Gene Selven Publisher

Chip Scale Review was an exhibitor at SEMICON West in San Francisco, with a booth on the second floor of the new, three-story Moscone West building, a structure supposedly devoted to the backend.

This was the first time in seven years that Chip Scale Review, like the other backend exhibitors, rejoined the North and South front-end exhibitors at SEMICON West.

This year's exhibition should have been called "SEMICON Front end and Backend." Suppliers to the backend were conveniently placed together in Moscone West. Unfortunately, however, most attendees interested in assembly or test products had to figure this out for themselves!

When SEMICON West was split, as it was from 1998-2004 between San Francisco and San Jose, we all knew where the front end was-San Francisco. And we all knew where the backend was-San Jose's McEnery Convention Center. That made it easy for exhibitors and attendees; it was just a matter of geography.

Is SEMICON West adrift? Some exhibitors think so! This photo was taken from the SEMITOOL boat on San Francisco Bay during SEMICON West. (Chip Scale Review)

Fewer Attendees

This year, many backend exhibitors told us they believed the show, at least their part of it, attracted at least one-third fewer attendees than they saw in San Jose last year.

A frequent comment, heard by myself and my editors, was that the cost of attendance-measured in transportation dollars, lodging, parking and the sheer time to commute to San Francisco from Silicon Valley-made a significant and negative difference in attendance.

Many of the exhibitors that we met during appointments, or as we walked by their booths, also expressed disappointment and frustration over SEMI's failure to indicate in a significant way that Moscone West was also SEMICON West Backend!

Most of the traffic at SEMICON West Backend in Moscone West filtered immediately onto the first floor, as people entered from the street. By the second floor, attendance fell off dramatically.

And some of this year's exhibitors, especially those who were exiled to the third floor of Moscone West-where you could fire off a cannon between rows without fear of hitting any visitors-will undoubtedly make their displeasure known to SEMI by not returning next year.

The addition of signage, encouraging visitors to take the escalators to the second and third floors in Moscone West, would have helped the situation. Some show visitors also suggested the addition of a carpet on the street from the North and South Halls leading to Moscone West. We like that idea!

Our editors complained that SEMI established only a single press room located in the South Hall. Although editors were encouraged to register well in advance of SEMICON, they still had to perambulate from Moscone West to South Hall to receive their credentials!

As the respected voice of integrated circuit manufacturing, Chip Scale Review strongly endorses any official gathering, such as SEMICON West, that advances the business and technology goals of our colleagues and the industry.

We feel that this year's "reunification" was sorely lacking, if not in intent, at least in execution. Yes, we know this is a big show. It's also an expensive show for exhibitors, and it is the key to many manufacturers' sales and marketing programs! It is SEMI's duty-bound obligation to make things easy for exhibitors and attendees.

Overall, we were told that business leads from visitors to Moscone West may have been as much as two-thirds smaller than last year at the San Jose venue.

On the bright side, at least for Chip Scale Review, we were able to visit some of our customers from offshore and from the Midwest and the East. We also met advertisers who wanted to appear in our next international issue, the one you're reading now, at SEMICON Taiwan.

While traffic from the street flowed busily through the first floor exhibits, including F&K Delvotec's, the number of visitors dropped off on the second and especially the third levels.

We don't have all the answers for an improved SEMICON West next year. But we suggest that SEMI put their collective thinking caps on right now to determine what it will take to give parity to front- end and backend segments.

At the end of the day, SEMI contends it is a service organization for its members and the industry. Now it's time for SEMI to prove it!

Moving on, we're also passing out bonus copies of this issue at the KGD (Known Good Die) Workshop in Napa, Calif., from Sep. 12-14 and at Assembly Technology/SMTA in Chicago from Sep. 25-29.

I'd really like to hear from anyone attending SEMICON Taiwan, KGD or Assembly Technology/SMTA-especially if you attended SEMICON West.

We hope that SEMICON West 2006, the 35th anniversary of the show, will produce a more substantial platform for the backend. It could be, we believe, a "make or break" year that determines whether an expensive show on a grand scale, like SEMICON West, should continue to receive industry support.

Gene Selven, Publisher

[gselven@chipscalereview.com]