Date: 05/05/2009

Intel capital invests in a leading semiconductor equipment company

Intel Capital has purchased 4% of common share capital of semiconductor equipment supplier ASM International (ASMI).

The semiconductor equipment industry is in bad shape with semiconductor market not showing any significant recovery. With Intel getting involved with leading semiconductor equipment vendors such as ASM, it can help chip industry to extend the growth of chip complexity into 22nm node and below in the same speed of node transition happened in past 5/10 years.

With the level of technological progress shown in reducing the chip integration geometries, it can be predicted another two transitions from 32nm (already in production) to 22nm and to 11nm is very much in line (following Moore's Law). Last year in a symposium, ASM has claimed its Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography equipment has proven the production worthiness at technology down to 11nm.

"Equipment and materials innovation is critical to enabling new capabilities in semiconductor device manufacturing," said Arvind Sodhani, Intel executive vice president and president of Intel Capital. "Our investment in ASMI is part of Intel Capital's strategy to foster innovation that aligns with Intel's manufacturing technology roadmap."