NexPlanar Announces Major Capacity Expansion for Semiconductor CMP Pads

HILLSBORO, OR--(Marketwired - May 23, 2013) - Rapidly increasing customer demand for NexPlanar's advanced semiconductor CMP pads has necessitated a significant capacity expansion in both the U.S. and Asia.

Since NexPlanar opened its Hillsboro, Oregon operation two years ago, production has doubled each year. In response to this growth, NexPlanar will open a second pad manufacturing plant in Hillsboro in early 2014. In addition, the company will open a pad finishing facility in Taiwan to complement the Hillsboro operation. The Taiwan facility, which will include a quality control and analysis lab, will open in late 2013.

New Investment Round
To fund this expansion, NexPlanar recently completed a $10 million round of funding to expand capacity in these two locations. A new strategic investor led the investment round with full participation by all existing investors.

"Reducing defects and improving yields," commented Jim LaCasse, CEO and President of NexPlanar, "has become the key focus of our customers as they move to more advanced semiconductor processing nodes. NexPlanar's pad technology enables significant defect reduction in the polish process. As the demand for our CMP pads increased and our technology gained global acceptance, we saw a dramatic need for expanding manufacturing capacity both at a new, second facility in Hillsboro and also in Taiwan, close to a large segment of our customer base."

About NexPlanar Corporation
NexPlanar builds the next generation of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) pads for the semiconductor device industry. NexPlanar is able to modulate CMP pad properties, such as pad hardness, pore size, compressibility and groove profiles, to develop customized solutions for demanding semiconductor applications and integration schemes, including those for emerging technologies. These solutions allow for low stress CMP (required for the most advanced CMP applications) and result in an order of magnitude fewer defects and lower overall cost of ownership. See www.nexplanar.com.