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TAP TIMES -6- AUGUST 2022

SEMICON West (from 4)

to reach the key decision makers that use
their products.

Exhibitor falloff
Many of the major exhibitors that once
eagerly prepared a year ahead for the
next SEMICON West, have moved on and
no longer exhibit. Only a few of the larger
stalwarts remain, such as Advantest, This is North Hall, which until the pandemic was crowded with
Canon, KLA, Lam Research, Micro Control, exhibitors. It is now used for show registration. (TAP TIMES)
Nikon and Tokyo Electron. forms of product promotion. The press
room itself was tiny this year and lacked
Even Applied Materials, which was known the traditional amenities. In addition, the
for its towering, multi-tiered booth that show program, once a quarter-inch thick,
reached nearly to Moscone’s ceiling, does has become an 11 x 17 inch foldout.
not exhibit here anymore.
Traffic on the show floor
Traffic on the show floor in South Hall, the
In the past, exhibitors brought their big- only exhibit area, seemed about equal to
gest and finest heavy metal to the show, that of last year’s December event.
hoping to dazzle visitors and to capture a
significant share of mind. At the show’s height, exhibitors occupied

both North and South Halls, and for a
The majority of the exhibitors since the couple of years, West Hall, Moscone’s new-
return of the physical SEMICON West in est addition, as well. Since last year, West
December 2021, supply the basics — ma- Hall has been occupied by the co-located
terials, industrial cleaning supplies, trays Design Automation Conference — itself
and other manufacturing accessories. once a massive EDA industry event.

Big machines mosly absent Trade shows in the electronics sector have
For the most part, the big machine sup- to page 8
pliers have left their most impressive ma-
chines at home.

A measure of the success of any SEMICON
West as the premier venue to introduce
new products, I believe, may be gauged
by the number of handouts in the press-
room. This year there were zero.

At the December showing last year there
were only two handouts. Maybe four
years ago, the tables in the press room
were stacked high with dozens upon doz- Until 2005, the show was bifurcated into two venues: packaging
ens of press releases, press kits and other and test in San Jose (above) and the front-end in San Francisco.