SEMICONDUCTOR
UPDATE
April 2007
McIlvaine Company
India Preps First Domestic Fab for Chip Prototyping
Construction on a prototype fab which will be part of the India Design Center in Kolkata will begin within the next 12 months. The fab is being established by the information technology ministry of West Bengal, with support likely from federal agencies.
The prototype fab will be part of the approximately $120 million design center which also houses incubation centers, chip design and EDA tool development companies. Once the facility is ready, it will serve as the first domestic fab for chip prototyping.
Das, a former professor of test technologies, said the state government will also look at offering venture capital to design startups.
The fab will be located near prestigious engineering institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITK) and Jadavpur University. The former will be the technical partner for the prototype fab.
Most Indian chip designers are located in Kolkata or in Noida (near New Delhi), Hyderabad and Pune.
Hynix Breaks Ground for 300mm Wafer Manufacturing Facility in Cheongju, Korea
Hynix Semiconductor announced the groundbreaking of its front-end 300mm wafer fabrication facility in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Korea.
The new manufacturing facility, named M11, is expected to strengthen the company's long-term competitiveness and further enhance its productivity and cost efficiency.
Hynix plans to manufacture high-density NAND Flash memory devices implementing sub-48 nm process technology in the new facility.
The Company aims to complete construction in the second quarter of next year and commence mass-production in the third quarter, investing total of 3.8 trillion won for two years and four months.
The new M11 will be
constructed on the 108,687 square meter site located in the Cheongju Industrial
Complex where Hynix currently operates two manufacturing facilities.
300mm wafers boost productivity by more than 2.5 times compared to 200mm wafers.
Semiconductor manufacturers are aggressively expanding their 300mm capacity to
maximize production efficiency.
Hynix owns manufacturing facilities in Icheon and Cheongju, Korea. The Company also has a manufacturing site in Eugene, Oregon, US, and another one in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China through the joint-venture with STMicroelectronics. Hynix currently has two 300mm fabs among its own facilities and acquires additional 300mm wafers through the foundry supply agreement with ProMos in Taiwan.
Reconditioned Semiconductor Equipment Supplier Class One Gets New Facility
ClassOne Equipment, of Decatur, Georgia USA, a supplier of reconditioned semiconductor equipment reported that the company opened a new 40,000 square foot sales, marketing, and technical support facility. According to the company, the new facility will provide a place to store and showcase equipment while also provide a place to expand the company’s sales, administrative, servicing, and support facilities.
The new facility is located 15 miles from Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. The company says that the new location effectively quadruples the space of the previous facility. The new location also houses a 10,000 square foot lab space for refurbishing, showcasing, and demonstrating equipment to customers. The company allows customers to “test drive” equipment in the lab, but also includes a three month warranty, and a 30-day right of return on each piece of equipment.
NANOIDENT Achieves ISO 9001:2000 Certification
NANOIDENT Technologies AG, the world leader in printed semiconductor-basedoptoelectronic sensors, announced achievement of ISO 9001:2000 certification for the NANOIDENT Group of companies, which includes:
The NANOIDENT OFAB, located in Linz, Austria, employs a certified management control system to deliver printed semiconductor-based products for the NANOIDENT Group of companies. By achieving this internationally recognized certification, NANOIDENT demonstrates that it delivers controlled processes, fulfills regulatory, safety and environmental requirements, and ensures continuous improvement for its customers.
ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems, which is maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. Some of the requirements for ISO 9001 certification include: procedures that cover all key processes, proper record keeping, facilitating continuous improvement and customer focus. NANOIDENT developed its quality management system in conjunction with the development of its new production facility, NANOIDENT OFAB, and was audited by the independent registrar Quality Austria. The company is one of the first printed semiconductor facilities to achieve this certification, which makes it well suited to deal with a growing list of customers that require ISO 9001:2000 suppliers.
NANOIDENT's OFAB production facility enables new, innovative solutions in a wide range of markets, including consumer, industrial, life sciences and security, that were previously cost-prohibitive or simply not able to be created due to the physical constraints of silicon. Moreover, expensive masks, wasted material and dangerous acids used for etching are not needed with printed electronics. Toxic materials are not used in the OFAB, making it a green production process.
