To All: the following should address the questions raised.
1. Will this compete with UTEK's product? Yes it will be a competitive product. I need to re-check the resolution capabilities for the UTEK product since itis not on the tip of my brain.
2. Do you feel that UTEK's position within the semiconductor gives it an advantage over LU assuming the two competing products are similar? Yes again for a few reasons. LU is not an equipment supplier and will not go into that type of business. The old Bell Labs is responsible for the original hexode plasma etcher, I believe. This was commercialized by none other than Applied Materials (AMAT). If history repeats itself, and it looks as if it will, they will allow the commercialization to occur with a third party (ISI). This looks to be the course of action. Now the question is whether there is an advatage to UTEK over ISI.
3. Will the fact that Integrated Solutions agreed to market,
manufacture, and support SCALPEL impede UTEK's chance for success?
Again, the answer is yes, but with clarifications. First, ISI is not a publicly traded company and does not have wide market acceptance for its coat/develop and stepper systems. They are not a household word yet, even though most of the people are ex-"GCA" intelligencia with a great deal of capabilities. Also, I think that ISI was trying to shop itself a few months ago in order to be more strategically positioned for its product line. Nothing came of it as far as I know. ISI is in the poor position that they do not have the market wherewithall to compete with the heavyweights yet. They may develop this over time with alliances. One of these may be with LU with the implementation of SCALPEL at LU. This may impede UTEK down the road, BUT.
4. Here is the kicker (no rumor but just an educated opinion). UTEK could easily take out ISI if they wanted to. This could be a WIN_WIN situation for both companies. The combined company benefits ISI as we see more strategic alliances or mergers taking place in the industry. UTEK gets the DUV and i-line reduction steppers to create their own family of mix-and-match tools, complete with reduction steppers. They would not need any meaningless alliances with the like of ASMLF. ISI can never be a real force in the DUV and i-line stepper business since they do not have the manufacturing capabilities to deliver volume quantities yet (key word is YET). UTEK can provide this capability to mutual benefit. ISI would help broaden the product portfolio for UTEK by adding the other litho tooling like coaters and developers. This makes a turnkey system like SVGI can do. All in all, this could be a good marriage especially since the combination of the Ultrabeam and the SCALPEL could dominate that sector of the technology. This is just a brief description of my feelings relative to a merging of resources and talent. (This is not to be the start of a rumor. This just makes good business sense to me).
5. SVGI is going to have a devil of a time post DUV. Their history is impressive but I never had any real faith or good feeling about the Micrascans or the step and scans. they would be an awesome company if they were able to ramp the Micrascan business. They may still be able to do it. However, my best Litho-Engineering Judgement is that SVGI will be struggling in the years to come. Too many competitors are focusing in on their territory (FSII and ASMLF to name a few of substance). Without IBM and INTC, the Micrascan is in serious competition with possibly better equipment (ASMLF, Nikon, Canon). If you go back through the history of the exposure tools from SVGI you may see a very unsettled past with the exception of the Projection Scanners, which are defacto standards.
At one time I felt the universe revolved around the SVG equipment and was pleased to see them acquire Thermco. What an unbeatable combination. then they took the old PE under their wings which was another stroke of genius. They were doing everything right. Their alliance with SEMATECH was necessary to carry out certain programs which should have been benefical to both parties. However, time marches on and new/old competitors caught up and possibly passed SVGI along the way. It has been catch up ever since. The Micrascan program never took off and I still believe will only be a niche player relative to the other steppers out there. The other litho tool business is at par with the competition so brand loyalty is all that remains here. The other non litho tools are a mixed bag of good and great products but there is some strong competition out there.
These comments won't endear me to a few people but you must understand this is just an opinion. I hope my comments are challenged and another side of the picture is presented for a balanced view on this subject.
Andrew |
