FSI
International (ticker: FSII,
exchange: NASDAQ) News Release
- 3/17/03
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FSI International, Inc. Announces that it Will
Exit the Resist Processing Market
The Company Will Transition Out of Its Microlithography Business
Over The Next Few Quarters
MINNEAPOLIS (March 17, 2003)--FSI International, Inc. (Nasdaq:
FSII), a manufacturer of capital equipment for the microelectronics
industry, today announced that it intends to discontinue its
Microlithography business operations and focus exclusively on
its Surface Conditioning business.
For the fiscal year ended August 31, 2002, the Microlithography
business revenue represented $61 million, or 43 percent, of
the company’s total revenue
of $143 million. Approximately 292 of the company’s 710 employees work
in this business and will be affected by this decision.
“The combination of a weak global economy, weak demand for technology
products and the uncertain world situation contributed to this difficult decision,” stated
Don Mitchell, FSI’s chairman and chief executive officer. “As we
wind down the Microlithography operation, we will continue to support the installed
base of products at customers and provide transition assistance for the displaced
employees.”
In a January 28, 2003 press release the company stated that
it was pursuing strategic partners for its Microlithography
business. During the past several
months, FSI management evaluated partnering opportunities with other front-end
equipment manufacturers and financial institutions. In addition, the company
pursued multiple unit orders from customers that might have an interest
in the long-term survival of the business and considered scaling down the
business
until industry conditions showed signs of improvement. None of these efforts
achieved the goals identified by the company going into this process.
“Throughout this process, customers and targeted strategic partners validated
the proven scanner efficiency, critical dimension and throughput attributes
of the POLARIS? 300mm products”, concluded Mitchell. “However, we
were surprised how risk-adverse prospective partners are during uncertain times
and of their reluctance to challenge a marketshare leader even with a proven
technology.”
During the second quarter earnings conference call scheduled
for March 18, 2003 at 3:30 p.m. CST, the company will discuss
the financial impact associated
with discontinuing the Microlithography business operations.
The company’s Microlithography business develops, manufactures, markets
and supports equipment that provides highly productive processing solutions
for the resist processing steps of semiconductor and thin film head manufacturing.
The company has over 400 POLARIS Systems installed at customers worldwide,
including over 20 systems that are being used to process 300mm wafers.
FSI International Inc., a global supplier of wafer cleaning
and resist processing equipment and technology, delivers economic
and technical advantages for current
and emerging microelectronics manufacturing challenges. Using the company's
broad portfolio of products, which include immersion, spray, vapor and CryoKinetic
systems for wafer cleaning, and resist processing systems for wafer coating
and developing, customers are able to efficiently achieve their goals. FSI’s
customers include microelectronics manufacturers located throughout North
America, Europe, Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.
FSI is a 2002 recipient of the VLSI Research 10 BEST Award.
In seven of the last ten years, FSI has been recognized
for its superior customer satisfaction
in the category of Small Suppliers of Wafer Processing Equipment.
FSI maintains a Web site at http://www.fsi-intl.com.
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