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| Never Underestimate the
Power of the Internet for Packaging Foundries |
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Unless you've been away on another planet
for the past few years, you've learned about the incredible
power of the Internet as both a research and marketing tool.
These lessons have not been wasted on
the majority of IC packaging foundries, either.
I recently spent a day or so surfing the
net, preparing for our SEMICON West issue feature on packaging
foundries. Gathering material from and about each individual
company used to be mostly a hit-and-miss affair. Now, for
the most part, everything is out there for everyone -including
the media and the public at large-to see.
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By
Ron Iscoff
Editor
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In pre-Web days, assemblers tended to be rather sensitive
about competitors getting a glance at their literature. No more.
The problem today, with so many using the Web as their primary distribution
tool for literature, is that many assemblers don't know when to
stop!
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As you might expect, the larger assemblers,
especially the ones with extensive U.S. sales, tend to have
the most sophisticated Web sites. Amkor, the largest, requires
more than a hundred pages to print out the data kept on its
site. Others, particularly where the customer base is mostly
local or regional, are still fairly primitive. One, a European
assembler based in the Netherlands, has had an "under construction"
sign for about the past six months.
One of the truly premier Web sites belonged
to Abpac Inc., the Phoenix, Ariz.-based BGA assembler that
shut down in January. Founder Bob Marrs, one of the most media-savvy
packaging veterans in the industry, made his Web site a priority
marketing tool.
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| Amkor's
web site is bulging with information. |
It's usually fairly straightforward to guess
an assembler's domain name, until you punch in www.ase.com
for ASE in Taiwan and are rewarded with Arlington Software Etc.
The table that follows is a representative-though
not complete-listing of some of the larger IC assembly and test
providers who have posted their package capabilities.
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Look for a complete listing of Web Sites in the
SEMICON West issue of Chip Scale Review.
You 'll
find Hana Microelectronics at www.hanagroup.com.
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Hana Continues
We reported the acquisition of Hana Technologies Ltd., Hong
Kong, by Advanced Microtronics Technology, Mauritius, in the last
issue. The deal included other Hana operating units, including AIT
(formerly Olin Interconnect Technologies of Manteca, Calif.)
A Hana rep advised us recently that we didn't
report the whole story. Working from relatively vague information,
we believed-and likely conveyed the impression-that the purchase
was the end of Hana Micro-electronics, headquartered in Bangkok.
T'aint so! Hana Microelectronics continues as a separate entity
with some 7,000 employees. To prove it, we're picturing Hana's Web
site.
Send your missives, brickbats, computer viruses
and congratulations to the editor at chipscale@cs.com.
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