Rohm and Haas builds CMP center in Asia

The state-of-the-art facility adds to the Company's growing business in Asia and is expected to be in commercial production by the first quarter of 2007. "With the majority of our business currently based in Asia, Taiwan makes the ideal location for our significant investment in this multi-purpose plant and technical center," said Nick Gutwein, president and CEO Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, CMP Technologies. "This will be the production site for our next-generation IC1000(TM) polishing pads, as well as the setting for a sophisticated applications lab and sales and customer support offices. We'll be able to meet customers' specific requirements quickly, reduce their cycle time and speed up production, as they focus on building new 300mm advanced technology node fabs over the next decade." Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials is investing $50 million in the six-acre location at the Hsinchu Science Park, Chunan satellite campus, which will include a 4,500-square-meter plant for advanced manufacturing of next-generation CMP products, as well as a 2,000-square-meter technical center and 3,000 square-meters of office space. The applications lab will encompass standard analytical equipment for pad and slurry analysis along with a 300- to 500- square-meter Class 10 clean room equipped for CMP polishing, cleaning and metrology. The company expects to employ up to 160 people at the CMP Technologies Asia Pacific Manufacturing and Technical Center by 2010. "Our strong presence in Taiwan will put Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials in constant contact with all of the major CMP customers in the foundry and memory market segments in the expanding Asian region," said Dominic Yang, general manager, Asia Pacific, Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials, CMP Technologies. "The new plant also extends our total production capacity for industry standard products and will provide Asian customers with a closer facility for new product demonstrations than our U.S. locations offer." As plant manager, Cliff Chen will oversee construction and execution of the pad manufacturing operations at the center. Jerry Yang, general manager, CMP Technologies, Greater China also will take on an integral role at the facility. Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials currently has a sales and customer service office in Hsinchu for its Microelectronic Technologies and CMP Technologies businesses. The office will be consolidated into the Chunan site. The CMP Technologies Asia Pacific Manufacturing and Technical Center is the first major investment in Asia, aside from Japan, for CMP pad manufacturing at Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials. The company has partnered with RUENTEX/PIN-HUEI Construction and Engineering Co., Ltd. and architectural firm JJ Pan, for the construction and design of the building. The new Taiwan facility is in close proximity to National Tsing Hua University and National Chiao Tung University, two leading technical and engineering institutions. The site also is located about 30 minutes from the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan's largest research center. In addition to locations in Hsinchu and Tainan, Taiwan, Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials maintains sales and customer service offices to support the Asian customer base of CMP Technologies in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Korea.