Editor's Page

Corporate genealogy

With all the mergers and acquisitions happening in the semiconductor equipment business, you need more than a scorecard to tell the players. Applied gobbles up Orbot and Opal, KLA and Tencor tie the knot, Millipore does the corporate tango with Tylan General, Lam comes clean with OnTrak, Veeco woos Wyko, Electroglas gets soft for Knights--corporate genealogy charts will soon be required.

Former adversaries have become bedfellows, and what was once unfamiliar turf to some companies has become part of their territorial imperative. Of course, if you ask the players involved in this M&A activity, you'll hear how it's a win-win situation, a good match of corporate cultures, a wonderful synergy of technology, a boon for the customers--in short, the greatest thing since sliced sourdough.

If nothing else, the wave of recent consolidation raises questions about possible consternation if not outright discomfort on the fab floor and in the executive suites. Will an Applied engineer be able to recommend an OnTrak post-CMP cleaning tool to be used in conjunction with a Mirra CMP polisher without fear of getting stomped by his colleagues slugging it out with Lam over their respective etch and CVD businesses? Will the folks at KLA-Tencor continue to live harmoniously with their Applied neighbors when Orbot equipment ousts their metrology tools from the production line? Synergies aside, will the software geeks at Knights Technology get along with the hardware heads at Electroglas?

Noticeably absent from the M&A mania are the ultrapure materials suppliers, who usually function as microelectronics divisions within large multinational chemical companies. Don't expect any changes in this pattern unless Air Products, BOC, Air Liquide, Praxair, Ashland Chemical, Olin, General Chemical, and their ilk start bashing heads in a corporate clash of the titans.

At the other end of the spectrum of economic scale are the ever-present entrepreneurs, market-niche surfers, and dreamers who cast one wary eye at the Big Guys while keeping the other filled with their own technological and business vision. Silicon Valley and its regional equivalents were largely built by the Little Guys, and they still have a role to play, even in this time of frenzied corporate coupling. The industry's growth would not be as healthy--and will be stunted in the future-- without the nimble brilliance of these small companies that have often nurtured the roots of the microelectronics family trees.

The semiconductor community mourns the passing of former SEMI president William Reed. Some of the words that come to mind when I think of Bill are "class act," "integrity," "internationalist," "gentleman." His ability to balance the serious concerns of his job with an easygoing demeanor made him an ideal ambassador for SEMI's mission and an insightful contact for those of us in the trade press. We'll miss you, Bill.

TOM CHEYNEY

EDITOR

tom.cheyney@cancom.com