AMAT LRCX and EUV Economics

AMAT LRCX and EUV Economics
by Robert Maire on 11-23-2016 at 7:00 am

Lam & Applied talked about “sustainable” growth Both expect share gains & growth in a flattish market. We examine the “new, lower, cyclicality”. Although Applied and Lam are fierce competitors , coming at things from different directions, they sounded awfully similar last week.
Read More


Foundry CAPEX Jumped from 17% to 37% of LAM Business

Foundry CAPEX Jumped from 17% to 37% of LAM Business
by Robert Maire on 10-23-2016 at 4:00 pm

Lam- in line qtr but guides above street over near term. As with ASML, foundry is driver with subdued memory, The Math implies biz peaking-Looking for DRAM in 2017.

Lam reported another great, record quarter, more or less in line with expectations with revenues coming in at $1.632B and shipments of $1.708B, generating EPS of $1.81.… Read More


What’s the Intel Capex Outlook?

What’s the Intel Capex Outlook?
by Robert Maire on 10-23-2016 at 7:00 am

Intel has terrific QTR & slightly light guide Intel is recovering & transforming at the same time. Whats the Capex outlook? Impact on ASML KLAC LRCX?

Intel reported revenues of $15.78B and earnings of $0.80 for the quarter beating expectations and previous upward guidance. CCG (PCs) were up 21% Q/Q and 5% Y/Y. Data center… Read More


AMAT reports strong Q and even better guidance

AMAT reports strong Q and even better guidance
by Robert Maire on 08-21-2016 at 4:00 pm

Last quarter we said that AMAT got its mojo back and it appears to have even picked up speed going into the end of a strong year.

The display business which had been less than reliable in years past has come up with back to back home runs. Applied is growing both its top and bottom line at well above the sluggish market rates and is clearly… Read More


IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – Secrets of Semiconductor Scaling

IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) – Secrets of Semiconductor Scaling
by Scotten Jones on 06-07-2016 at 4:00 pm

IMEC is a technology research center located in Belgium that is one of the premier semiconductor research centers in the world today. The IMEC Technology Forum (ITF) is a two-day event attended by approximately 1,000 people to showcase the work done by IMEC and their partners.… Read More


3D NAND – Moore’s Law in the third dimension

3D NAND – Moore’s Law in the third dimension
by Scotten Jones on 05-07-2016 at 4:00 am

For more than a decade 2D NAND has been the leading driver of lithography shrinks, for example, Samsung went from 120nm in 2003 to 16nm in 2014 with shrinks on an almost yearly basis, but the shrinks came at a price. At 16nm Self Aligned Quadruple Pattering (SAQP) was required for the most critical layers and patterning related costs… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 5 – Intel and Micron 3D NAND

IEDM Blogs – Part 5 – Intel and Micron 3D NAND
by Scotten Jones on 12-29-2015 at 7:00 am

At IEDM Intel and Micron presented “A Floating Gate Based 3D NAND Technology With CMOS Under Array” authored by Krishna Parat and Chuck Dennison.

As I previously discussed in my blog on the IEDM memory short course and blog on IMEC’s work on high mobility 3D NAND channels, continuing to scale 2D Flash has become extremely difficult… Read More


IEDM Blogs – Part 4 – IMEC InGaAs Channel for 3D NAND

IEDM Blogs – Part 4 – IMEC InGaAs Channel for 3D NAND
by Scotten Jones on 12-28-2015 at 4:00 pm

At IEDM IMEC presented “MOCVD In[SUB]1-x[/SUB]Ga[SUB]x[/SUB]As high mobility channel for 3-D NAND Memory” authored by E. Capogreco, J. G. Lisoni, A. Arreghini, A. Subirats, B. Kunert, W. Guo, T. Maurice, C.-L. Tan, R. Degraeve, K. De Meyer, G. Van den bosch, and J. Van Houdt.

On December 15[SUP]th[/SUP] I had the opportunity … Read More


Moore’s Law is dead, long live Moore’s Law – part 5

Moore’s Law is dead, long live Moore’s Law – part 5
by Scotten Jones on 04-22-2015 at 4:00 am

In the first four installments of this series we have examined Moore’s law, described the drivers that have enabled Moore’s law and discussed the specific status and issues around DRAM and logic. In this final installment we will examine NAND Flash.… Read More


AMAT Earnings Call: Next Generation FinFETs?

AMAT Earnings Call: Next Generation FinFETs?
by Paul McLellan on 02-15-2015 at 9:00 am

The Applied Materials earnings call was last week. As usual I”m not all that interested in the financial details of the quarter and I’m certainly not the person to pick whether the stock is going to go up or down in the immediate future. However, there is always interesting information to be gleaned from the semiconductor… Read More