Pros
Can't find a job elsewhere. Axcelis is primarily kept alive by the customers who want to keep competition in the semiconductor capital equipment industry.
Cons
Very top heavy. Poor management. Poor communication. Semiconductor industry is very cyclical so layoffs are the norm, unfortunately that only applies to the people who do the work that makes the company run while new management positions are being created. People who ignore the reality of the business situation and shout a cheery message are promoted and rewarded while those that tell the truth and try to fix the problems are punished. Some of the supervisors play favorites and not even based on talent and team compatibility but by who they like personally. Replacement parts are hard to come by despite a very large warehouse stocked with items, most of which seem to be obsolete. Every new tool design is a ground-up redesign despite the fact that all the front-ends are functionally interchangeable, a huge waste of money that requires more parts to be stocked more procedures and training to be maintained. Many of the design engineers have never worked on the tools they design so they create things that are inefficient to maintain which increases downtime, expense, and failure rates.