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Asia

MKS opens Singapore office

Strengthening its presence in Southeast Asia, MKS Instruments of Andover, MA, has opened a technical and sales support office in Singapore. The MKS product line includes capacitance manometers, mass-flow controllers, and gas-flow calibration systems. The office will provide technical, sales, and service support for customers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

Ametek chooses two distributors

Ametek Process Instruments of Newark, DE, has signed two exclusive distribution contracts with firms in Japan and Europe. Osaka Sanso Kogyo will act as exclusive distributor in Japan, where the affiliate of BOC Gases is a supplier of high-purity gases and gas analysis tools. The new distributor in Europe is SAES Getters, a vendor of gas purification and analysis equipment. Its headquarters is in Milan; sales and service offices are located in Paris, Cologne, and Reading, England. Ametek's Model 5900 UHP moisture analyzer will be the main product covered by the agreements, according to the company.

Europe

Ireland seeks U.S. partners

A business delegation led by Ireland's deputy prime minister visited the United States in June to drum up support for partnerships between U.S. high-tech firms and their counterparts in Ireland. Mary Harney led a delegation of senior executives from 21 Irish IC design houses, communications software firms, and contract manufacturers. The visit included a stop at Dallas Semiconductor, which has an alliance with Silicon Systems of Dublin. The Irish company and the Texas chipmaker have collaborated for the last three years on more than 12 semiconductor designs. Silicon Systems' 17-member design team in Ireland is working on six products for Dallas Semiconductor which will be introduced by the end of 1998. The team focuses on silicon timed circuits, microprocessors, and digital thermometers. The weeklong mission was organized by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Forbairt, Ireland's business development support agency. Three previous visits under the partnership program have resulted in 49 collaborative projects. The Irish delegation also visited Boston, San Jose, and Austin, TX.

Firm to up implant capacity

IBS Ion Beam Services plans to double production capacity in 1998 with the opening of two new plants. The facilities will be located in Rousset, France, and in Scotland's Silicon Glen region. The company will add three Eaton implanters to the ones already installed at its site in Gréasque, France. A Varian CF 3000 is already being used for R&D implants, and an Eaton NV 8200 has been installed for processing 8-in. wafers. The new Eaton implanters are the NV 6200A, 10-80, and 10-160 models, IBS says.

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