Equipment and Materials ♦ news digest Carolina, to IQE.


RFMD’s MBE growth facility supplies MBE wafer starting material to its wafer manufacturing facilities. The firm will continue to own and operate in Greensboro, and Newton Aycliffe, UK.


RFMD’s GaAs semiconductor products incorporate transistor layers grown using either an MBE or MOCVD process. RFMD outsources all MOCVD- based starting material, and will now also begin to outsource MBE-based starting material with the completion of the transfer.


Now, RFMD has announced that IQE will supply RFMD with both MBE- and MOCVD-based starting materials.


The transfer and supply agreement will lower RFMD’s manufacturing costs, beginning in the September 2012 quarter. In the June 2012 quarter, RFMD currently estimates the transaction will result in a non-cash GAAP charge of approximately $0.02 to $0.03 related to equipment and inventory write- offs and will be approximately neutral to non-GAAP operating results.


Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RFMD, states, “We believe this is a mutually beneficial transaction for both RFMD and IQE. Of note, we expect this transaction will provide RFMD with lower MBE and MOCVD pricing, higher return on invested capital (ROIC), and more predictable operating results.”


Veeco to overshadow Aixtron in GaN MOCVD LED equipment market


Due to overcapacity, projected shipments of reactors used in the growth of gallium nitride based LEDs have been downgraded for 2012. Veeco will also have a clear lead over Aixtron for GaN LED tools for the full year 2012


IMS Research has cut its forecast for 2012 GaN MOCVD shipments to 281, according to the second quarter 2012 MOCVD update of its “GaN LED Quarterly Supply and Demand” report.


July 2012 www.compoundsemiconductor.net 177


IMS Research Analyst Jamie Fox comments, “The decline in 2012 is due to sufficient tools being in place for backlighting, lighting not yet fully taking off and expiring subsidies in China. The revision to our forecast is due to an analysis of the latest supplier earnings calls and our latest surveys of manufacturers which showed that some companies’ purchase plans have been cut back more than expected in recent months, particularly in China. We have heard about capacity utilisation moving up in Taiwan this quarter, but we don’t see this as a worldwide trend at the moment.”


The graph above shows that 2012 shipments will be much lower than 2010 and 2011, but will still be higher than in 2009.


2012 will be a quiet year as, in terms of equipment installation, it will be the low point between the backlighting and lighting cycles. After a huge rush to buy in China in 2011 (it peaked at 92 percent of shipments in the fourth quarter), sales here are dropping significantly in 2012.


The entire worldwide market in the first quarter of 2012 was about the same size as the one largest order in China in the fourth quarter of 2011. However IMS Research believes the market has bottomed out in the first half of 2012 and that modest growth should return in the second half of 2012.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186