SEMI

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International

Formation	1970
Founder	Bill Hugle, Fred Kulicke, John Dannelly
Type	Industry organization
Chairman	André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé
President and CEO	Denny McGuirk
Website	http://www.semi.org/
Formerly called	Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) is a global industry association of companies that provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat panel displays, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and related micro and nano-technologies.

SEMI has offices in Austin, Beijing, Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Its main activities include conferences and trade shows, development of industry standards, market research reporting, and industry advocacy.

SEMI was founded in 1970 as an association of semiconductor production equipment vendors. At that time, most companies in the semiconductor industry exhibited at the Wescon Show on the west coast and the IEEE show on the east coast. Wishing to organize a show dedicated to semiconductor production equipment, 55 companies met in Palo Alto and agreed to found a new association, originally called Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute.

The first SEMICON show was held in 1971 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in California. It featured 80 exhibitors and attracted 2,800 visitors. In 1973, the first SEMICON East show was held in New York City, with 120 exhibitors participating. This was followed by SEMICON Europa in Zurich, Switzerland (1975) and SEMICON Japan in Tokyo (1977), which attracted more than 200 exhibitors and 4,500 visitors.