Lam Research Acquires SEZ Group

About SEZ Group

Q: Who is SEZ and what do they do?
A: The SEZ Group, founded in 1986, is a leading supplier of wet-processing solutions for the global semiconductor industry. The company’s proprietary Spin-Processor™ technology (single-wafer technology) forms the basis of a broad equipment portfolio for wafer cleaning solutions. SEZ has approximately 1,000 employees worldwide. More than half of the workforce is located in Villach, Austria, with sales and service employees in the United States, Asia, and Europe.

Q: Why is Lam acquiring SEZ?
A: SEZ is #1 in the world in single-wafer wet cleaning. This acquisition enables Lam to accelerate our presence in the Clean business. By leveraging the installed base, engineering depth, and established customer relationships of SEZ, Lam will gain immediate and broader access for our Clean product offerings and to the #1 single-wafer clean position.

Q: Does the SEZ product line overlap with Lam’s current Clean product offerings?
A: The product lines of the two companies are extremely complementary and would provide our customers the broadest offering that includes wet clean solutions, both spin (Da Vinci^®, Da Vinci Prime™, and Esanti^®) and our linear (2300^® Clean with C3™ Technology) wet clean and plasma-based bevel clean (2300^®  Coronus™) products. We remain confident that Lam’s single-wafer cleaning system, based on the Company’s proprietary Confined Chemical Cleaning™ (C3) technology, provides users the targeted benefits and are excited at the opportunity to leverage an expanded product portfolio.

Q: Will SEZ’s management team be replaced?
A: No. The management team is a very important component of this transition. Through the process of negotiations and due diligence, we are encouraged by their obvious strength, their cultural fit with our company, and the commitment to accomplishing our long-term strategic goals.

Q: Will SEZ retain its own identity or be integrated into Lam’s?
A: The SEZ brand and trademarks will be added to our portfolio. The combined management team of a newly created Clean Product Division will assume ownership for ongoing branding and product naming conventions.

Q: What is the transition plan for SEZ?
A: The most important element of the transition plan is the activity necessary to create a single point of contact to the customer for sales and technical support of the installed base. Over the coming weeks, the companies will formalize those plans and provide additional commentary to interested stakeholders.

Q: Who is leading the transition team?
A: The transition team will be composed of executives from both companies.

Q: Will any jobs be eliminated in Villach or Fremont as a result of this acquisition? Are there any redundancies?
A: The partnership of both companies provides a unique opportunity at a compelling moment in time. The established organization and infrastructure of SEZ provides a framework to build around for the emerging Clean business of Lam, particularly in the field customer-interface organizations. Currently, there are no plans to eliminate positions and Lam has made a formal commitment to maintain Villach as the operational headquarters for the Spin Division. As is customary, the combined management teams will develop together in the coming weeks and months integration planning proposals that focus on identifying opportunities to best support our customers and deliver the targeted performance.

Q: Who will handle Sales and Service for the SEZ products?
A: Sales and Service will be integrated within Lam’s field operations and will be organized consistent with the existing Regional and Global Account structures.

Q: What is the benefit to the customers from this acquisition?
A: By combining the leading etch company with the single-wafer clean company, we will be better able to address the complex cleaning and etch challenges that semiconductor manufactures will face when moving to 45 nm technologies. The expertise that each company brings will allow us to have the best technology solutions in the most economical manner. The introduction of new materials and the dimensional control required in today’s advanced devices will require optimized etch and clean solutions. By combining our resources, we will be able to work with customers to develop processes that open up the overall process window.

Q: How are the Lam and SEZ clean product lines complementary?
A: The two cleaning approaches the companies have are based on very different technologies. There will be situations where each technology offers advantages compared to the other. By combining these companies, we will be able to offer the best technology solution to meet the customers’ needs. Additionally, SEZ’s considerable expertise and relationships with customers in the clean market will enable development of the best combined solution in the shortest possible time.

Q: Where the products are directly competing today, will the customer have a choice on which product they want to use?
A: We will work with our customers to find the right solution to their problems and have the right combined product offering that meets their needs.