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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (31079)	6/17/1999 7:39:00 PM
From: Math Junkie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Bookings up 4% month-to-month, now only 13% below all-time-high of 1997.

To: FJB who wrote (31079)	6/17/1999 10:33:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Sematech introduces economic model, promises cooperation with equipment suppliers A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story updated 4 p.m. EST/1 p.m., PST, 6/17/99 KYONGJU, Korea --During a board meeting here today, International Sematech introduced an economic model that's intended to help chip makers and their equipment suppliers determine the impact of new technologies and acceleration of process shrinks on their businesses. Sematech's model uses a variety of inputs--including wafer process cost, device density and speed of manufacturing ramp--to analyze cost per electronic function. The model was developed recently after a series of meetings in the past year between Sematech, equipment suppliers and chip makers from around the world (see story in the June issue of SBN). The economic model will be further developed by Sematech, and the results will be shared with the entire industry, said the consortium's top managers in a recent interview with SBN. During today's meeting, Sematech also announced it was moving ahead with a planned merger of its U.S.-only consortium organization and the year-old international subsidiary. As a result, international member companies--Hyundai, Infineon, Philips, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC)--are becoming full members of the consortium, which will be called International Sematech once the restructuring is completed next year (see today's story). The meeting also was the first time that Sematech had hosted a joint meeting of executives from global equipment suppliers and its international board of directors. The two sides discussed economic and business issues facing both segments of the industry. The forum was the first of what is planned to be regular meetings designed to promote open communications on semiconductor industry challenges, said the consortium. "It is one industry, the semiconductor industry, and we need to ensure that all groups within the industry are working together as much as possible," said Mark Melliar-Smith, president and CEO of Sematech. "We may have different challenges and objectives, but we all share a common goal of maintaining the industry's historical productivity curve." The forum also focused on the impact of the accelerated pace of technology in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, which is being updated by technical committees under guidance of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). A debate continues over a proposal to accelerate the cycles between technology nodes to two years vs. three (see story in the June issue of SBN). "We hope to work together as an industry to develop a model for interaction which includes a high-level macro economic model that addresses the impact of technology acceleration on manufacturing capacity, fab life and upgrades, equipment return-on-investment, and overall productivity," said Melliar-Smith. "Through this and other forums we can verify and share our ideas and maintain communication and cooperation between global suppliers and semiconductor manufacturers." Capital equipment executives attending the forum were encouraged. "Cooperation and mutual trust will come when we truly share a common economic interest," said Kenneth Levy, chairman of KLA-Tencor Corp., based in San Jose. "The consequence of an error in the technology roadmap could be disastrous because it focuses a tremendous amount of R&D effort on the part of the supplier." "Today we reached an understand that as an industry we need a feedback system that corrects those errors," Levy said. "The feedback system is a common economic interest." Some capital equipment executives have complained recently that the SIA roadmap was pushing technology too fast and not giving them a chance to recoup their investments. Semiconductor equipment companies also became disgruntled last year when the 300-mm movement stalled and few chip makers were willing to commit to production schedules after supplied spent more than $4 billion on tools for larger diameter substrates. "This meeting has been a major step forward in providing a global forum for addressing the common economic forces affecting the semiconductor industry," said Stanley Myers, president of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group, who also participated in the meeting. SEMI said it will assist International Sematech in communications efforts to ensure all equipment suppliers have access to the interaction model under development. Sematech also said it expects to work through the regional supplier organizations including SEMI/Sematech, SEAJ, and SMEA to ensure all suppliers are fully informed of the information from the forum. 204.247.196.14