Kulicke & Soffa Announces Orders for 580 Wire Bonders From SPIL
WILLOW GROVE, PA, Sep 08, 2005 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. ("K&S") (NASDAQ: KLIC) today announced that Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd. (TAIEX: 2325) (NASDAQ: SPIL), a leading provider of comprehensive semiconductor assembly and test services, has placed a series of purchase orders for 580 K&S wire bonders for its Taichung, Taiwan facility. These orders included: 160 Maxum Plus machines in the final weeks of the quarter ended June 30, 2005; current quarter to date orders for 113 Maxum Plus machines; and 307 of K&S's newest model, the Maxum Ultra, which is designed to meet the challenges of increased package functionality and small footprint devices. Deliveries for these orders began in July and are expected to be complete in October. K&S provides the majority of SPIL's wire bonder capacity and currently expects to receive additional Maxum Ultra orders to meet SPIL's ongoing production demand.
Patrick Lin, director of SPIL Operations' Support Division commented, "We are experiencing significant demand for complex IC packages being driven by low-cost, personal computers in the second half of calendar 2005 that is exceeding our current wire bonder capacity. We have now completed the engineering evaluation of our first Maxum Ultra machine, which has proven to be very successful. This was a key step in our extensive qualification process of the most difficult multi-tier and stacked die packages, requiring precision looping, bond force control, and high accuracy. This quarter will begin the transition period between the Maxum Plus and Maxum Ultra for SPIL."
"K&S remains the technology and productivity leader with the Maxum Ultra. It has the leading-edge capability in all the most difficult, advanced packages," explains Christian Rheault, vice president of K&S Ball Bonder Business Unit. "The Maxum Ultra's performance has been shown to provide over 10% higher throughput in production environments than its predecessor and has superior process capabilities for all types of devices, especially those using 90 nanometer technology." |