Agilent Opens China HQ Campus
Agilent Technologies announced the official opening of its China headquarters campus, including the launch of the Agilent Open Lab & Solution Center and the Life Sciences & Chemical Analysis Center of Excellence. The new campus is located in Beijing Wang Jing Science Park and combines Agilent's Beijing-based R&D, sales, marketing, technical support and after-sale functions in one location.
Agilent's Open Lab & Solution Center provides electronic measurement customers with a full range of test and measurement services, including a professional testing environment and technical consulting services. It is Agilent's second Open Lab for electronic measurement in China.
The Agilent LSCA Center of Excellence (CoE), the first for Agilent in China, provides customers with a demonstration lab environment featuring all of Agilent's bio-analytical measurement products. Customers have the opportunity to interact with Agilent senior management and applications specialists. They are able to observe and participate in proof-of-performance for Agilent's chemical and bioanalytical systems using their own samples in a state-of-the-art, fully equipped facility.
Agilent will leverage the China headquarters to help drive the development of the local industries - particularly in the key areas of energy, environmental protection, agriculture, food safety, information and basic biological research in life sciences - and become a true strategic partner in Chinese enterprises' development toward globalization.
Nan Ya PCB Installs New Production Line for Flip Chip Substrates
Nan Ya PCB Corporation, a supplier of flip chip substrates in Taiwan, has installed an additional production line with a monthly production capacity of seven million units, bringing the firm`s total monthly output capacity to 30 million units. This has helped the firm unseat the Japan-based Ibiden as the world`s largest supplier of its kind, according to industry sources.
The market for integrated circuit (IC) substrates and their prices declined significantly in the second half of last year, but started to witness a turnaround in the first quarter of this year. In addition, with its substrate supplier in South Korea unable to secure a stable yield rate, Intel is very likely to transfer more IC substrate orders to Nan Ya PCB, who is Intel`s major supplier of the product in Taiwan.
Intel Will End Production in August at Colorado Springs Facility
Intel Corp plans to end production in August at its 900-employee Colorado Springs semiconductor plant.
The California-based chip giant also told stockholders that it expects to spend $60 million by the end of June on employee severance and benefit costs at its 1.4 million-square-foot plant at 1575 Garden of the Gods Road and other facilities.
New Intel Facility Planned in China
Intel has unveiled plans to build a $2.5 billion semiconductor plant near China’s northeast port city of Dalian.
The factory will reportedly supply chipsets to customers throughout China, which Intel expects to be the largest information technology market by the time the facility opens in 2010.
Chipsets are computer chips that connect a microprocessor to other system components.
The planned Dalian plant will be Intel's first factory in Asia that will fabricate wafers, the thin silicon platters on which dozens of chips are etched, and is expected to boost the company’s investments in the country to $4 billion.
The facility will be sited in a high-tech zone just north of the port and will be one of Intel's eight factories worldwide to produce 12-inch integrated wafers.
The Chinese government had said earlier that Intel will be using 90-nanometer technology — the making of circuits 90 billionths of a meter in width, a technology that is considered to be just one to two generations behind Intel's most advanced technology.
Construction of the plant is scheduled to start before the end of this year. The new project will make Intel "one of the largest foreign investors in China" with nearly $4 billion of investment, said Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, at a recent press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Intel has invested $1.3 billion in the past two decades in assembly, test and research and development facilities in China with operations in both Shanghai and Chengdun that employ about 6,000 workers.
The Chinese government has been trying to attract such high-tech projects in hopes they will help China evolve from a low-cost manufacturing center to a creator of profitable advanced technologies.
The government hopes the new Intel factory will "bring more value-added research projects" to Dalian, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning agency.
The new Intel plant will reportedly be China's biggest foreign high-tech investment to date.
