Dalian Linton NC Machine Co. Ltd. has opened a more than 70,000 square meter research and design center and manufacturing base in Xishan, Wuxi, China. This comes just eight years after obtaining the exclusive license to use the Kayex brand name and becoming the one and only owner of Kayex technology. The opening of the new facility brings the annual CZ grower equipment production capacity of Linton to more than 2,000 units per year.
“Over the years, we’ve taken the proprietary Kayex technology we were entrusted with and added engineering and service expertise, supported by a strong manufacturing infrastructure and sales team,” explains Ron Kramer, director of business development for Linton. “Since taking over the Kayex brand, we have tripled in size as a company and introduced nine new models of grower, as well as several updates and retrofits. The completion of this new facility in Wuxi enables us to conduct research, design and manufacturing of our CZ process growers under one roof, expediting product delivery to customers.”
Linton’s research and development is heavily customer-driven, aimed at both the development of new machines and technologies and supporting the Kayex technology still used in the marketplace. Among the most recent releases are retrofits to support the older Kayex growers. As the sole owner of the Kayex technology, Linton is the only company able to truly develop retrofits, upgrades or replacement parts for these machines. In the past couple of years, the company has developed a targeted retrofit image processing system, as well as a more comprehensive retrofit of the legacy consoles.
The Linton facility in Wuxi represents an investment of more than $432 million U.S dollars. Saws and other wafer processing equipment continue to be manufactured in the facility in Dalian, China, for efficient production of that line as well.
Linton Crystal Technologies is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of equipment for producing monocrystalline ingots for the semiconductor and solar industries. The company specializes in silicon and produces equipment for materials such as germanium and gallium arsenide. They also provide technical support, process engineering support and replacement parts to help clients get businesses off the ground, improve productivity and continue to innovate.