"The Suzhou plant will be the first facility completely constructed by Fairchild and will support our focus to provide industry-leading products"..., according to Fairchild president/CEO Kirk Pond.
Constructed in Two Phases The facility is being constructed in two phases. Phase one is a 400,000 square foot assembly, test and automated warehouse plant. Phase two is an incremental addition to the first phase and will represent another 400,000 square feet. The expansion is "expected to be built within the next few years," according to the company. The Suzhou plant will produce Fair-child's power discrete, logic and analog products for both the local China market and for export to the rest of Asia, Europe and the Americas. According to Fairchild, the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park is second only to Guangdong Province (Amkor's China location) in electronics production. Output for 2001 in Suzhou was estimated at $8.3 billion. [fairchildsemi.com] Lichtenberg Replaces Meister as Alphasem President Berg, Switzerland-Effective April 1, Claus Lichtenberg replaced Hans Rudolf Meister as Alphasem AG president. Meister has moved to vice president of operations, and the management team has been realigned, according to the company. [alphasem.com] Carsem Awards $7.7M for Shanghai Plant Scotts Valley, Calif.-Carsem-Suzhou Ltd., located in the Shanghai, China, region, has awarded a $7.7 million contract to SembCorp Engineers and Constructors Ltd. to build a 16,000 square meter assembly and test facility. The facility will be sited on 40,000 square meters of land in the Suzhou Industrial Park. Construction begins this month and is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Staff recruiting for the facility will begin during the second quarter, and initial training will take place in Carsem's Malaysian factories. The factory is slated for full production by the second quarter of next year. Details regarding which packaging and test technologies will be installed "are still being discussed with our key customers," according to David Comley, Carsem's group managing director. [carsem.com]
New Jersey State Nanotechnology Consortium Launched Murray Hill, N.J.-There's little doubt about the pervasiveness of nanotechnology development as chemistry, physics and biology converge. Recognizing the discipline's importance, the State of New Jersey has launched a nanotechnology consortium. Dr. Larry Thompson, CEO of the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium (NJNC), reports, "The NJNC already has more than six projects underway from private companies working to bring nanotechnology based products to market. "The power of the NJNC is that we can make nanotechnology a reality today. By helping members and clients respond rapidly to technological innovations, we can ensure new devices and innovations reach the market faster than ever before possible." NJNC will offer nanotechnology R&D, enabling rapid commercial development of nanotechnology-driven innovations. These innovations will help drive the nano-technology industry into a forecasted $1 trillion business in the next 10 to 15 years, according to the National Science Foundation. The consortium was launched in early 2003 by Lucent Technologies, the state of New Jersey and The State Universities of New Jersey. By combining the leading-edge fabrication capabilities of this lab with academic research institutions and universities, NJNC will serve as a resource for nanotechnology developers around the world. [njnano.org]
Three-Axis MEMS-Based Accelerometer From STMicroelectronics Geneva, Switzerland-STMicroelectron-ics has introduced a three-axis linear accelerometer that combines a silicon-micromachined MEMS-based sensor and interface chip in a single package. Aimed primarily at applications in handheld terminals, the new device combines small size, high resolution and low power consumption. Accelerometers based on silicon-micromachined MEMS technology provide high sensitivity and precision together with the economies of scale of the wafer batch process used to make integrated circuits, according to STMicroelectronics. [st.com/mems] ECTC Meeting Focus is Integrated Systems Packaging New Orleans, La.-The 53rd Electronic Components and Technology Conference will cover Integrated Systems Packaging. It will be held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, May 27-30, 2003. Over 300 technical papers will be presented including 14 CEU-approved Professional Development Courses. Over 60 exhibitors are expected. Sessions focus on advanced packaging, interconnections, manufacturing technology, materials and processing, modeling and simulation, quality and reliability and optoelectronics. The program is on the ECTC web site at [ectc.net]. ESEC 2002 Bookings Up, but Sales Drop Cham, Switzerland-ESEC reported recently that its bookings for 2002 rose by 48 percent to $113.5 million, while sales declined by 21 percent to $108.5 million. The company also reported a net loss of $ 28.9 million compared to a net loss of $66.5 million for the prior fiscal year. [esec.com]
August Technology Corp. Acquires STI of Plano, Texas, for $1.8M Minneapolis-August Technology Corp. has acquired Semiconductor Technologies and Instruments of Plano, Texas, from ASTI Holdings Ltd. of Singapore. August has paid $1.25 million in cash and 215,385 shares of August stock for a total of $1.8 million.
August Technology earlier announced a definitive agreement to acquire STI in May 2002, but later terminated that agreement in August 2002. The acquisition will give August Technology STI's product line of 2D/3D inspection tools, but does not include ASTI Holding's Singapore-based die sort products, which were part of the earlier agreement. "Through this acquisition, August Tech-nology will gain a presence in the Dallas area, focusing on technology and applications development, along with regional sales and service support," said David Klenk, August's president and chief operating officer. The acquisition is subject to approval by shareholder of ASTI holdings and is expected to close this quarter.[augusttech.com] SEZ Group Exits Wet Bench Business Zurich-The SEZ Group has closed its wet bench production plant in Donaueschingen, Germany, to focus on its core business of single-wafer production equipment. The company also trimmed its global workforce from 750 to 600.[sez.com] |
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