Selection criteria for equipment vendors by wafer foundry in Taiwan

Currently, most semiconductor manufacturers adopt a passive approach in the selection process of equipment technology and often lack careful consideration. However, with the emergence of technology bottleneck in semiconductor IC processes one after the other, semiconductor manufacturers no longer wait for equipment vendors to propose solutions in an effort to achieve leading edge in technology. Instead, they have taken initiatives as well as an active approach to participate in the establishment of equipment specifications and its development. Thus, the relationship between equipment vendors and semiconductor manufacturers no longer borders on ordinary buy and sell relationship, where mutual relationship is terminated once transaction has been completed. In reality, they now maintain a long-term cooperative relationship. The purpose of this paper is to understand the key factors considered by the top ten semiconductor manufacturers in Taiwan when selecting equipment vendors.