VLSI Awards The Best Suppliers Of Semiconductor Chip Equipment
The competitive market of chip makers has been unpredictable to say the least.
You could have been watching a grand prix and not know which car was going to come out on top, as they dodged around each other. If you look at the competitors as chip makers,
it wasn't until they crossed the finish line that the ranking positions by VLSI
were final.
For the first time in the history of the firm's surveys, more than
half of the suppliers in each category had greater than 8 points in the average
rating, compared to two suppliers last year. As a result, the average rating for
the 10 BEST suppliers was 8.0, an increase of 0.35 points over last year.
"This year's ratings reflect new supplier initiatives to focus on their customers' satisfaction, with better service and products," comments G. Dan Hutcheson, Chairman and CEO of VLSIresearch
He continues, "I salute the employees of this year's winners for all the grinding work it took to achieve such stellar improvements. Winning is not just about a product. It's about being in the trenches with the customer and satisfying their needs on a day-by-day basis over the entire year. Congratulations to the 2012 10 BEST winners!"
Large Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment
Novellus retained its number one spot this year with an increase of
0.77 points to 8.95. The company's dedication to customer satisfaction paid off
this year by earning the highest ratings among all Large Suppliers in 14 of the
15 rating categories.
Advantest and Teradyne improved their positions substantially this year and competed for the 2nd and 3rd positions. Advantest slightly exceeded Teradyne by a mere 0.02 points. Teradyne leaped from the 9th spot and Advantest from 7th, with point increases of 1.35 and 1.01 respectively. Advantest achieved its highest rating in trust in supplier at 8.7 and Teradyne won recommend supplier, also at 8.7.
Although both Hitachi High-Technologies and ASML achieved increased ratings this year, they dropped a slot to 4th and 5th positions as a result of Advantest and Teradyne's jumps.
ASML, well-known for its highly-productive lithography tools, earned the highest rating of all Large Suppliers in technical leadership. Hitachi High-Technologies' highest attribute was in the quality of its results.
Focused Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment
F&K Delvotec, a supplier of wire bonders grabbed top spot
for the first time this year with a rating of 8.51.
The company garnered the highest rating of all Focused Suppliers in nine categories, with its highest rating of 9.0 earned in both field engineering support and support after sales.
Oerlikon retained its number 2 ranking with a rating of 8.19. This PVD supplier achieved its highest rating of 8.4 in five categories: would recommend supplier, trust in supplier, product performance, usable performance, and uptime.
Plasma-Therm moved up five slots to 3rd position with a rating of 8.18. Customers applauded the etch & clean supplier as the highest in commitment of all Focused Suppliers as well as tying in spares support with F&K Delvotec.
Most Improved Suppliers
In the Large Supplier categorys, Teradyne improved the most with its movement up from 9th to 3rd position and a 19% surge in its rating. Teradyne was followed by Applied Materials with a 17% jump in its rating. Nikon closed out this race with an increased rating of 16%.
Nanometrics was a winner in the Focused Suppliers category, by climbing a massive 47% in ratings, by jumping from 36th to 6th place. LTX-Credence's significant increase of 33% moved the firm up from the 31st to 5th position. EV Group also showed a notable improvement with a 16% rise from the 15th to the 4th spot.
This study was conducted by VLSIresearch in its 2012 Customer Satisfaction Survey. The survey received feedback from more than 99% of chip marketers.
