EXPANSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS

AMD to build German fab

Advanced Micro Devices announced that the company signed a $967-million loan agreement to fund construction of Fab 30, its 875,000-sq-ft plant in Dresden, Germany. The facility will cost approximately $1.76 billion. The Sunnyvale, CA-based manufacturer signed an agreement with a syndicate comprising 17 German and foreign banks. AMD is contributing $322 million of its own funds to build the fab, which will house approximately 90,000 sq ft of cleanroom area for manufacturing Windows-compatible microprocessors and other high-volume logic ICs. Production is scheduled to begin in 1999. Maximum capacity will be 6000 8-in. wafers/week.

Electroglas touts Knights buy

Electroglas, a supplier of automatic wafer probing equipment, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Knights Technology of Sunnyvale, CA, for approximately $30 million in stock. Knights manufactures software for yield enhancement and failure analysis. Santa Clara, CA-based Electroglas says that the combination of the company's wafer probing system and Knights' software will enable chipmakers to preemptively eliminate process- or particle-induced killer defects by leveraging data from all areas of the fab. The market for Knights' yield management technology will exceed $100 million by the year 2000, says Electroglas, citing research statistics.

Veeco eyes Wyko

Veeco Instruments has signed a letter of intent to purchase Wyko, a Tucson, AZ-based vendor of noncontact optical interferometric measurement systems. The automated tools are used by manufacturers of thin-film magnetic heads, hard disks, semiconductors, optical components, and micromachined devices. The acquisition would add to Veeco's line of surface metrology products, which includes atomic force microscopes, surface profilers, and laser scatterometers. The vendor's manufacturing and engineering plants are located in Plainview, NY, and Santa Barbara, CA. Wyko reported approximately $18 million in revenues and orders worth $28 million for the calendar year ended December 31, 1996. Wyko shareholders would receive 3 million shares of Veeco common stock in the acquisition, putting the value of the deal at approximately $84 million. Veeco expects to complete the purchase by July.

Purchases up Edlon capacity

Edlon has doubled manufacturing capacity of its line of process vessels with the acquisition of Process Supply, Inc. (PSI), a manufacturer of fluoropolymer products, and PSI's affiliated sales company, Spectrum Products. Based in Avondale, PA, Edlon makes lined and coated process vessels, transport vessels, and tanks. The product line also includes fluoropolymer-lined pipes, fittings, and accessories. The products are used in a range of ultrapure chemical applications. The manufacturing sites for both PSI and Spectrum are located in Charleston, WV. The PSI plant has high bays and handling equipment that will enable Edlon to manufacture larger tanks than it is now capable of producing.

Gas detection firm debuts

The president of a gas detection business has left the company to establish a firm that will offer turnkey systems for monitoring toxic gases in fabs and chemical processing companies. Albert Carrino resigned as president of MST Measurement Systems to form the new company, PureAire Monitoring Systems. Headquartered in Rolling Meadows, IL, the start-up will also sell a wet scrubber stack system for monitoring corrosive gas emissions. Bionics Instrument, a manufacturer of toxic gas detection systems, is a strategic partner in the new venture. PureAire will incorporate Bionics' line of sensors in its equipment. Carrino had been president of MST Measurement Systems since 1991.

Static business bows in

Simco has established a new business specializing in ESD and contamination problems in the semiconductor and disk-drive industries. Simco Static Control and Cleanroom Products combines the product lines of its parent company and Richmond Technology of Palm Springs, CA. The line incorporates Simco's Aerostat family of ionizing air blowers and Richmond's IntelliStat and EndStat ionization equipment. The new unit has its headquarters in Hatfield, PA.

Linear opens design center

Semiconductor manufacturer Linear Technology opened a design technology center in Colorado Springs, CO, as part of an ongoing expansion. The center's five design engineers will develop analog-to-digital converters, power-management ICs, and other high-performance analog devices. The new facility is Linear's fourth design center. The largest is located at the chipmaker's headquarters in Milpitas, CA. The others are in Boston and Singapore. The company recently completed construction on the second phase of a $110-million wafer fab in Camas, WA.

Tosoh team takes field

Tosoh SMD, a manufacturer of sputtering targets, has established a product development team to address the requirements of advanced thin-film processes. The cross-functional group will be based at Tosoh's headquarters in Grove City, OH, and will involve members of the company's R&D staff there and around the world, the vendor says. The team will focus on improving film performance in new materials and on developing targets for 300-mm wafer applications.

Ashland expands tech center

Ashland Chemical is expanding its technical center in Dublin, OH, with the addition of a 115,000-sq-ft facility costing approximately $22 million. The expansion will create nearly 100 new positions at the center, which employs more than 200 scientists, engineers, and technicians. The project is the second expansion at the chemical supplier's headquarters. The company broke ground in February of last year on a $15-million addition for customer service and purchasing.

Steag opens training facility

A facility for training clients and company personnel in the use of the vendor's wet process and Marangoni dryer product lines has been opened by Steag MicroTech in Austin, TX. The site houses a classroom and fully functioning ASP Mark III automated wet process system with cassette-to-cassette transfer station, wet process modules, and dryer.