I have to admit, the news that Kulicke & Soffa will wind down its electronics assembly equipment business as part of a revamp of its strategic plan makes me a bit sad.

The K&S division, which makes SMT placement machines and backend semiconductor equipment, dates back to the earliest days of SMT. In the 1980s it was owned by the Dutch conglomerate Philips (which also had a passive components division), and they duked it out with Siemens (now ASMPT SMT Solutions) for the fastest pick-and-place machines of that era.

It’s clear from the financials (see the link) that it’s losing quite a bit of money. Still, I hope someone picks it up. They were a technology leader for a long time and there are many fine engineers there.