SEMICON West Evokes Optimism.

Attendees of SEMICON West this July came away ebullient, with great expectations for an upturning semiconductor market (see previous article for the validity of this sentiment). There is no question that the exhibition was expansive and crowded. The San Francisco part of SEMICON West, which focuses on the wafer processing side of the business, spread its wares over four sizable halls (SEMICON West in San Jose dealt with test, assembly, and packaging).

The number of exhibiting companies at the show has increased consistently in recent years (see graph below). This year there were 11% more companies than last year, and last year there were 25% more than in 1997. But overall attendance at the show has seen a different trend, falling by 9% this year to 67,729, and by approximately 2% in 1998. Attendance had risen significantly in 1997, however, and this year's attendance figures are only 1% lower than those of 1996. Despite the falling ratio of attendees to exhibiting companies, the booths were consistently crowded.

One interesting aspect of booth traffic was the difference between vendors supplying equipment of a laboratory nature, such as Finnigan and Nicolet, and those that are more directly involved with semiconductor manufacturing. Not to belittle the success of the former, but the latter definitely saw a more constant stream of visitors. As the semiconductor industry regains its footing, it is apparent that most manufacturers are interested in the immediate concerns of restoring capacity (again, see accompanying article).

The booths of Finnigan and Nicolet (subsidiaries of Thermo Quest and Thermo Optek, respectively) were adjacent at the show. While the companies were separate in this arrangement, it was evident that the two booths were designed to fit side by side. This hints at a commitment to integration among Thermo companies that has heretofore been lacking.

The program of talks had a strong commercial side to it. Examples of sessions included: How to Successfully Manage New Product Introductions, Winning Customer Loyalty through Customer Satisfaction, and Equipment and Materials Market Briefing. While there were more technical presentations, the skew toward the commercial was clearly in evidence.

The number of laboratory instrumentation companies was numerous, but most of their technologies focused on surface science, i.e. scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, and confocal microscopy. That's not to say that other necessary technologies such as MS and particle characterization were not represented as well.

SEMICON West in San Francisco from July 12 through 16 clearly charmed its attendees and got them excited about the near-term possibilities for a recovering semiconductor market. In July 10 through 14 of next year, when it enters its thirtieth year, SEMICON West plans to return to the same location.

Line Graph: SEMICON West: Attendance
   Attendees   Exhibiting Companies
1996   68500      1350
1997   76000      1400
1998   74412      1750
1999   67729      1950