Workstation Market Is Growing at Rapid Rate
The $6-billion market for computer workstations is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry, with projections showing a compound annual growth rate of 30% in five years.
Between personal computers and mini-super computers in terms of power, workstations are fast becoming the upgrade of choice among PC users. And in the next few years, as workstations come down in price and PCs increase in performance, the line between them will become more blurry.
A low-level workstation costs $4,000 and a high-end personal computer $12,000 or more.
Though closing rapidly, the gap between personal computers and workstations still exists in graphics. High-performance features are to be expected in the workstation, often making it more attractive than the personal computer to which many optional features must be added.
But by far the most important differences between personal computers and workstations are in non-technical areas such as service, distribution and marketing.
Generally, personal computers are sold through distributors and retailers, and workstations directly through manufacturers. Workstations are used more often in a technical setting and therefore have a more prestigious image in technical uses.
Personal computers have the advantage of being in the buyers’ comfort zone. Buyers are more familiar with personal computers than with workstations.
Personal computers far outnumber workstations, and the idea of upgrading a familiar personal computer is less threatening than the idea of buying a new type of machine with an unfamiliar operating system.
Potential in Recycling in Chip Cleaners
Given the nod from a small group of engineers, a new technology that recycles the sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids used to clean silicon wafers has the potential to grow to a $200-million industry by 1995.
Since 1987, only 20 of the so-called reprocessing systems have been installed in semiconductor manufacturing plants worldwide. Over the next few years, engineering staffs at the plants will evaluate the systems and decide to what extent this technology will be used in their companies’ semiconductor manufacturing operations. Other semiconductor manufacturers are waiting to see if they should invest in the $600,000 technology.
There are three advantages to acid reprocessing systems. First, they consistently deliver a very pure acid, which lowers contamination levels. This means manufacturers can produce more good chips on each silicon wafer.
Second, they reduce acid consumption by 90% or more. Current technology requires the acid be periodically dumped and replenished.
These new systems continuously recycle and purify the acids. Since the average selling price of bottled acid used in semiconductor manufacturing is $7 to $10 per gallon and high-purity acids costs $15 to $27 per gallon, companies can recoup their investment in a reprocessing system in only a few years.
The third advantage is that they produce much smaller amounts of waste than other systems, which lowers the cost of disposal. Disposal costs now run about $1.50 per gallon of acid used.
The financial community, attracted by the technology’s environmental angle, continues to fund the only two companies that are developing these reprocessing systems, Athens Corp. of Oceanside and Alameda Instruments in Pleasanton, Calif.
Demand Is Growing for ASICs in Asia
The “ASICs Age” is dawning for Taiwanese and South Korean electronics companies as they continue to expand into new technologies and increase their production of electronic systems for the military, aerospace, telecommunications and data processing markets. All these systems will use customized semiconductors called ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits), and therefore represent a prime market for U.S. and Japanese ASICs manufacturers.
While strong in ASICs design, the electronics producers are limited in their capabilities to produce the specialized chips. They look to the United States and Japan to fill the bulk of the ASICs orders. Shipment values of ASICs to Asian countries other than Japan will be $455 million this year and are expected to reach $1.7 billion by 1994.
Customized semiconductors come in three basic types: gate arrays, cell-based integrated circuits and programmable logic devices.
Japan surpassed the United States in terms of total ASICs shipments to Asia last year, due largely to Japan’s doubling of gate array shipments to the region. Japanese companies will continue their surge into Asia because of their strong gate array performance.
Programmable logic devices and cell-based integrated circuits come primarily from U.S. companies. If U.S. companies increase gate array market share and sustain their lead in the other two segments, Japan might lose its position as the No. 1 ASICs supplier to Asia by 1991.
Responding to increased demand, Asian companies are investing heavily in research and development and are seeking partnerships with foreign companies to become ASIC manufacturers themselves. As a consequence, the competition for ASICs market share will become more intense in the 1990s, pitting the United States and Japan against other Asian countries.
