our operations; the risk that anticipated orders may not materialize or that orders received may be postponed or canceled, generally without charges; the risk that anticipated cost savings will not be achieved; the volatility in the demand for semiconductors and our products and services; acts of terrorism and violence; overall global economic conditions; risks, such as changes in trade regulations, currency fluctuations, political instability and war, associated with a substantial foreign customer and supplier base and substantial foreign manufacturing operations; potential instability in foreign capital markets; and other key factors that could adversely affect our businesses and financial performance contained in past and future filings and reports, including those with the SEC. Kulicke & Soffa Industries is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Contact:
Michael Sheaffer
Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.
+1-215-784-6411
msheaffer@kns.com
Source: Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. |
