Applied Materials, Inc. is an American corporation that supplies equipment,
services and software to enable the manufacture of semiconductor, flat panel
display, Glass, WEB and solar products. The company is headquartered in Santa
Clara, California in the Silicon Valley. Applied Materials creates and
commercializes nanomanufacturing technology used in the production of
semiconductor chips for electronic gear, flat panel displays for computers,
smartphones and television, glass coatings for homes and buildings, web
coatings for industry and photovoltaic solar cells and modules using both thin
film and crystalline photovoltaic technology.
History Founded in 1967 by Michael A. McNeilly
and others, Applied Materials went public in 1972.
In 1992, the corporation settled a lawsuit with three former employees for
an estimated $600,000. The suit complained that the employees were
driven out of the company after complaining about the courses Applied
Scholastics had been hired to teach there.
In 1993, the Applied Materials' Precision 5000 was inducted into the
Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection of Information Age
technology. In November 1996, Applied Materials
acquired two Israeli companies for an aggregate amount of $285 million. Opal
Technologies and Orbot Instruments for $175 million and $110 million in cash,
respectively. Orbot produces systems for inspecting patterned silicon wafers for
yield enhancement during the semiconductor manufacturing process, as
well as systems for inspecting masks used during the patterning process. Opal
develops and manufactures high-speed metrology systems used by semiconductor
manufacturers to verify critical dimensions during the production of
integrated circuits. In 2000, Etec Systems, Inc. was
purchased. On June 27, 2001, Applied acquired
Israeli company Oramir Semiconductor Equipment Ltd., a supplier of laser
cleaning technologies for semiconductor wafers, in a purchase business
combination for $21 million in cash. In January 2008, Applied Materials
purchased an Italian company Baccini, a designer of tools used in manufacturing
solar cells. In 2009, Applied Materials opened its
Solar Technology Center—the world’s largest commercial solar energy research
and development facility in Xi’an, China.
Applied Materials' acquisition of Semitool Inc. was completed in December
2009. Applied Materials announced its
acquisition of Varian Semiconductor in May 2011.
Applied Materials announced its merger with Tokyo Electron on September 24,
2013. If approved by government regulators, the combined company, to be
called Eteris, would be the world's largest supplier of semiconductor
processing equipment, with a total market value of more than $30 billion.
But on April 27, 2015, Applied Materials announced that its merger with Tokyo
Electron has been scrapped due to fears of dominating the semiconductor
equipment industry. Organization
Applied is organized into four major business sectors: Silicon Systems Group,
Display, Energy and Environmental Solutions and Applied Global Services.
= Service = The Applied Global Services group offers
equipment installation support and warranty extended support, as well as
maintenance support. AGS also offers new and refurbished equipment, as well as
upgrades and enhancements for installed base equipment.
= Automation Software = Applied Materials offers software
packages for automating the operation of complex manufacturing environments.
These include tool automation, manufacturing execution systems,
materials control, simulation and scheduling software and related software
support services. = Display =
AGS combined an existing business unit with the display business of Applied
Films Corporation, acquired in mid-2006. The manufacturing process for TFT LCDs,
commonly employed in computer monitors and televisions, is similar to that
employed for integrated circuits. In cleanroom environments both TFT-LCD and
integrated circuit production use photolithography, chemical and physical
vapor deposition, and testing. = Energy and Environmental Solutions =
In 2006 the company acquired Applied Films, a glass coating and web coating
business. Also in 2006, Applied announced it was entering the solar
manufacturing equipment business. The solar, glass and web businesses are now
organized into the EES group of the Company.
In 2007, Applied announced the Applied SunFab thin film photovoltaic module
production line, with single or tandem junction capability . SunFab applies
silicon thin film layers to glass substrate that then produce electricity
when exposed to sunlight. The product uses large glass substrates, measuring
5.7 square meters. In 2009, the company's SunFab line was certified by
the International Electrotechnical Commission. Moser Baer signed a deal
with Applied Materials and started a plant in NOIDA, India. In 2010 Applied
announced that it was abandoning the thin film market and closing down their
SunFab division. Also in 2007 the company acquired
privately held, Switzerland-based HCT Shaping Systems SA, a specialist in
wafer sawing tools for both solar and semiconductor wafer manufacture, paying
approximately $475 million. In 2008, Applied acquired privately
held, Italy-based Baccini SpA for $330M, company that worked in the metallization
steps of solar cell manufacturing. Also in 2008, the company was listed at
the top of VLSI Research's list of supplier of photovoltaic manufacturing
equipment for 2008, with sales of $797M. Applied Materials also operates a
venture investing arm called Applied Ventures.
Facilities The company has offices in the United
States, Japan, China, Singapore, Korea, Germany, Taiwan, France, Spain, Italy,
India, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Switzerland. Its
Santa Clara headquarters was built in 1998, and features a large outdoor
sculpture by artist Richard Deutsch. Management
Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors: Willem P.Roelandts
President and Chief Executive Officer:Gary E. Dickerson
Chief Financial Officer: Bob Halliday Chief Technology Officer: Omkaram
Nalamasu References
External links Applied Materials Official Website
The Applied Materials Blog The Applied Materials Official Parts
Center Google Finance - Applied Materials, Inc.
Yahoo! - Applied Materials, Inc. Company Profile
Reuters - Applied Materials, Inc. Overview
Applied Ventures official website Applied Materials: less than $ 1 per
Watt for thin-film module manufacturing