INDUSTRY NEWS

Semicon West

Tool vendors bask in good news as Semicon West continues Bay run

SAN FRANCISCO—With talk of a move to Las Vegas on many lips, a touch of Vegas spectacle came to the front-end segment of the Semicon West annual trade show here in July. Stilt walkers, robots, and copper-colored living statues greeted visitors as they basked in the sunny news of an upswing in the industry's global fortunes.

At a news conference on the show's opening day, Stanley Myers, SEMI's president, reined in the runaway rumor about an impending move to the Nevada convention and entertainment mecca. "We're not leaving San Francisco and San Jose in a big hurry," he cautioned. Myers said SEMI had "a three-year rolling commitment" and first right of refusal to continue staging Semicon West in both cities despite the need for more exhibit space. SEMI was "looking at its options" and hoped to make a decision "by the end of August" (after this issue of MICRO went to press). "The decision to make no decision is also possible," Myers noted.

Although total attendance was down from last year's 74,000, the overall mood in the aisles reflected the positive sales and revenue figures indicating the global chip industry is seeing a turnaround. Respondents to a capital equipment survey predicted industry growth of 9% over 1998 sales, reaching $23.8 billion, the trade association reported on opening day.

In other major news, the working groups writing the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) decided on the Friday before the trade show that the industry will stick with three-year technology cycles for manufacturing future generations of chips. Equipment and materials providers in particular backed the three-year option, arguing that the industry's shift to two-year intervals in the recent transitions from 0.35- to 0.25-µm and from 0.25- to 0.18-µm chips was probably not sustainable (see Industry News, June 1999).

Spectacular: A smiling robot greets visitors to the Trimega/Kinetics booth (top). Verteq's exhibit towers over an aisle in the Moscone Convention Center's south hall (middle), and a stilt walker (bottom) flags down visitors for Applied Materials.

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