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

To: davesd who wrote (9216)	10/23/1997
From: Paul V.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Dave and threaders, following is an E-mail which I received from MEMC. What are your responses? Paul V I am posting it to the thread since it is relevant to your previous discussions: >There seems tobe a common misperception on 12" or 300mm wafers. The 8" wafer was first introduced in 1984. Since its introduction, the 6" wafer has been the predominate wafer used in the semiconductor industry in terms of millions of square inches (msi) consumed. 1997 is forecast by Dataquest to be the first year that the 8" wafer will become the predominate wafer consumed. This seems to also be in line with our thinking. Dataquest and others have forecast that the far majority of silicon growth will be in the form of 8" wafers over the next several years. This is the reason that we have been adding 8" capacity. This seems to make sense when you consider that all the new fabs being announce and equipped today are 8" fabs. Although the recent SEMICON events and announcements from companies (including MEMC) have talked about 12" wafer technology, how many announcements have discussed the building of 12" semiconductor fabs? While some companies are discussing pilot lines, the time frame is somewhat vague. Don't take this message the wrong way. 12" wafers are coming and that is why we are investing R&D dollars, have a pilot line in St. Peters and are builing a small integrated development line in Japan. By being a leader in this technology, we believe that we can gain a competitive advantage over our competitors in new and existing customers. The rumors that we are behind in the development in the 12" wafer are just that. The reports that we have gotten back from sample wafers sent to the consortia are very good. You also need to remember that at this point in its development that only developmental wafers / test monitor wafers are being produced. The biggest question surrounding the trasition to 12" wafers at this point is when will the photolithography people have a 12" stepper available.<