Applied Materials, Inc.
Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: AMAT FWB: AP2 SEHK: 4336 NASDAQ-100 Component S&P 500 Component
Industry	Semiconductors
Founded	1967
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Key people	Michael R. Splinter (Chairman, President & CEO)
Revenue	$8.7 billion (FY 2012)
Operating income	$ 1.6 billion (FY 2012)
Net income	$ 109 million (FY 2012)
Total assets	$ 12.1 billion (FY 2012)
Total equity	$ 7.24 billion (FY 2012)
Employees	14,526 (October 2012)
Website	AppliedMaterials.com

Applied Materials, Inc. is an American corporation that manufactures semiconductor, TFT LCD display, Glass, WEB and solar (crystalline and thin film) products. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California in the Silicon Valley.

 

Applied Materials creates and commercializes nanomanufacturing technology used in the production of semiconductor (integrated circuit) chips for electronic gear, flat panel displays for computers and television, glass coatings for homes and buildings, web (flexible substrate) coatings for industry and photovoltaic solar cells and modules using both thin film and crystalline (wafer or bulk) photovoltaic technology.

 

History

Founded in 1967 by Michael A. McNeilly and others, Applied Materials went public in 1972.

 

In 1992, the corporation settled a lawsuit with three former employees for an estimated $600,000. The suit complained that the employees were driven out of the company after complaining about the courses Applied Scholastics had been hired to teach there.

 

In 1993, the Applied Materials' Precision 5000 was inducted into the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection of Information Age technology.

 

In November 1996, Applied Materials acquired two Israeli companies for an aggregate amount of $285 million. Opal Technologies and Orbot Instruments for $175 million and $110 million in cash, respectively. Orbot produces systems for inspecting patterned silicon wafers for yield enhancement during the semiconductor manufacturing process, as well as systems for inspecting masks used during the patterning process. Opal develops and manufactures high-speed metrology systems used by semiconductor manufacturers to verify critical dimensions during the production of integrated circuits.

 

In 2000, Etec Systems, Inc. was purchased.
 

On June 27, 2001, Applied acquired Israeli company Oramir Semiconductor Equipment Ltd., a supplier of laser cleaning technologies for semiconductor wafers, in a purchase business combination for $21 million in cash.

 

In January of 2008, Applied Materials purchased an Italian company Baccini, a designer of tools used in manufacturing solar cells.

 

In 2009, Applied Materials opened its Solar Technology Center—the world’s largest commercial solar energy research and development facility in Xi’an, China.

 

Applied Materials' acquisition of Semitool Inc. was completed in December 2009.

 

Applied Materials announced its acquisition of Varian Semiconductor in May 2011.

 

Organization

Applied is organized into four major business sectors: Silicon Systems Group, Display, Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) and Service.

 

Semiconductor (Silicon Systems Group)

In semiconductors (integrated circuits), the company manufactures systems that perform most of the primary steps in the chip fabrication process, including atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), electrochemical plating (EP), etching, rapid thermal processing (RTP), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), CDSEM metrology, wafer inspection, sem Defect Review, reticle inspection and wafer packaging, such as through-silicon via (TSV). The company acquired Semitool for this group in late 2009.

 

Service

The Applied Global Services (AGS) group offers equipment installation support and warranty extended support, as well as maintenance support. AGS also offers new and refurbished equipment, as well as upgrades and enhancements for installed base equipment.

 

Automation Software

Applied Materials offers software packages for automating the operation of complex manufacturing environments. These include tool automation, manufacturing execution systems, materials control, simulation and scheduling software and related software support services.

 

Display

AGS combined an existing business unit with the display business of Applied Films Corporation, acquired in mid-2006.
 

The manufacturing process for TFT LCDs (thin film transistor liquid crystal displays), commonly employed in computer monitors and televisions, is similar to that employed for integrated circuits. In cleanroom environments both TFT-LCD and integrated circuit production use photolithography, chemical and physical vapor deposition, and testing.

 

Energy and Environmental Solutions

In 2006 the company acquired Applied Films, a glass coating and web coating business. Also in 2006, Applied announced it was entering the solar manufacturing equipment business. The solar, glass and web businesses are now organized into the EES group of the Company.

 

In 2007, Applied announced the Applied SunFab thin film photovoltaic module production line, with single or tandem junction capability . SunFab applies silicon thin film layers to glass substrate that then produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. The product uses large glass substrates, measuring 5.7 square meters. In 2009, the company's SunFab line was certified by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Moser Baer signed a deal with Applied Materials and started a plant in NOIDA, India[citation needed]. In 2010 Applied announced that it was abandoning the thin film market and clsoing down their SunFab division.

 

Also in 2007 the company acquired privately held, Switzerland-based HCT Shaping Systems SA, a specialist in wafer sawing tools for both solar and semiconductor wafer manufacture, paying approximately $475 million.

 

In 2008, Applied acquired privately held, Italy-based Baccini SpA for $330M, company that worked in the metallization steps of solar cell manufacturing.

 

Also in 2008, the company was listed at the top of VLSI Research's list of supplier of photovoltaic manufacturing equipment for 2008, with sales of $797M.

 

Applied Materials also operates a venture investing arm called Applied Ventures.

 

Facilities

The company has offices in the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, Korea, Germany, Taiwan, France, Spain, Italy, India, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Switzerland. Its Santa Clara headquarters was built in 1998, and features a large outdoor sculpture ("Etude") by artist Richard Deutsch.

 

Management

• Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer:Michael R. Splinter

• President: Gary E. Dickerson

• Chief Financial Officer: Bob Halliday

• Chief Technology Officer: Omkaram Nalamasu