Sunday, February 26, 2017

Taiwan first, Korea second

Taiwan Maintains Largest Share of Global IC Wafer Fab Capacity
South Korea narrows gap with Taiwan; China  shows biggest  increase, accounts for nearly 11%

Where all those ALD tools shuffling wafers? Very few are in Europe - most of them are installed in Asia and that is Taiwan, South Korea and Japan and a considerable amount of them in USA (Fabs of Intel, Micron, Globalfoundries and Samsung) and with a growth in China as well.

IC Insights recently released its new Global Wafer Capacity 2017-2021 report that provides in-depth detail, analyses, and forecasts for IC industry capacity by wafer size, by process geometry, by region, and by product type through 2021.




Full article : LINK

Friday, February 24, 2017

Aixtron announced its financial results for fiscal year 2016

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; OTC: AIXNY), a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, today announced its financial results for fiscal year 2016 and the fourth quarter 2016. 

Slide from earnings call (aixtron.com)
Following a strong second half, AIXTRON met its guidance published at the beginning of the year. At EUR 196.5 million, total revenues for 2016 virtually matched the previous year’s figure (2015: EUR 197.8m), while Q4/2016 revenues came to EUR 89.8m (Q3/2016: EUR 51.2m). This figure, which represents the highest quarterly revenues since 2011, was due to a high volume of planned system shipments. The largest contributions came from production systems for LED, telecom and optoelectronics, as well as for the silicon industry. 
Silicon that is about 21% of Aixtron´s revenue supplies the following thechnologies by ALD and CVD:
• DRAM Dielectric and Metal Electrode
• Flash Inter Poly Dielectric and Metals
• ReRAM and PCRAM Active element and Electrode
• Logic Gate stack
• Logic High MobilityChannel
The Aixtron workhorse in 300mm - the ALD multichamber technology that saw it first steps when Aixtron tool over US ALD/CVD OEM Genus mor that 10 years ago. Slide from earnings call (aixtron.com)


The following slide deck was published by Aixtron AG in conjunction with their 2016 Q4 earnings call : http://www.aixtron.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IR/2016/FY-2016/170223.1_FY_2016_IR_Master_Presentation_approved.pdf

Earnings call transcript : http://seekingalpha.com/article/4049721-aixtrons-aixg-ceo-martin-goetzeler-q4-2016-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Korean ALD OEM business is growing in OLED & Memory

According to Seeking Alpha, Korean ALD OEMs led by Jusung Engineering is growing quick for flexible OLED and Memory business (3DNAND & DRAM). It will be interesting to see if this will be verified when the Research Companies will release their 2016 numbers in the next 1-2 months. Please keep in mind that ALD is not always ALD and that Lam Research have a lot of dielectric CVD business in 3DNAND shuffling those 64 Layer stacks.

 Jusung Engineering (jseng.com)
 
Seeking Alpha summary:
  • Applied Materials is facing a two-pronged attack on its entrenched PECVD thin film deposition technology in OLED displays and memory devices from Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology.
  • Korean ALD equipment suppliers Jusung Engineering and NCD are gaining market share from Applied Materials in flexible OLED displays for smartphones.
  • Korean ALD equipment suppliers Jusung and Wonik IPS and U.S. supplier Lam Research are rapidly gaining market share from Applied Materials in 3D NAND and DRAMs.
 Full article: LINK

Friday, February 17, 2017

ASM International to report operating results for the 2016 / 4Q March 2, 2017

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) will report operating results for the 2016 fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016 at approximately:
  • 18:00 p.m. Continental European Time - Thursday, March 2, 2017.
  • 12:00 a.m. (noon) US Eastern Time - Thursday, March 2, 2017.
ASM International will host an investor conference call and webcast on Friday, March 3, 2017 at 15:00 Continental European Time (9:00 a.m. - US Eastern Time).
The teleconference dial-in numbers are as follows: 
  • United States:         +1 212 444 0895
  • International:           +44 (0)20 3427 1913
  • The Netherlands:     +31 (0)20 716 8295
  • Access Code:          8413062
A simultaneous audio webcast and replay will be accessible at www.asm.com.


Friday, February 10, 2017

Globalfoundries announces a Global expansion

Globalfoundries announced a Global expansion today.  Investments across existing and new Fabs announced, all connected by growing customer demand.

Santa Clara, Calif., February 9, 2017 – GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced plans to expand its global manufacturing footprint in response to growing customer demand for its comprehensive and differentiated technology portfolio. The company is investing in its existing leading-edge fabs in the United States and Germany, expanding its footprint in China with a fab in Chengdu, and adding capacity for mainstream technologies in Singapore.

 
In Germany, GF plans to build up 22FDX® 22nm FD-SOI capacity at is Fab 1 facility in Dresden to meet demand for the Internet of Things (IoT), smartphone processors, automotive electronics, and other battery-powered wirelessly connected applications, growing the overall fab capacity by 40 percent by 2020. Dresden will continue to be the center for FDX technology development. GF engineers in Dresden are already developing the company’s next-generation 12FDXTM technology, with customer product tape-outs expected to begin in the middle of 2018.


In China, GF and the Chengdu municipality have formed a partnership to build a fab in Chengdu. The partners plan to establish a 300mm fab to support the growth of the Chinese semiconductor market and to meet accelerating global customer demand for 22FDX. The fab will begin production of mainstream process technologies in 2018 and then focus on manufacturing GF’s commercially available 22FDX process technology, with volume production expected to start in 2019.

