Knorr to Chair SEMI All-Industry Forum
Stanley T. Myers President Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) -- Semiconductor International, 3/1/1998
A blue-ribbon committee of industry leaders, including Dr. Juergen Knorr, is helping to shape the SEMI All-Industry Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, at the end of March. Knorr recently retired from Siemens, where he was group president of Siemens Semiconductor and a member of the board.
As previously reported, the purpose of the forum is to explore some of the challenges ahead for the semiconductor industry and its suppliers, including both technology and business challenges. One of the most extensive membership surveys ever undertaken by SEMI has provided numerous suggestions directly from our member companies. These are now being reviewed by the Industry Advisory Committee to narrow the focus to those pre-competitive areas that can be addressed most effectively through cooperative programs such as the SEMI 300 mm Initiative.
Our thanks to the members of this global committee, who will be on hand for the March 30 event to lead a roundtable discussion on the challenges ahead and some of the potential solutions. They include Rudolf Simon, president of Jenoptik Infab; Steve Wittekoek, chief executive scientist for ASM Lithography; Yoav Nissan-Cohen, co-CEO, Tower Semiconductor; Akira Inoue, chairman and representative director, Tokyo Electron Ltd.; Genda Hu, president, Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association; George Scalise, president, Semiconductor Industry Association; Geoff Wild, president, AlliedSignal Electronic Materials; and Dave Toole, president, GaSonics International.
Scalise will also deliver an opening address outlining the challenges to the equipment and materials industry represented by the new SIA Roadmap. There will then be responses from industry executives on potential solutions in such critical areas as lithography, testing, packaging and materials. Some of the industrywide challenges reflected by the survey results include environmental, health and safety issues and the desire for a global approach to cost reduction in semiconductor manufacturing.
There is still time to register through your nearest SEMI office or by calling SEMI headquarters at (650) 964-5111.
SEMI'S CIS Executive Mission to Explore New Growth Potential
With the emergence of a market economy in the former Soviet Union, new opportunities for business development in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are emerging rapidly, according to Alla Famitskaya, regional director in the SEMI Moscow office. This year SEMI will again host the CIS Executive Mission and Exhibit June 1-4 to explore these opportunities.
Since our last executive mission to the CIS in 1996, several important initiatives have developed. In August, the mayor of Moscow signed into law the creation of a "Special Industrial Zone" (SIZ) in nearby Zelenograd, the so-called "Russian Silicon Valley." This has created favorable conditions for local and foreign companies to develop business in Zelenograd, including tax exemption, energy payment preferences and government-backed credit guarantees.
Several foreign companies already have entered into joint ventures with local companies, including International Rectifier (El Segundo, Calif.) with Electronica (Voronezh, Russia) and Hitachi (Tokyo, Japan) with Svetlana (St. Petersburg, Russia). At present, 24 SEMI member companies and semiconductor device manufacturers have established a presence in the CIS.
Famitskaya reports that the fast-growing telecommunications and television industries are driving the growth in electronics components. "In 1996, the consumption of electronic devices reached $20 billion, and the local market for semiconductor components was about $500 million," she said. "Annual growth has been about 35% and rising."
To learn more about this event, visit the CIS Executive Mission and Exhibit page at SEMI's web site at www.semi.org.
China Market Continutes to Attract Interest
Despite concerns over other parts of Asia, the industry continues to be interested in the emerging opportunities in China. There is good reason for optimism. In its Ninth Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government clearly laid out its intention to successfully participate in the information age and to use technology to spur the nation's economic growth. SEMI members participating in the recent trade mission to China were told that the government has targeted microelectronics as a key component of that growth and is heavily recruiting foreign investment from semiconductor device manufacturers, which in turn would create new opportunities for the equipment and materials industry.
Participants came away with the conclusion that China is increasingly targeting the most advanced wafer fabrication technology, whereas its technology previously has lagged behind other parts of the world by a generation or so. Although much of its investment to date has been in test and assembly facilities, the new emphasis is expected to be on new wafer fabs.
The SEMI executives were also told that China plans to continue the current tax exemption for capital equipment as an inducement to device makers considering new operations there.
All this positive news from the emerging China market hopefully is a prelude to a very successful SEMICON China 98 exhibition, which is scheduled for April 22-24 at the INTEX facility in Shanghai. The government officials certainly are enthusiastic about it and are lending great support to attracting attendees from their country's semiconductor industry.
For further information on participating in SEMICON China 98, contact Wei Fang Zhou at SEMI Mountain View, (650) 940-6947, or by e-mail at wzho@semi.org.
