FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Horiba, Ltd.  Announces the Grand Opening of the “Horiba Technology Center” in Santa Clara, California.

 

Santa Clara, California               July 13, 2007

 

HORIBA, Ltd. will establish a new development facility, the “HORIBA Technology Center” on July 13 in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara, California), following the Group’s concerted efforts to meet the needs of the American hi-tech market for products such as semiconductors and biotechnology.

With the objective of conducting joint development with hi-tech corporate clients and offering collaborative proposals for solutions, the center will be set up amidst the world’s frontier technology companies. The facility is complete with laboratories and clean rooms that are furnished with the latest equipment from HORIBA’s Group companies and will be joined by HORIBA STEC, Inc.

 

Staffed by a new R&D team, this facility will provide the venue and the opportunity for the kind of collaboration between vendors, integrators, and customers that is necessary to meet the challenges of next generation processes by providing value and enabling technology from Horiba’s vast range of core technologies.  Initially, a group of 10 engineers from Japan and the US will work together to develop fluid controlling devices and vacuum analyzing devices for subsystems on semiconductor producing equipment.

 

The Technology Center will identify not only the needs of the semiconductor industry but also those of hi-tech companies located in Silicon Valley. It will also target the development of solution analyzers unique to our company, by mobilizing and applying technologies controlled by the Group’s physical, chemical, and medical divisions. The Center continues our Group history of carrying out product development in close contact with our clients at the center of cutting-edge technologies in various industries, such as Detroit for the automotive industry and New Jersey for the physical and chemical industry. In addition, the opening of the Center is considered to represent the full-scale launch of the “US Strategic Project” that we have been promoting since 2006. The initial investment, including plants and equipment, will amount to approximately 400 million yen and the building will be one-story above the ground, with an approximate gross floor area of 1,900 m².

 

The HORIBA Group started in the US by the establishment of a joint venture in 1970; currently a total of 7 companies such as HORIBA Instruments Inc., HORIBA STEC Inc., HORIBA ABX Inc., HORIBA Jobin Yvon Inc., HORIBA Automotive Test Systems Corp., etc. are operating at 13 offices and facilities and with 750 employees.

 

References

<Outline of the HORIBA Technology Center>

Name

HORIBA TECHNOLOGY CENTER

Site Area

3,500 m²
(Approximately half an official soccer ground)

Building Area

1,900 m²
Clean Room Area: 160 m²
(with Super Clean Area accommodating to class 10,000 and class 10 in parallel establishment)

Laboratory Area: 250 m²

(e.g. of installed equipment: flow standard meter, vacuum chamber for testing, chemical liquid monitor, etc.)

Showroom: 110 m²
(e.g. of installed products: X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, Raman spectrometer, FTIR gas analyzer, photomask particle inspection system, vacuum analyzer, chemical concentration monitor, pH meter, particle distribution analyzer , etc.)

Distribution Center: 200 m²

Person in Charge

Kiyoaki HARA, Corporate Officer, HORIBA, Ltd. and Director, HORIBA STEC, Co., Ltd.

Employee Number

23

Address

3265 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA 95054

 

<Activities of Our Group in the US>
Starting by the establishment of a joint venture in 1970, currently a total of 7 companies such as HORIBA Instruments Inc., HORIBA/STEC Inc., HORIBA ABX Inc., HORIBA Jobin Yvon Inc., HORIBA Automotive Test Systems Corp., etc. are operating at 13 offices and facilities and with 750 employees.

Company Number

7 companies in total with 13 development and production bases

Employee Number

750

Sales Size

approx. 27 billion yen

Development and Production Bases

Irvine (California), Ann Arbor (Michigan), Troy (Michigan), Tempe (Arizona), Austin (Texas), Reno (Nevada), Edison (New Jersey), Ontario (Canada)

 

<Outline of HORIBA/STEC Inc.>
HORIBA/STEC Inc. is a subsidiary of HORIBA International Corp., which is also our US subsidiary. Established in 1998, it is engaged in sales and service activities (at 7 bases) on products for the semiconductor industry and in the local production of mass flow controllers. There are 2 production plants: one at the Technology Center and the other at the Austin factory (Texas). For development bases, there is one site at Reno, Nevada in addition to the above two sites.

 

Name

HORIBA/STEC Incorporated

Established

September 1998

Capital

4 million US Dollars

Employee Number

60

Person in Charge

Masayuki ADACHI, Corporate Officer, HORIBA, Ltd. and Director, HORIBA STEC, Co., Ltd.

Sales Size

41 million US Dollars (December 2006)

Headquarters Address

3265 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA 95054

Production and Development Bases

Santa Clara (California), Austin (Texas), Reno (Nevada)

Sales and Service Bases

Santa Clara (California), Austin (Texas), Dallas (Texas), Portland (Oregon), Hudson (New Hampshire)