EUV is NOT Ready for 7nm!

EUV is NOT Ready for 7nm!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-27-2017 at 8:00 am

The annual SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference kicked off last night with vendor sponsored networking events and such. SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics but this year SPIE Advanced Lithography is all about the highly anticipated EUV technology. Scotten Jones and I are at SPIE so expect more detailedRead More


SPIE Advanced Lithography and Synopsys!

SPIE Advanced Lithography and Synopsys!
by Daniel Nenni on 02-01-2017 at 7:00 am

SPIE is the premier event for lithography held in Silicon Valley and again Scotten Jones and I will be attending. EUV is generally the star of the show and this year will be no different now that TSMC has committed to EUV production in 2019.

Last year at SPIE, TSMC presented the history of EUV development from the beginning in 1985 as … Read More


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.
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LRCX AMAT KLAC Update

LRCX AMAT KLAC Update
by Robert Maire on 11-20-2016 at 12:00 pm

Applied & Lam will be talking over the next 2 days, investors should/will focus on future growth, AMAT after display uptick & LRCX post the KLAM fail.

It’s no secret that most of the upside surprise in Applied’s recent reports were due to unusually large display orders from an industry even more cyclical than… Read More


EUV transition comes into focus

EUV transition comes into focus
by Robert Maire on 11-04-2016 at 12:00 pm

We attended ASML’s analyst day in New York on Halloween. We were very impressed with the quality, content and clarity of the presentations and thought it was one of the best strategic positioning presentations we have seen in the semi industry. We also had an opportunity to meet with several members of senior management afterRead More


What is the impact of missing the 7NM node with EUV?

What is the impact of missing the 7NM node with EUV?
by Robert Maire on 10-23-2016 at 12:00 pm

ASML reported a quarter that was slightly below expectations coming in at Euro 1.815B in revenues and Euro 0.93 EPS. Orders were a bit soft at Euro 1.4B but well within the normal quarterly variation of a lumpy business. Euro 28M was lost in a currency adjustment associated with the Hermes acquisition.

The guidance for Q4 was between… 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


SEMICON West – Harry Levinson and Mike Lercel Interview

SEMICON West – Harry Levinson and Mike Lercel Interview
by Scotten Jones on 08-02-2016 at 12:00 pm

On Tuesday morning at SEMICON I had the opportunity to sit down with Harry Levinson, Sr. Director of Technology Research and Sr. Fellow at Global Foundries and Michael Lercel, Director of Strategic Marketing at ASML to discuss the state of lithography.

I opened the discussion with a question about how we are going to address lithography… Read More


ASML pays $3.1B for Hermes to get E-beam inspection

ASML pays $3.1B for Hermes to get E-beam inspection
by Robert Maire on 06-21-2016 at 7:00 am

Cheap versus year ago but expensive on fundementals – Net negative for KLAC/LRCX & AMAT. ASML bought Hermes Microvision for much the same reason as the Cymer acquisition – to support EUV. ASML could have made a counter offer for KLAC (as we had suggested previously) but this obviously would have been much more expensive… 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