AMEC Unveils Six New Semiconductor Manufacturing Tools in Wuxi

The new line-up, announced at an industry conference in Wuxi on Tuesday, spans several steps in chip production, including etching tools that carve microscopic patterns into wafers, deposition systems that build ultra-thin layers of material and the complex equipment used to make silicon-carbide power chips.

Unveiling six tools simultaneously marks a notable shift for AMEC as it accelerates its transformation from an etching specialist to an all-around semiconductor equipment firm. Four of the six new products are deposition tools.

The global etching and deposition markets are dominated by US and Japanese giants like Lam Research, Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron.

During an investor briefing last month, AMEC said it had cut its product development cycle from three to five years down to two years or less. The company poured 2.04 billion yuan (US$303.5 million) into research and development in the first half of the year – a 36.9 per cent year-on-year surge representing 30.5 per cent of its total revenue.

It currently has more than 20 new machines under development across six equipment categories.

Tuesday’s announcement was AMEC’s second large batch of product releases in six months, following the unveiling of four new machines at Semicon China in March.