Spansion Completes Sale of JV1 and JV2 Manufacturing Facilities to Fujitsu
Spansion Inc., the world's largest pure-play provider of Flash memory solutions today announced it has closed the sale of Spansion Japan's older JV1 and JV2 Manufacturing Facilities in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan to Fujitsu Limited and to Fujitsu's subsidiary company, Fujitsu Semiconductor Technology, Inc. pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement between the parties dated September 28, 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, Fujitsu has paid Spansion approximately $150 million in cash and will continue production of Spansion® Flash memory products as a foundry for Spansion.
Spansion intends to use the cash from the transaction, combined with structured financing, to fund Spansion's SP1 300mm manufacturing facility in Aizu-Wakamatsu.
Following the completion of this sale, Spansion Japan now has over 2,000 employees. Its Japan headquarters are in Kawasaki-city, its JV-3 and SP1 fabs are located in Aizu; and its design center is near Nagoya-city. Spansion Japan serves the Japan market through the Fujitsu sales channel.
Bengal Setting Up a Chip & Tool Designing Unit
The West Bengal government will soon float a tender for the construction of a 14-storey building under the public-private participation mode for setting up India Design Centre, a chip and tool designing unit with prototype fabrication facilities under one roof.
The state has already asked for Rs 400-crore assistance from the department of science and technology, government of India, for the proposed centre to be developed within a year.
The state government is awaiting the final decision from the Centre on the proposed assistance.
The Cabinet has already cleared the proposal for setting up the semiconductor building at the Salt Lake Electronics Complex.
As the Centre has already passed the new semiconductor policy, which industry observers believe will bring big investment to states, the West Bengal government, in association with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, has become eager to get a share of the investment.
There is no unit in India now which fabricates chip prototypes except the public sector unit, Semiconductor Complex Ltd (SCL), in Chandigarh, according to Partha Pratim Das, head of engineering of an elctronic design automation company, Interra Systems. The company develops tools for chip-designing companies.
Altera Opens 30th Joint Lab, Training Center in China
Altera Corp. inaugurates its 30th Joint Laboratory and Training Center (JLTC) at South China Normal University in China.
As a part of Altera's worldwide University Program and long-term commitment to providing world-class technology and education to China's engineers, 30 JLTCs have been established in the country since 2004. The JLTCs are equipped with the latest Altera Quartus II software and development kits to aid professors in conducting hands-on training with students.
Omron has Acquired Semiconductor Business Assets of Seiko Epson's Consolidated Subsidiary Yasu Semiconductor Corporation
These business assets have been vested in Omron's wholly owned subsidiary, Omron Semiconductors, which will begin operations on 2nd April 2007. Employing an 8-in CMOS production line, Omron Semiconductors will begin by manufacturing nonvolatile memory and logic ICs on a commission basis, and will subsequently expand its production to include original semiconductor elements and other products.
Omron Semiconductors' sales target for fiscal 2007 is Y3 billion, and sales are expected to exceed Y5 billion by fiscal 2010.
Omron develops, manufactures, and markets custom ICs that offer functionality and cost-performance not found in general-purpose semiconductors, as well as MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) products such as flow sensors and pressure sensors that use semiconductor processes in their manufacture.
Omron Semiconductors will make it possible to further expand these semiconductor operations, while strengthening the Omron Group's line of semiconductor-equipped products.
Hynix Revising Icheon Plans
Hynix Semiconductor Inc's new CEO said the company has been revising its investment plan for its Icheon plant, in a bid to win the necessary government approvals.
The new plan will include expanding all the possible processing facilities in Icheon except for the copper-use process, which was a major reason for the government rejecting its original investment plan.
The company was forced to build a new plant in Chungju instead.
'We will proceed to again get government approval of our investment plan to build one fab line each year by 2010, which will cost about 14.5 trln won,' he said.
Infineon Further Strengthens its Position as a Leading Player in the Indian Semiconductor Market
Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor supplier for communications, automobile, security and industry applications has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), a newly established semiconductor company, to license its leading-edge 130nm CMOS process technology. This MoU will help build a foundation for the production of integrated circuits for mobile phones, ID cards and automotives in India for the Indian market. This move will further strengthen Infineon’s position as a leading player in the Indian semiconductor market where it has been active for ten years.
Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor supplier for communications, automobile, security and industry applications has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), a newly established semiconductor company, to license its leading-edge 130nm CMOS process technology. This MoU will help build a foundation for the production of integrated circuits for mobile phones, ID cards and automotives in India for the Indian market. This move will further strengthen Infineon’s position as a leading player in the Indian semiconductor market where it has been active for ten years.
According to the MoU, Infineon will license its 130nm CMOS basic process technology, along with its process technologies for radio frequency, embedded flash for chip card applications, and embedded flash for automotive applications to HSMC. Furthermore, Infineon will offer expertise and advice for the technology transfer, and setup of the HSMC Fab. Infineon will also license its fully qualified and silicon/ product-proven design libraries. This will enable a faster ramp-up of product development for HSMC.
The HSMC group plans to set up two semiconductor manufacturing facilities in India. The first Fab will require an investment of approximately $1 Billion and will produce chips on 8-inch wafers. The second Fab will be for more advanced 12-inch wafers requiring an investment of $3.2 to $3.5 Billion. First products from HSMC are expected within two years.
The Indian semiconductor industry was established about 30 years ago. Since then, nearly 200 semiconductor companies have opened offices in India mainly in the chip design arena. Infineon India has 600 employees working in the hardware design and software development in Bangalore, where operations started in 1997. According to a recent study by the India Semiconductor Association and Frost & Sullivan, the semiconductor market in India is expected to grow from $3.25 Billion in 2006 to $36 Billion in 2015. This growth rises from the surging demand for consumer electronics, wireless communications and automotive products, as well as growth in the semiconductor design industry.
Russian Adopts Semiconductor Industry Development Program
A conference was held in Moscow on the issues of micro-electronics industry in Russia. The event was organized by technology company Sitronics and the Russian Managers Association. The keynote at the conference was delivered by Yuri Borisov, head of the radio-electronics division in the Federal Agency of Industry. The gist was that the best way to help the near-ruined industry turn around is to provide guaranteed government procurement. The rest can be handled by the business itself.
Bringing the semiconductor production back to life again means virtually starting things from scratch. Currently Russia only has one facility that works using the 0.5 micron process and services special customers. It belongs to the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to Borisov, the production can hardly be described as serial. This has brought about a situation in which the needs of the Russian industries in semiconductor components that were still satisfied by Russian manufacturers back in the early 1990s are now covered by imported products. That applies to the military segment as well. Only thirty percent of the military semiconductor needs are covered by Russian design bureaus and over sixty percent is covered by imported products. This causes national security concerns in the government.
According to Borisov, the micro-electronics market totaled 35.1 billion (US$1.35 billion) rubles in 2006 of which the Russian products share was only 1.2 billion rubles. Forecasts say that before 2011 Russia will see new market sectors appear that will give Russian chipmakers a chance.
The state program has it that what might play as a catalyst for the micro-electronics industry is the market for electronic IDs, passports, social security and transport cards, GLONASS satellite navigation systems and digital television.
The goals and objectives set in the program include reaching a fifty percent share for Russian companies in the specialized electronics market and a share of up to fifteen percent in the 'civil' market. The funding from the federal budget will reach 23.2 billion roubles till 2011. 15.8 billion of that will go to fund research and development projects, while 7.3 billion will be spent as capital expenses to create modern day design centers.
As for the micro-electronics manufacturing, the government virtually has no manufacturing facilities in its ownership - all of such enterprises are privately owned today. These include Angstrem and Micron in Zelenograd and the semiconductor plant in Voronezh.
The owners of these facilities are investing actively into new manufacturing lines using the experience of western companies. Thus Angstrem, than is going to operate as a foundry, struck partnership with AMD. AMD sells equipment from its plant in Drezden and shares technology. According to Borisov, the cost of the project is estimated at 650 million euros. The state has provided 3.4 billion rubles' worth of guarantee.
In the joint project of Sitronics and a French-Italian STMicroelectronics at Micron, the government is making a moderate investment, yet preparing a sizable state order.
McIlvaine Company,
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax: 847-784-0061;
E-mail: editor@mcilvainecompany.com;
Web site: www.mcilvainecompany.com