Crossing Automation,
Inc., today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to
acquire the assets of Asyst Technologies' atmospheric technologies and IP including
the sorter, EFEM (equipment front end module) and RFID products. Crossing's
existing investment partners Tallwood Venture Capital and Intel Capital continue
to support the company's expansion. Specific terms of the agreement were not
disclosed.
Industry veteran Robert MacKnight, as Executive Chairman at Crossing Automation,
will lead the integration process folding Asyst's hardware, service and spares
assets and personnel into Crossing's wafer-level automation business. Since
the launch of its ExpressConnect(TM) and ExpressSolutions(TM) capabilities earlier
this year, Crossing has been actively working to expand the company into the
atmospheric wafer handling and automation areas of semiconductor manufacturing.
The acquisition of Asyst's strong product set, along with its existing global
sales and service capabilities, offered an ideal opportunity to Crossing to
enter this market space in a leading position.
"This deal makes good sense in terms of synergy, leverage and opportunity,"
commented MacKnight. "Crossing has gone from start-up to an established
player overnight by acquiring this technology. The new entity has an established
customer base that has both vacuum and atmospheric automation requirements and
we foresee a great opportunity to bring real value to the OEM community with
a complementary tool set."
"This move demonstrates how serious we and our investors are in relation
to the market and the opportunity that exists," stated Jed Keller, President
and CEO for Crossing Automation. "As a combined entity we will be better
positioned to engage mainstream semiconductor equipment companies with a complete
automation solution set. We will continue to pursue a model focused on the process
equipment market that brings greater value and flexibility to these customers
while offering a larger set of modular building blocks that will drive down
costs through innovation and scale."
Crossing Automation delivers efficient, cost-effective integrated vacuum wafer
handling systems and engineering support to high volume manufacturers of vacuum
process tools, including etch, CVD, clean, RTP and metrology. Crossing's ExpressSolutions
engineering services offers system integration and custom design engineering
to optimize wafer-level automation systems that implement the company's ExpressConnect
automation modules and subsystems. The company's unique approach enables its
customers to develop process-specific wafer transport solutions for multi-platform
strategies at a significantly lower cost than current approaches. Offering an
alternative to conventional "cluster tool" technology, Crossing achieves
critical manufacturing flexibility for OEMs and IC manufacturers alike.