The Week In Review: Manufacturing


In a major and surprising move in the fab tool business, Lam Research has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire KLA-Tencor for about $10.6 billion in cash and stock. "Lam Research and KLA-Tencor have been working to tie together process and process control in an effort to expand process windows and better enable complex production steps, like multi-patterning. This acquisition form... » read more

China’s MEMS Foundry Business Takes Shape


By Clark Tseng Over the years, MEMS has evolved from a niche segment to a strong growth market thanks to the wide adoption from mobile devices in recent years. With the industry moving to the Internet of Things (IoT) era, MEMS will play an even more important role ─ enabling the realization of IoT environment. In the semiconductor ecosystem, China is the largest consumption market but i... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Is the sky falling in the IC equipment market? Not yet, but watch out below. Semi capital spending is expected to reach $60.37 billion in 2015, down 1% from 2014, according to Pacific Crest Securities. “Although we trimmed 2016 capex three weeks ago, we are trimming some more. We now see semiconductor capex down 4% in 2016. However, we do not see capex falling off a cliff in 2016 (i.e., down ... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


Samsung Semiconductor unveiled its North American R&D Headquarters for its Device Solutions group in San Jose, Calif. The new campus is a 1.1 million-square-foot R&D, sales and marketing center. Is 5G the next big thing in wireless? Verizon–the first company to introduce 4G LTE–is once again poised to usher in a new era with an aggressive roadmap for fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless t... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


In case you missed it, Apple rolled out its latest iPhones and other products. The latest iPhone 6 is using chips based on finFETs. So, who won Apple’s application processor foundry business for the iPhone 7? “In our foundry checks, it appears Apple is likely splitting the 14/16nm business for the recent product launches between TSMC and Samsung. We suspect Samsung’s 14nm is used for the ... » read more

SEMICON Taiwan’s Packaging Punch


SEMICON Taiwan packed a punch, setting several new records and new heights in 2015. This year marked the 20th anniversary of SEMICON in Taiwan and was the largest SEMICON in Taiwan ever, with a Nobel Prize winner (Professor Shuji Nakamura, 2014’s winner) keynoting the Executive Summit, Taiwan’s President Ma speaking at the hugely attended Gala Dinner, and 2015 on track for TSMC to be the wo... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


KKR, an investment firm, announced that it is leading a $42 million growth equity investment in Optimal+, a provider of manufacturing intelligence software solutions for adaptive IC test applications. In case you missed it, Apple rolled out its latest iPhones and other products. The latest iPhone 6 is using chips based on finFETs, according to AnandTech, a hi-tech site. Samsung is the main... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


GlobalFoundries has partnered with Catena, a supplier of radio frequency (RF) communication IPs, to offer complete Wi-Fi and Bluetooth solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) designers targeting mobile, Internet-of-Things (IoT), RF connectivity markets. In addition, GlobalFoundries and QEOS are partnering to co-develop the industry’s first mmW CMOS platform. Samsung Electronics said that its 20... » read more

Much Ado About Weakening Currency, China, And IoT


At the 10th annual SEMI/Gartner Market Symposium, keynoted by ARM’s Ian Ferguson, market analysts gathered to present their views on the current state of the industry. Several key themes emerged including weakening currency impact on the industry’s forecasts, China’s $20 billion Industry Fund, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Industry overview and trends were presented by Bob Johnson,... » read more

The Week In Review: Manufacturing


SEMI released its book-to-bill report for the North American semiconductor industry. The ratio was 1.02 for the month of July, up from 0.98 in June and 0.99 in May. The ratio is a three-month moving average of bookings and billings, and for July the average hit $1.559 billion. That's the highest so far this year, and it's up 12.5% year over year. Brooks Automation acquired Contact Co.,... » read more

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