Abstract: A high speed low inertia fine wire clamp is provided for automatic wire bonders of the type which move the bond head and bond head frame relative to the workstation which supports the semiconductor device to be wire bonded. The wire clamp comprises a fixed clamp lever mounted on a bond head link and a movable lever which is pivotally mounted on the fixed wire clamp lever. The wire clamp jaws of the wire clamp levers are spring biased to a normally closed position and are moved relative to each other by a voice coil motor mounted on the wire clamp levers and controlled by a microprocessor to apply predetermined forces on the wire between the wire clamp jaws and to monitor the distance between the jaws.