BILTHOVEN, the Netherlands, January 16, 2007 - ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq: ASMI and Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam: ASM) today announced that its subsidiary ASM Europe B.V. has recently received multiple orders for its 300mm A412(TM) vertical furnace from large DRAM manufacturers and chip foundries in Taiwan. In the fourth quarter, the total value of the orders exceeded US$30 million. Deliveries are scheduled for the first half of 2007.
"This is another major step in extending our position in Taiwan, the result of the proven productivity advantages of the A412 as well as our strengthened sales and support infrastructure in this rapidly growing region over the past few years." said Dr. Tanja Claasen, ASM's Vertical Furnace Product Manager. "We are proud that both new and established customers have affirmed the competitive advantage of our A412 by repeatedly choosing ASM."
Key to this success is ASM's partner in sales, service and support in Taiwan, BT Systems and Service Co. The combined organizations, ASM Taiwan and BT, currently have over fifty field service engineers working from four main locations in Taiwan. "Over the next six months," said Mr. Jack Tsai, CEO of BT systems and Service, "we'll build out the organization further as we continue to improve our service to this high volume manufacturing marketplace."
The ASM A412 vertical furnace has the highest throughput per square meter in the industry. With two reactors and four process boats, the A412 features fast-temperature ramping, predictive temperature controlling, direct process gas injection, and in-situ cleaning capability enable high process yields and high up-times.