For two decades, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) put on a giant trade show every year at the San Mateo County fairgrounds, south of San Francisco. The show, which came to be known as SEMICON/West (other SEMI exhibitions were held around the US and overseas), brought together not only the biggest purveyors of semiconductor production equipment, such as Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron Ltd., but hundreds of small vendors peddling silicon wafers, process gases, photomasks, and spare parts for all that complicated equipment.
The show moved to SF’s Moscone Center in 1992, and now it is much like every other convention that comes through Moscone, or any other convention center. Things were a bit different at the San Mateo County fairgrounds. Other than the high-tech gear on offer in the exhibit halls, it was just like a county fair, with food booths serving up hot dogs, pretzels, funnel cake, and other fairground fare. Brass bands and Dixieland jazz groups would play in the afternoons in the California sunshine — the show traditionally was held in late May, when the Golden State is well into its dry season — and convention attendees would do business over beers at the picnic tables. Man, that was a sweet trade show! The downside of using the fairgrounds was that there were no hotels within walking distance and few fine dining establishments, so most corporate entertaining at the site was done in a small village of recreational vehicles out in the parking lot. (One of those party RVs stalled on the railroad tracks on the way out of the parking lot one year and got hit by a train; no one was hurt, but I bet that resulted in one heck of an expense report.)
For years, the prime place to exhibit at SEMICON/West was the Hall of Flowers at the fairgrounds, and two of the biggest exhibitors in the hall at that time were Eaton and General Signal. Both companies commanded big market share in semiconductor equipment back then. Now, Eaton is long out of the chip equipment business, and General Signal was acquired by SPX Corporation in 1998, after GS divested most of its equipment subsidiaries.
Eaton and General Signal ultimately found the semiconductor equipment business not to their liking — too much cyclicality in the semiconductor industry, big losses for equipment vendors when the microchip business was in a downturn, and not enough market share in some equipment segments. Eaton tried to play in photolithography equipment, a market that even Applied Materials wouldn’t enter, and finally gave up when it couldn’t overtake Canon and Nikon. (ASML eventually bested those rivals, after years of struggle.) Eaton got out of the semi equipment business altogether in 2000 when it spun off Axcelis Technologies in an IPO.
General Signal collected semiconductor equipment manufacturers like some people collected Beanie Babies. Its executive in charge of scouting prospective acquisitions was named James Greed. I kid you not. Jim Greed was a nice enough guy, at least to fresh-faced reporters like me, but I still got a kick out of John Fogerty putting a song called “Mr. Greed” on his Centerfield album: “Mr. Greed, why you got to own everything that you see?”
General Signal mostly bailed out of the semi equipment business in 1993, selling Drytek, Electroglas, and Ultratech Stepper. It kept Kayex, which today still is a subsidiary of SPX. After years of losses, Electroglas filed for Chapter 11 protection this year, one of several equipment vendors to enter bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. Ultratech has also financially struggled through the boom-and-bust cycles of the semiconductor industry, yet it remains a game competitor in its niche specialty.
Yes, memories of semiconductor equipment empires won and lost — I will cherish them for years to come.
Thank you for these nice remembrances. As we plan future SEMICON shows, we always try to balance the past with the future. We’ve had a beer hall over the last few years to try capture a little positive nostalgia, but it seems like nobody drinks or smokes anymore. Many people share your fondness for these bygone times and they make it hard for us at SEMI to deliver the same quality of experience. But we try. Innovation continues, but the industry has changed and West has changed with it.