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To: Ian@SI who wrote (22827)	8/6/1999 10:53:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

LCD semiconductor equipment lead time lengthens due to equipment shortages. It's not DUV, but I like the trend....... techweb.com Scarce Equipment Compounds TFT-LCD Shortage (08/06/99, 7:03 p.m. ET) By Jack Robertson, Electronic Buyers' News Manufacturing expansion plans under way in South Korea and Taiwan may not bring relief to the industry's thin-film transistor (TFT)-LCD shortage any time soon, as display makers in these countries are reporting long delays in production-equipment lead times. Even as the flat-panel deficit threatens to retard growth in the notebook-PC and desktop-monitor replacement markets, a scarcity of manufacturing tools has LCD makers griping about their lack of supply. The shortage covers almost the full gamut of display production equipment, including lithography, resist and etching tools, deposition chambers, and substrate handling devices. Engineers to install and check out equipment are also said to be in short supply, so even if equipment can be delivered, there can be a problem getting it properly installed and qualified, according to vendors. "[The] equipment we need is on allocation," said David Barnes, business technology manager for Philips Flat Display Systems, in San Jose, Calif. "We're getting one or two machines every couple of weeks, but nothing on the scale we need to get production lines ready. We're not going to have new capacity on line as soon as we had hoped." Philips and its joint-venture partner, South Korea's LG LCD, had planned to bring a third TFT-LCD fab on line next year, but the facility is competing for scarce equipment. Samsung Electronics is having the same problems completing its Line 3 in Chonan, South Korea, said Avo Kanadjian, vice president of memory marketing for San Jose-based Samsung Semiconductor. Samsung said it hopes the equipment bottleneck eases by the time the company starts building its fourth-generation Line 4 late this year. Initial production at that site is slated for the second half of 2000. The pressure in Taiwan, where more than a half-dozen new TFT-LCD fabs are under construction, is even more severe. The expected influx of panels coming from these new facilities signals the next wave of TFT-LCD oversupply, according to analysts. But Taiwan's panel makers now say they are struggling through the same equipment shortages as their competitors in South Korea and elsewhere, and may not be able to ramp new production as quickly as planned. In Japan, the equipment bottleneck is hampering Toshiba's plan to establish a polysilicon TFT-LCD production base and capture an early lead in this new market. Bob Brown, president and chief operating officer of Toshiba America Electronic Components, in Irvine, Calif., said the company is building a major new polysilicon fab in Fukaya, Japan, but is "facing equipment delays, just like everyone else." Display suppliers bemoaned the fact that a number of newflat-panel markets are hitting their stride just as the industry is falling into another period of shortage. "Suddenly, all these efforts are coming to fruition, and we have many new customers clamoring for displays just at the time we can't build enough panels," said Joel Pollack, director of sales and marketing for display products at Sharp Electronics' Microelectronics Group, in Camas, Wash. Panel makers expect the shortage to continue for some time, given the volatility of the LCD market.