Reorganisation
"Based on recent evaluations, we have concluded that this product does not demonstrate sufficient advantages to garner the market share necessary for adequate returns on further investments," says James W Bagley, Lam's chairman and CEO. "We will continue to support the company's installed base of Teres CMP systems but will not actively market new systems. We intend to concentrate resources on market opportunities where we believe there is greater potential for market penetration and profitability and are redeploying our CMP resources to these opportunities as well as etch projects. Our progress in etch over the last several years has been outstanding, and we look forward to building on that momentum."
All costs from the move were recorded in the June 2004 quarter, representing a total expense of $3mn. Total company R&D expenditures are planned to continue at recent levels.