Worldwide semiconductor equipment sales are forecast to reach US$14.14 billion in 2009, experiencing its second straight yearly decline following a 31% drop in 2008, according to...
Cymer, which specializes in excimer laser illumination sources for deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography systems, has kicked off shipments of what it claims is the world's first...
KLA-Tencor has announced two new wafer inspection systems and a new electron-beam (e-beam) review system to address defect issues at the 3Xnm / 2Xnm nodes. Each new tool can preferentially...
Pure-play foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) have recently spent a combined NT$9.05 billion (US$273.4 million)...
For the first time since 2001, no high-tech equipment market will be immune to the great recession, according to several reports recently published by The Information Network, a US-based...
As foundries will likely suffer a utilization rate of less than 40% in the first quarter of 2009, orders for new lithography tools are currently limited, according to a Chinese-language...
In light of the recent economic deterioration, VLSI Research has revised its 2008 and 2009 forecasts for both integrated circuits (ICs) and semiconductor equipment. IC sales are now...
The transition to 18-inch wafer production may be interrupted by the current economic woes, but it is a necessary step the semiconductor industry has to take in order to increase...
