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20 June 2002

VLSI announces best equipment suppliers

VLSI Research announced the results of their annual customer satisfaction survey this week. The survey asks users of chip making equipment to rate their suppliers on a ten-point scale among thirteen categories that exemplify a supplier's relationship with its customers. The survey includes seven measures of equipment performance: cost of ownership, uptime, software, build quality, usable throughput, quality of results achieved and product performance. The other six categories measure customer service performance: process support given, field engineering support, spares support, support after sales, technical leadership in the supplier's field and the supplier's overall commitment to supporting its customers' needs.

According to VLSI Research, suppliers maintained a 7.49 overall average rating across all segments, virtually unchanged from 2001 to 2002. The top suppliers excelled in quality-of-results with an average rating of 7.99. Other strong categories included product performance at 7.85 and usable throughput at 7.84. Areas needing improvement included software and cost-of-ownership.

In addition to wafer process equipment, the survey includes suppliers of test and material handling equipment, process diagnostics equipment, and assembly equipment.

^†Ratings are on a scale from 1 to 10. In cases where a tie occurred, the ranking position is determined by a single-sided 97.5% confidence margin.

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