We are practicing product development initiated from the customer perspective in order to meet the needs of production sites, such as improved yield and improved equipment efficiency per-unit area through enhanced productivity and smaller footprints. Each division works in close collaboration with one another, such as our Account Sales Division, which identifies customer demands for next-generation technology and beyond, and our Corporate Innovation Division, which reviews the integration of those demands into products.
In addition to developing leading-edge technologies, we are also continuously improving the performance of our mass production equipment, so that we can proactively respond fast and suitably to the needs of our customers spanning multiple generations.
In proposing solutions to customers, we leverage a broad portfolio of products, including those used in the series of each patterning process requiring advanced technological capabilities, such as Deposition, Coater/ Developer, Etch and Cleaning. By providing not only manufacturing equipment but also optimal solutions including systems and software, we will support our customers in their pursuit of productivity and quality improvement in semiconductor manufacturing, thereby helping them to optimize their manufacturing processes and enhance their competitiveness.
Solutions that Create Value for Customers
Systems for Creating Value for Customers
In fiscal year 2022, amid ongoing travel restrictions and other measures due to COVID-19, the transition toward a data-driven society advanced even further and the semiconductor market reached its largest scale ever. As a result, the semiconductor production equipment market, in which Tokyo Electron participates, also grew significantly. In conjunction with this growth, we received more requests and inquiries from customers than ever before.
Our Account Sales Division is promoting new technology development to meet the needs for nextgeneration leading-edge technology in fields such as memory, logic and foundry. In addition, the Global Sales Division responds to the needs of more than 100 customers in Japan and overseas who deal in communication devices, image sensors, power devices and other products for the rapidly growing Chinese market, and the industrial IoT market.
These two divisions cooperate with business units and global sites that deal in equipment and respond to requests for not only leading-edge devices but also essentially all device applications. As well, they help customers with issue resolution and value creation by providing optimal solutions with an eye to the future.
In addition, we have been working to strengthen the front-line functions that connect our customers' sites and our Company in order to accurately grasp the issues and requirements of our customers in their product development and manufacturing operations, and provide this as feedback to our main development and manufacturing sites in a timely manner. Going forward, we will accelerate R&D by carefully confirming and adjusting long-term technology roadmaps, including key technologies, with customers. Furthermore, we will assign highly skilled customer engineers to our customers' sites and work to improve equipment utilization rates and understanding of the customers’ potential needs.
In addition, we are working to improve the technical skills and interpersonal skills of our more than 4,700 field engineers worldwide, install equipment at overseas subsidiaries and enhance information sharing and in-house coordination related to improving work efficiency using the work-time management system in order to further improve product quality and stability in our service and support activities. We aim to provide customers with high-value-added services by utilizing our wealth of knowledge and systems to propose customized solutions for the various challenges they face.
Proposing Customer Solutions Leveraging a Broad Portfolio of Products