Continue:  https://t.co/R2nMYWJSa0


Thursday, February 9, 2017

Toshiba Starts Construction of Fab 6 and Memory R&D Center at Yokkaichi, Japan

Yokkaichi, Japan—Toshiba Corporation (Tokyo: 6502) today announced that it has started construction of a new state-of-the-art semiconductor fabrication facility, Fab 6, and a new R&D center, the Memory R&D Center, at Yokkaichi Operations in Mie prefecture, Japan, the company’s main memory production base. 
 

Fab 6 will be dedicated to production of BiCS FLASH™, Toshiba's innovative 3D Flash memory1. Like Fab 5, construction will take place in two phases, allowing the pace of investment to be optimized against market trends, with completion of Phase 1 scheduled for summer 2018. Toshiba will determine installed capacity and output targets and schedules by closely monitoring the market.

Toshiba will also construct a Memory R&D Center adjacent to the new fab, with completion targeting December 2017. The facility will advance development of BiCS FLASH™ and new memories. 
 
 
 
Toshiba is determined to enhance its competitiveness in the memory business by timely expansion of BiCS FLASH™ production in line with market trends, and to retain leadership in innovation in the memory business.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Intel to finish Fab 42 in Arizona & bring new 7nm capacity online

Digitimes Research: China makers aggressively expanding AMOLED capacity

Digitimes Research reports: "Seven China-based panel makers have been expanding existing or setting up new AMOLED production capacities, with total annual capacity estimated to increase from 272,000 square meters in 2016 to 1.584 million square meters in 2018, 4.464 million square meters in 2019, and 7.864 million square meters in 2020 at a 2016-2020 CAGR of 131.9%, according to Digitimes Research."
 
 
Royole’s Flexible Display : Since inception, we have dedicated ourselves to the development of innovative flexible display technologies and applications, covering novel materials, processes, circuits, manufacturing tools and others, which enabled us to demonstrate the world’s thinnest (0.01 mm) full-color flexible display with 1.00 mm bending radius. (www.royole.com)

Samsung Display and LG Display is still well in the lead now and will stay so also until 2020. However, a transition to flexible AMOLED by the South Korea based companies is ongoing (46.1% in 2016 to 72.6% in 2020).
 
2016 to 2020 AMOLED Production

South Korea: 4.945 to 15.130 million square meters
China: 272,000 to 7.864 million square meters
 
If ALD will make progress in this market the market will be very big and lead to big investments in ALD equipment and enhanced world consumption of ALD precursors like TMA.
 
Chinese display companies mentioned in the report: BOE Technology, Tianma Micro-electronics, Visionox, EverDisplay Optronics, China Star Optoelectronics Technology, Truly Opto-Electronics and Royole

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Veeco Enters into Agreement to Acquire Ultratech


Ultratech, Inc.
Feb 2, 2017

PLAINVIEW, NY and SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/02/17 --
  • Creates a leading equipment supplier to the growing Advanced Packaging industry
  • Increases scale and revenue diversification to improve profitability through industry cycles
  • Transaction valued at approximately $815 million, expected to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP EPS
  • Conference Call at 5:00pm ET today
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), a global leader of advanced thin film etch and deposition process equipment, and Ultratech, Inc. (NASDAQ: UTEK), a leading supplier of lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and LEDs, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Veeco Instruments Inc. ("Veeco") to acquire Ultratech, Inc. ("Ultratech"). The Boards of Directors of both Veeco and Ultratech have unanimously approved the transaction.



ALD is not reported by neither conmpany. One can assume however that ALD is big part of the sector "Scientiffic" ta Ultratech. According to Gartener Ultratech had almost USD 9M in reveue 2015 From the Investor slides given here : LINK

Ultratech shareholders will receive (i) $21.75 per share in cash and (ii) 0.2675 of a share of Veeco common stock for each Ultratech common share outstanding. Based on Veeco's closing stock price on February 1, 2017, the transaction consideration is valued at approximately $28.64 per Ultratech share. The implied total transaction value is approximately $815 million and the implied enterprise value is approximately $550 million, net of Ultratech's net cash balance as of December 31, 2016. Post transaction it is projected that Ultratech shareholders will own approximately 15 percent of the combined company.

Ultratech is a recognized leader of lithography products for Advanced Packaging applications and for LEDs and is a pioneer for laser spike anneal technology used for the production of semiconductor devices. In addition, the company offers wafer inspection solutions leveraging its proprietary coherent gradient sensing (CGS) technology which address a wide variety of semiconductor applications.

"The strategic combination will establish Veeco as a leading equipment supplier in the high growth Advanced Packaging industry. Ultratech's leadership in lithography together with Veeco's Precision Surface Processing (PSP) solutions form a strong technology portfolio to address the most critical Advanced Packaging applications. We believe our complementary end market exposure and customer relationships will create the ideal platform to accelerate growth," said John R. Peeler, Veeco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Ultratech is a great fit with our strategy to profitably grow our business and diversify our revenue. We expect this transaction to be immediately accretive to adjusted EBITDA and non-GAAP EPS."

Ultratech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Arthur W. Zafiropoulo said, "Both companies have a strong heritage of developing innovative and cutting-edge technologies. The combined company will create a formidable team to execute against growth opportunities and deliver significant value to customers and shareholders."

Veeco expects to realize approximately $15 million in annualized run rate synergies within 24 months after closing, to be achieved through increased efficiencies and leveraging the scale of the combined businesses. The combined company is expected to have an efficient balance sheet, benefiting from the deployment of excess cash.
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The transaction is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2017, subject to approval by Ultratech shareholders, regulatory approvals in the U.S. and other customary closing conditions.