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

To: Stefan who wrote (10173)	10/31/1997 7:10:00 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 70976

Stefan, I believe this was a quote from Jim Morgan Chairman of AMAT in an interview some months back, something to the effect of "NO ONE WANTS TO BE KNOWN AS THE COMPANY THAT BUILT THE LAST 200mm FAB", I don't have a date but I think it was during a Semicon interview with the media. For what it's worth to the laymen: (300mm) Pilot/research lines are developmental pre-production test/design facilities which are used to bring new products and processes into a mini production environment. It is in these facilities that the equipment, processes, and production strategies are layed out and debugged. This allows manufacturers to engineer out problems and determine if the equipment can perform to the level necessary before making a volume purchase of equipment. The intent is to develop working chips using the equipment and processes similar to the way they would be used in a fully working fab environment. It usually takes 6-12 months get the right combination working but can take shorter or longer depending on the problems. Often, vendors help support the development of the equipment and processes and make modifications to address problems, some of the equipment is proto-type in nature which means it is considered a "beta" release or a pre-production model, not necessarily the final manufacturing released version. BB

To: Stefan who wrote (10173)	11/2/1997 7:27:00 PM
From: Scott Brooks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Stefan, All, <<Name companies that directly said that they do not want to be last to build 200mm line and what would be the reason? No speculations pleas! Just facts!>> I must admit that I am guilty of not hearing it straight from the horse's mouth, but my perception is based in part on comments made during the Silcon Valley Group CC (SVGI). You must admit, that intuitively, it makes sense - why pay premium $$ for technology that has never really been used in the field. Why should I suffer the steep end of the learning curve when I can wait and learn from others? ESB