UMC offers nTool's Web-based tracking tool to foundry customers

UMC offers nTool's Web-based tracking tool to foundry customers
By Semiconductor Business News
June 12, 2000 (1:01 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000612S0031

FREMONT, Calif. -- Silicon Valley-based nTool Corp. today announced that semiconductor foundry supplier United Microelectroncis Corp. has adopted its Web-based eProject supply chain management system to help fabless chip houses to track and manage ICs in production.

Launched in last February, the eProject system is designed to enable fabless semiconductor companies to manage the entire IC production life cycle online through a single browser interface, said nTool, which was spun out of MacroTech Research Inc. in December 1999. "Our mission is to integrate management, engineering, and manufacturing information together based on our robust semiconductor industry-specific e-commerce infrastructure," said Roger Chen, president of nTool.

Through the eProject servers, wafer fabs can exchange work-in-progress (WIP) data, allowing both customers and vendors to have a global view of supply chain status, said the Fremont-based company. The eProject i nterface includes engineering data and reports, bin maps, inventory updates, test, and quality reports. The sytem enables users to place purchase orders online, said nTool.

By leveraging the Internet, "we can further increase our customers' competitiveness," said Robert Chin, UMC's information technology director in Taiwan.