CMC Materials’ legal action is the focus of the investigation by the United StatesITC to decide whether it is right to ban US imports of the compound or not. The commission expected to confirm the verdict yesterday but it was posted till December 16th. It is all clear that Intel’s worries about the ban, given the delay, would be real. The planarization slurries are an indispensable step in semiconductor production. They are used during the many stages of the tedious, months-long process of wafer making. They are in essence used in the polishing of the wafer’s surface in the adreneous production stages and according to Intel, the subtle variation between them can have oversized effects in manufacturing environments. Given the high complexity of the semiconductor manufacturing process, any change – even a change in the flow chain supplier – can affect semiconductor yields disproportionately. It seems probable, too, that Intel should spend zero on a new product. But Intel appealed to the commission, and said “banning Optiplane slurries from U.S.-based semiconductor chip manufacturing lines without a 24-month transition period could conflict with national security and economic interests.” There are also signs that the company is worried about the possibility of a’slurry supply shock’ with Optiplane as a prohibition. Of course, it does not help that Intel is the world’s biggest semiconductor maker and that major manufacturing facilities are located on US soil. China’s booming semiconductor industry has a huge advantage over TSMC. It’s also unclear if Intel could collect the compounds from other suppliers – such as CMC Materials – at the cost of it. Intel does seem to have a compelling argument. USITC employees showed support for Intel’s call for a 24-month delay in any import ban which would help the manufacturing and supplier process. Thomas Chen, an investigative attorney for the USITC, said a 24-month delay will help Intel transition to non-infringing alternatives to acceptable alternatives, if that’s not enough. Like everyone we know very well, there’s no need to have a semiconductor. Intel will likely have to prove how tough this ban would have been for its operations. The reported semiconductor shortage is a result of a complex set of economic factors and it’s not related to the supply of CMP slurries, and also the supply of the specific infringing products that were at issue in this investigation.
