VELDHOVEN, the Netherlands -- ASM Lithography N.V. today announced plans to refile a petition for U.S. review of its planned purchase of Silicon Valley Group Inc., which must receive government approval under a law covering foreign acquisitions technologies considered crucial for defense systems.
The Dutch lithography giant said it voluntarily requested a withdrawal of its pending petition on Friday, and it will resubmit new documents for Exon-Florio review in hopes of speeding the review process. The planned purchase has already cleared U.S. antitrust review, and ASML hopes to complete the acquisition of SVG early in 2001.
Three months ago ASML announced an agreement to acquire San Jose-based SVG for about $1.6 billion in stock. The purchase is aimed at making ASML the world's largest supplier of lithography systems for wafer fabs (see Oct. 2 story).
"By refiling the petition, we believe that we will be able to be more responsive to the U.S. government's review, providing them some additional time to finalize their work and thereby advance the approval process," said Doug Dunn, chief executive officer of ASML. The Exon-Florio review is performed by the U.S. Congressional Committee on Foreign Investment under an amendment to the U.S. Defense Production Act of 1950.
In the 1990s, SVG's lithography division received U.S. funding to help pioneer number of key technologies for wafer patterning, including deep submicron step-and-scan tools. SVG Lithography has also developed 193-nm and 157-nm systems and is involved in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tool R&D in U.S.-backed programs.
To increase its involvement in U.S.-funded Next Generation Lithography (NGL) development, ASML has agreed to open a major production operation in the United States. Ownership of SVGL will help ASML achieve that goal, in addition to gaining key step-and-scan capabilities
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