Date: 17/11/2009

Applied Materials buys advanced semiconductor packaging expert Semitool

Applied Materials has acquired Semitool to gain competitive advantage in advanced packaging and in memory device manufacturing segment which is moving to use copper as an interconnect metal inside the chip. Applied Materials is paying approximately $364 million to Semitool. Semitool supplies electrochemical plating and wafer surface preparation equipment to advanced fabs all over world.

While the industry is working in nodes range of 32 -45nm and 22nm is not far away, there is unlimited scope for innovation with so many manufacturing hurdles to be clearer to make chips with 100s of processor cores.

Not only by dimensions, even in exploring different key materials such as semiconductor ( presently Silicon for digital, GaAs for RF and Opto and SiGe for mixed signal), Metal (Copper and other alloys to replace Aluminum) and Low K and High K dielectric materials, engineers have to scale tougher mountains of challenges. Single company achieving all this is nearly impossible. Clever companies like Applied can achieve the innovation goals either by acquiring companies with complements technologies or partnering with such companies.

The only exception in this domain is Intel, Intel still knows how to ensure Moore's law continuity in equipment, chips and design.

Year 2009 was a bad year for semicoductor manufacturing equipment suppliers, but the future look still bright with the growth of LED and Solar Photovoltaic market. The green technologies of White LED and Solar Semiconductor manufacturing is expected to grow faster than the chip business.

Applied materials is the number one supplier of semiconductor equipment with a market a share far higher than its closest competitor.