Current Issue The International Reference for Chip-Scale Electronics, Flip-Chip Technology, Optoelectronic Interconnection and Wafer-Level Packaging May - June 2002 Email the editor

Ron Iscoff Editor

Long about this time every decade, I decide it's time to get organized. This usually happens after I've spent several hours looking for a photo or an article from what constitutes The Iscoff Editorial Archives.

Truth be told, the Editorial Archives have resided in a storage shed in my backyard for most of the last decade, along with the lawn mover and various plant nutrients.

However, on a recent sojurn to said shed, I uncovered several items from the past of more than passing interest, since they shine some light on current operations in the assembly and packaging business.

An item in MEPPE News, dated October 1992, and written by either industry veterans Dean Strausl or Harry Rozakis, (MEPPE owners at the time) warns of a "Subcontract Capacity Crunch."

'Across-the-Board Shortage'

The unidentified author tells us, "The recent surge in unit volume driven by North American semiconductor companies has broken a long-standing trend. For the first time since 1984, there is an almost across-the-board shortage of subcontract assembly capacity.

Attendees and exhibitors alike were distracted from the exhibits and riveted to scenes of the invasion of Iraq during the 1991 MEPPE Focus show in Santa Clara.

"Large companies and small alike are seeing a difference in how they do business with their subs. 'We can get what we need, but if it's not scheduled, we have to wait. It isn't like a few months ago,' says one industry executive. He is one of the luckier ones."

I can hear some of you saying, "Those were the days!"

Also revealed in the Editorial Archives were photos from MEPPE FOCUS 1991. FOCUS was the predecessor show to the current MEPTEC (different owners, different name) conference.

Familiar Faces

You will probably recognize several of the people in the photos. Most are still involved with the assembly and packaging industry.

Unfortunately, as I recall, the 1991 FOCUS exhibit fell victim to the Gulf War. The major activity against Iraq took place during FOCUS. Instead of walking through the exhibits, people were glued to several television sets at the Santa Clara Convention Center, watching the progress of the war.

Both Iraq and the FOCUS show took substantial hits from the war. The next year, FOCUS was replaced by SUBCON, "The First Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference," with a change of venue to San Jose.

The most interesting (and perhaps telling) thing about the SUBCON papers is that so many of the key players are still around and still in the IC assembly business.

The faces may look familiar in this photo from the 1991 Focus show. Ed Combs, at left, now with ASAT, greets Dr. Gerald "Skip" Fehr, now with OSE USA (formerly IPAC).

For example, the November 9, 1992 SUBCON program features a Packaging Forecast & Trends by G. Dan Hutcheson, VLSI Research. You'll find Dan at the same hangout today.

Next, John Boruch, then and now with Amkor, delivered a talk on "Semiconduc-tor Contract Assembly & Test Capital Requirements."

Jim Walker, then with EM2/Hana USA, now with Dataquest, followed with a discussion on "Semiconductor Contract Packaging: Price and Cost Trends."

The morning concluded with a panel discussion featuring industry stalwarts John Crane, then with ESEC, now with his own firm in Arizona; Gary Catlin, then with Alphatec, now with Multichip Assembly; and Ralph Duceour, then top dog at Astra Microtronics Technology; still the top dog at the same company after a name change to AIT.

The topic is probably as fresh today as it was then: "Equipment Options-A Subcontract Dilemma."

Who's Who?

Now a plug for Craig Addison, former editor of the now-defunct Electronic Business Asia and most recently a correspondent for Chip Scale Review from Hong Kong.

A seasoned Asia hand, last year Craig authored the book Silicon Shield, a study of Taiwan's high-tech industry and the possible ramifications stemming from the Republic of China's tense political relations with the mainland.

Craig is preparing his last column from Asia for us. He's on his way to Silicon Valley to work for SEMI and to attend to his side venture Who's Who in Semicon-ductors (WWIS).

WWIS will list the leaders in the semiconductor industry compiled in a book to be published in Q4. I am an unpaid member of Craig's advisory board. As such, I will be supplying names of likely candidates to him.

His policy, unfortunately, states that no advisor is eligible to be listed in WWIS, though God knows I deserve it! For more info, visit his website at whoswhosemiconductors.com.