Scott Kulicke

Willow Grove, Pa.-In a move aimed at further diversification, Kulicke & Soffa Industries, the world's largest supplier of chip assembly equipment, has announced that it plans to buy Cerprobe Corp. for $225 million.

Publicly traded Cerprobe, headquartered in Gilbert, Ariz., is a large provider of semiconductor interconnect products including probe cards and contactors. In 1999, Cerprobe acquired socket-maker OzTek of Hayward, Calif.

The acquisition price is based on a cash tender offer at $20 for each share of Cerprobe common stock. The purchase has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

"Today K&S drives interconnect solutions that stretch the limits of existing wafer probe and IC socket technology," said chairman and CEO C. Scott Kulicke. "The acquisition of Cerprobe will allow K&S to accelerate development in this area in support of our strategy of offering the most complete, capable and cost-effecitve interconnect solutions to our customers." [kns.com]

Cognex Scores Record $13M

Order from Japan's Shinkawa Natick, Mass.-Japanese assembly equipment giant Shinkawa recently placed a record $13 million order with Cognex for vision systems which will be integrated into Shinkawa's die attach, wire and tape bonding equipment. The order is the largest ever received by Cognex from any customer since it began in 1981. The second largest order, also from Tokyo-based Shinkawa, was for $12 million placed last year. The Japanese firm also ordered $6 million in vision systems from Cognex in May. Cognex said Shinkawa will take deliv-ery of all vision systems covered by the most recent order during a seven-month period which began in October. "This substantial order is a clear indication that demand remains very strong for our customers in the semiconductor capital equipment industry," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex president and CEO. [cognex.com]

3M Aquires W.L. Gore's Packaging Business

These multilayer ICs were produced at W.L. Gore and Associates' Eau Claire, Wis. facility.

Austin, Texas- 3M has acquired W.L . G o re & Associates' high density, multi-layer IC packaging business, located in Eau Claire, Wis. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Financial terms were not disclosed. 3M said Gore's Eau Claire operation is "an important strategic fit" and compliments 3M's flexible circuit business, based in Austin. The more-than-300-employee business will become a unit of 3M's Electronic Products division. The division currently makes 3M brand Microflex Circuits. Paul Fischer will continue to head the new business, which will remain in Eau Claire. "With the addition of 3M's market presence in Asia and Europe, we expect to continue our dramatic growth," Fischer said. [3m.com]

EtroniX Replaces Traditional NEPCON West Show

Compared to past NEPCON shows, this year's event sported a disappointing turnout of both exhibitors and attendees.

Anaheim, Calif.-NEPCON, the 30-year-old tradeshow that has become an annual tradition for electronics manufacturing, has been re-invented for 2001 as five "industry-related events" by sponsor Reed Exhibition Companies.

Now called "EtroniX," the event supersedes NEPCON's February 25-March 1 occupancy of the Anaheim Convention Center. NEPCON fell victim to IPC SMEMA Council's successful introduction of APEX last March.

IPC, along with several large equipment makers, notably Speedline Technologies, formed APEX in 1999 as an alternative to NEPCON, which many manufacturers felt was overpriced at $38 square foot for exhibit space. As a result, almost all large equipment makers boycotted NEPCON this year in favor of APEX.

EtroniX will feature:

• AP International, advanced packaging and wafer-level technologies
• Design Expo, a complete electronics design tools and services event
• e/manufacturing expo, IT and e-commerce products and services for supply chain management
• EvaluTech, test and inspection equipment, instruments, software and supplies for process evaluation
• NEPCON Production and Support, equipment, tools and supplies for the electronics production process, including electronics manufacturing services.

According to REC, "The EtroniX conference program and show floor are organized to mirror the flow of technology in the electronics manufacturing industry. Each show within EtroniX will be verti-cally marketed to the relevant audience served by the event." [etrnixexpo.com]

Vendors Form Standards Consortium for WLP Process Equipment

Berlin, Germany-A group of semicon-ductor equipment makers have formed a consortium to develop standards for wafer bumping and wafer-level packaging equipment. The Berlin-based Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Micro-integration (IZM) will serve as consultant and technical link.

Operating under the name "SECAP" (Semiconductor Equipment Consortium for Advanced Packaging), the group will address current challenges in semicon-ductor packaging. One immediate initiative will be to develop and validate process equipment for conversion to high-density interconnect and 300-mm wafer technology. Initial SECAP members are Image Technology, Karl Suss, Semitool and Unaxis (formerly Balzers Process Systems). Members will share market research data, define process and tool interfacing and jointly develop technology road-maps. The consortium says it "welcomes new members who are leaders in their product category."

The consortium's formation was announced during SEMICON Taiwan. [fraunhofer.de]

Chaukay and Young Establish

ACI, Chip Assembly Brokerage Santa Clara, Calif.-Tink Dempsey Young and Lloyd Chuakay have formed Assembly Connections International, a partnership.

ACI will act as a broker for several integrated circuit packaging foundries and will also accept assembly jobs on behalf of Philippines-based Assembly Solutions Inc., a surface-mount assembler in Manila, which is partly owned by ACI.

Tink Young

Industry veteran Young was most recently vice president of marketing for MEMS Inc., Fremont, Calif., a micro-electromechanical systems start-up. Earlier she held executive posts with Hana USA and Stars USA.

Chuakay earlier was vice president of North American sales for Fastech, Manila.

Young said ACI will provide North American sales and marketing support for Philippines-based IC assemblers ASET and CIRTEK Inc.

ACI is located at 2118 Walsh Ave., Suite 100, Santa Clara, CA 95050, phone 408.970.4781, fax 408.970.4783.

ECD Inc. Signs Agreement to Buy Saunders Technology Inc.

Milwaukie, Oregon-ECD Inc., a supplier of data collection, process monitoring and control products, has signed a letter of intent to buy Saunders Technology Inc. of Hollis N.H. Saunders also makes products for temperature profiling, including temperature probes and profiler carriers. Terms of the pending acquisition were not disclosed.

Indium Promotes Tony Howard

Tony Howard

Utica, N.Y.-Tony Howard has been appointed European sales manager for the Indium Corp. of America, based in Scotland. Howard joined ICA in 1998 from Compaq Computer, where he was a senior engineer and a member of Compaq's worldwide technical committee. [indium.com]

MCT Offers 3 Million Shares

St. Paul, Minn.-Micro Component Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCTI), a supplier of semiconductor test handling systems, is offering 3 million shares of its common stock at $6.50/share. All shares are being sold by the company. Proceeds from the sale will be used for working capital, new product development and general corporate purposes. [mct.com]

Tessera Files for IPO of 7.5 Million Shares

San Jose-Tessera Inc., the developer of the µBGA package, will offer 7.5 million shares in an initial public offering, representing 19% of its common stock, at a price ranging between $10-$12/share.

The company expects to receive about $75 million from the offering. For the nine months ending September 30, Tessera reported a net loss of $21.5 million on revenues of $8.3 million. The company plans to trade as "TSRA" on the Nasdaq National Market. [tessera.com]

ESEC's AT OperationMoves to Larger Quarters

Apex, N.C.-ESEC's Advanced Transfer operation (formerly Zevatech) has moved to new facilities in the Raleigh-Durham area, increasing manufacturing space by half and doubling the space available to R&D and applications engineering. The new facility is located at 2501 Schieffelin Rd., Suite 114, Apex, N.C., 919.362.8623. [esec.com]

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