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Da Vinci? Platform Drives SEZ's Single-Wafer Business Model
Phenomenal Adoption Rate Lays Groundwork for Forthcoming FEOL Solution as SEZ Establishes New Training Facility to Heighten Customer Support
SEMICON EUROPA, Munich, Germany?April 12, 2005?The SEZ Group (SWX: SEZN), the market leader and premier innovator in single-wafer cleaning solutions for the semiconductor industry, today announced that its Da Vinci? platform for back-end-of-line (BEOL) applications, introduced in mid-2003, currently accounts for more than 50 percent of the company's total revenue. This adoption rate?the fastest in SEZ's history and one of the fastest in the industry?is expected to accelerate further, with sales of Da Vinci systems representing nearly 60 percent of SEZ's business by the end of 2005.
With demand for Da Vinci products growing exponentially, particularly in Asia, SEZ is leveraging its dominance in single-wafer BEOL technology to optimize manufacturing capacity while stepping up its evaluation of front-end-of-line (FEOL) cleaning applications. In concert with its FEOL evaluation efforts, SEZ has established a state-of-the-art training center at its Villach, Austria headquarters to ensure customers and employees are optimally equipped to install, operate and service SEZ equipment. This new center will be integral in helping to maintain the required high level of system performance necessary for customers to avoid unnecessary usage costs. Each training room is dedicated to a specific system and outfitted to enable a realistic fab-environment simulation, and can also serve as facilities for technical seminars and teleconferences. Trainers at the new center will be certified in Performance-Based Equipment Training (PBET), an approach that utilizes measurable objectives to ensure participants are competent in all key skill areas. The new facility became operational during Q1 this year.
As part of its newly refocused production and logistics strategy, SEZ has begun outsourcing Da Vinci tool manufacturing to Eastern European Union countries, taking advantage of their close proximity to its Austrian headquarters to realize best-of-breed manufacturing excellence and significant cost savings. The company will leverage these savings to offer chip manufacturers the most competitively priced single-wafer equipment technology (predominantly for BEOL, where single-wafer is the industry standard) and to advance its FEOL development and launch plans. SEZ is committed to building on its leadership in the single-wafer wet-cleaning market to span the entire fab with solutions built on its market-leading technology. First production-line installation of FEOL single-wafer cleaning applications?which will be required most immediately by memory manufacturers for 65-nm and smaller geometries?is expected in 2006.
According to Kurt Lackenbucher, chief operations officer and executive vice president for the SEZ Group, "The Da Vinci platform has caught on even faster than we had anticipated, spurring the shift in the memory sector from batch processing for BEOL applications to single-wafer wet cleaning technology. Large memory providers have already made this transition, creating significant momentum that will enable memory providers to take the lead in single-wafer adoption in the FEOL arena by next year. We believe that our solid business model, technology leadership and large installed base?together with our world-class customer support, training capabilities and strategic industry collaborations (including a range of joint development programs)?place SEZ in the ideal position to take advantage of this forthcoming market shift. We will be ready to meet customers' demand with the right solution at the right time."
SEZ's suite of single-wafer Spin-Processing tools includes platforms and products for processing 300-, 200-, 150-, 125- and 100-mm wafers, utilizing 1-, 2-, 4- or 8-chambers together with single-, dual- or flexible-chemistries. SEZ will have information regarding its leading-edge single-wafer technology available during SEMICON Europa, April 12-14, 2005, at Germany's New Munich Trade Fair Centre. Editors and analysts interested in learning more about the company and its products are invited to visit SEZ at Booth #A1.518.
About SEZ Group
The SEZ Group is the leading provider of single-wafer, wet-processing solutions for the global semiconductor industry, with an installed base of over 900 tools. The company maintains operations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Japan, and North America. SEZ Holding AG is traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange under the symbol SEZN. Additional information about the company is available on the Internet at www.sez.com
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