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ASAT Takes Wall Street New York-Hong Kong-based ASAT Ltd. joined the short list of publicly traded IC packaging foundries in July with a listing on the NASDAQ (ASTT). The company is one of the largest Asian assemblers, with more than 5,000 employees in Hong Kong. The QPL International Holdings subsidiary, founded in 1988, opened at $12 with trading in ADRs. The company, however, ended its first week 1-1/16 below its offering price. The drop, on a volume exceeding 600,000 shares, puzzled a company spokesman in Fremont, Calif., who said there was no negative news to account for the decline. [asat.com] Fairchild Semi Promotes Two with IC Packaging Duties
South Portland, Maine-Fairchild Semiconductor International has promoted K.T. Tan to vice president of global operations. He will have worldwide responsibility for Fairchild's assembly and test operations in Pinang, Malaysia, and Cebu, in the Philippines. Until his promotion, Tan served as managing director of the Pinang facility. Tan, with 29 years experience in semiconductors and manufacturing operations, received a bachelor's degree in Singapore. In his new post, he reports to Jerry Baker, executive vice president of global operations. D'Escoubet to Senior VP The company also recently promoted Ernesto J. D'Escoubet to senior vice president and chief technology officer. D'Escoubet was most recently vice president of operations, responsible for all manufacturing at company sites in South Portland and Pinang. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla. [fairchildsemi.com]
Mitsui Hi-tec Appoints Ron Kampa Senior Sales Manager Austin, Texas-Ron Kampa has been named senior sales manager for Mitsui High-tec (USA). Based in Austin, he is responsible for overseeing all Southern U.S. sales. He joined Mitsui Hi-tec from Motorola, where he managed contract assembly and test for Motorola's SPS Division. He holds a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Georgia Tech and an MBA from the University of Texas. [mitsui-high-tec.com]
Ron Blankenhorn Appointed President of Pac Tech USA Menlo Park, Calif.-Industry veteran Ron Blankenhorn has been appointed president and CEO of Pac Tech USA. He will be responsible for the Berlin-based firm's sales and marketing organization in the U.S., and for strategic planning, working from offices in Menlo Park. According to Pac Tech GmbH, Blankenhorn will also be charged with staffing a fully functional electroless Ni/Au wafer bumping facility in Silicon Valley. When operational, the plant will serve existing U.S. customers who are now being served from Germany. Blankenhorn was a co-founder of the Stanford Venture Group LLC, and has held various top-level posts at Nitto Denko, SEEQ, OKI Semiconductor and NEC. He earned a master's degree from Stanford University and a bachelor's from San Jose State University. [ron@pactech-usa.com]
Franklin Joins MTI as VP of Worldwide Sales & Marketing Ventura, Calif.-Bob Franklin has joined Manufacturing Technology Inc., a manufacturer of slicing and dicing systems and related products, as vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. For the past 12 years, Franklin has been director of sales at Ultratech Stepper Inc. Earlier he was involved in sales management with both Perkin-Elmer Corp. and Texas Instruments. He earned a bachelor's degree from Southeastern Oklahoma University. [mtionline.com]
ASE Books $29M Order for K&S Bonders Willow Grove, Pa.-Advanced Semi-conductor Engineering, Taiwan, has placed an order with Kulicke & Soffa Industries for model 8020 ball bonders valued at $29 million, according to K&S. The order is in addition to a $29 million order for the 8028 bonders placed in April. The machines will ship during this fiscal year to ASE's Kaohsiung, Taiwan, plant and will be used to produce high leadcount PBGA packages. [kns.com] GPD Opens Asia-Pacific Office in Taiwan Grand Junction, Colo.-General Product Devices, a division of LIFT Industries Inc., has opened an Asia-Pacific operations office in Taiwan. The office is located at 4F-5 Chuon-San Rd., Chuon-Ho, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan, phone 886.2.3234.8650. [gpd-global.com] Advantest Will Bundle IMS' Software Santa Clara, Calif.-Advantest America will bundle software from IMS, Beaverton, Oregon, with every U.S.-based Advantest T6600 series ultra high speed logic test system. The software will consist of IMS' Digital VirtualTester and TestDirect, which are used for IC design verification and production test program development. [advantest.com]
Philips to Acquire IBM's MiCRUS Semiconductor East Fishkill, N.Y.-Philips Semiconductors plans to acquire IBM's MiCRUS semiconductor facility and invest $100 million to hike plant capacity. Philips expects to employ the entire 950-person MiCRUS workforce. The facility produces 0.35 and 0.25-micron CMOS on 200-mm wafers. [semi-ny.com] Lucent to Spin Off its IC and Opto Divisions Murray Hill, N.J.-Lucent Technologies, itself a spin-off of Bell Labs, plans to spin-off its IC and optoelectronic business into a separate company through an IPO for up to 20% of the new company. The new company, as yet unnamed, will begin operations as the world's largest provider of communications ICs, with more than $4 billion in revenues over the last four quarters. The IPO should take place by the end of the first calendar quarter of next year. [lucent.com] BPS and Plasma-Therm Folded into Unaxis AG St. Petersburg, Fla.-Swiss-based Unaxis IT, a major provider of flat-panel displays and data storage, has folded its Plasma-Therm and BPS groups into Unaxis Semiconductors, with worldwide headquarters here. About eight months ago, Swiss-based Oerlikon-Buhrle moved from a diversified industrial conglomerate into a highly focused technology company named Unaxis AG. Last fall, the company shed three of its non-technology companies, including Bally footwear, and acquired Plasma-Therm in St. Petersburg. Unaxis AG, Zurich, which held a minority interest in ESEC, the assembly equipment maker based in Cham, Switzerland, recently assumed majority control by purchasing some 53% of ESEC's shares. The Unaxis name was selected to symbolize the company's new vision of begin united around a technology focus. [unaxis.com]
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