This month issue An Independent Journal Dedicated to the Advancement of Chip - Scale Electronics January - February 2001 Email the editor

Fabless Suppliers Strut Their Stuff at Santa Clara Show

Santa Clara, Calif.-Bolstered by a prediction for a substantial increase in wafer consumption from the fabless sector, more than 100 companies exhibited at the Fabless Semiconductor Association's 6th annual FSA Suppliers Day.

Shortly before the October show, the FSA, headquartered in Dallas, announced that it expects wafer demand last year and this year to exceed earlier FSA forecasts.

The forecast, published in an update to the association's annual Wafer and Packaging Demand Survey, maintains that fabless companies would consume some 54 percent more wafers last year than in 1999, compared to earlier forecasts of 39 percent.

The FSA says that growth will continue this year, with a revised wafer demand forecast now estimated to be 55 percent higher than last year. This growth, according to the FSA, is consistent with revenue growth estimates for the public fabless segment of 57 percent in 2000.

"Growth for the fabless segment has not eased this year [2000], and we have no expectations of a slowdown in 2001," said Jodi Shelton, FSA's executive director. Shelton said the "FSA's biggest concern is that a wafer capacity shortage could stagnate this growth and, consequently, innovations." [fsa.org]

Ryusuke Matsuyama (left), Tadashi (Todd) Hattori and Katsuyuki Tarui (partially hidden) of Sharp, San Jose, discuss foundry services with Pekka Ojala, Exar Corp.	Joan Bardach, president of Silicon Desert International, Mesa, Ariz., chats with old friend Bill de Carbonel, vice presidentÑmarketing of Adaptive Electronics, San Jose.
Jack Snyder, vice president of sales and marketing, Americas, for ASE (left), discusses test with Rick Crist, staff technical specialist - SABER of Schlumberger, Concord, Mass.	Mary Finch, senior account manager, and C. Jack Martinson, director of sales and marketing for D2W design-to-wafer services, Fremont, Calif., discuss the foundry business with Hyunsik Ryu of Hyundai Semiconductor.
Joel Camarda (left), president of Flip Chip Technologies, talks business with Clint Jones, project manager, N-Able Group International, Fremont, Calif.	Paul Smith (left), executive vice president of ASAT, Fremont, Calif., meets Sharone Zahavi of Global Factory, Santa Clara, Calif., and Dana Harris of AMCC (right).
Sunish Gupta of Amkor Technology Inc. (left) listens to Barney Hernandez of DuPont Photomasks, Round Rock, Texas.	Tom Mordue, vice presidentÐworldwide test sales, ASAT Inc., (left) trades anecdotes with Tim Muth, vice president - supply management, Intersil, and Jeffrey Rogers, director of operations for Intersil's PRISM wireless products (right).