march 08 update

Entrepix, Inc., a leading provider of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) equipment and foundry services, announced that it has opened a new facility adjacent to its current location in Tempe, Ariz. The new space was added to accommodate growing demand for CMP and related process outsourcing services, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contracts plus equipment and process support. Entrepix has seen strong growth in OEM contracts, signing exclusive, worldwide contracts with four major OEMs in the past year.

The new facility effectively quadruples the company’s cleanroom space with the addition of a 5,000-square-foot cleanroom which will house these expanded capabilities. The facility will also feature a showroom for refurbished CMP and metrology equipment, as well as a new Class 10,000 cleanroom space dedicated to the refurbishment of Lam (OnTrak) DSS-200 post-CMP cleaners and other systems that require a clean production facility. Finally, the new facility offers space for additional CMP processing capacity.

YESTech, Inc. has announced the opening of its' new location in Shanghai, China. The offices will be co-located in the expansive new Nordson China facility at the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong, Shanghai and will provide extended sales, training and technical support to YESTech's growing China customer base.

The 8,000 square meter ( 86,080 sq. ft.) facility will house 190 employees and operate as a Center Of Excellence as well as provide specialized customer demonstration labs for each division, an advanced training center for up to 200 people and 10 conference rooms. The state-of-the-art facility also served as the venue for the annual Advanced Technology Group (ATG) Event, showcasing YESTech's capabilities.

These cost-effective yield enhancement solutions for printed circuit board assembly and advanced semiconductor packaging industries lower board failure rates and insure a high quality product.

FlipChip International has opened a semiconductor development center at its headquarters in Phoenix.

The R&D center will enable customers rapid time-to-market prototypes with best in class technology, according to the company.

The center will focus on future generations of wafer level chip scale packaging and 3D packaging technologies. The goal also is to ensure seamless production scale-up and technology transfer of these new technologies into FlipChip's facilities in Phoenix or its expanding network of offshore joint ventures.

FlipChip International LLC, a subsidiary of RoseStreet Labs LLC, supplies products and services for the wafer bumping and wafer scale packaging semiconductor market.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker, plans to invest US$5 billion in a new plant to develop next-generation 32-nanometer, 22-nanometer and 15-nanometer technologies, the company's chairman said.

There was a groundbreaking ceremony held for the development of land suitable for factory construction by the Taiwanese chipmakers in the Hsinchu Science-based Park. In addition to serving research and development functions, the new fab will also provide manufacturing services and is expected to create 3,000 jobs.

A meeting of the board of directors of SPEL Semiconductor will be held on Mar. 24, 2008, to consider various investment proposals.

SPEL Semiconductor is planning to increase the capacity of its existing semiconductor IC assembly and test facilities. It is currently installing a state-of-the-art LMP (leadless molded package). It has also proposed to introduce two other new package lines. The company has stated in a release that it has chalked out plans involving an investment of USD 250 million which includes the setting up of a second facility within India as well as supporting a proposed overseas acquisition.

Continuing to be India’s first and only semiconductor IC assembly and test facility, the company is committed to firmly establishing itself as the natural destination for global customers seeking cost effective assembly and test services.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest memory chip maker, said it will invest an additional $260 million in its joint venture in China this year to expand capacity.

The venture, set up with STMicroelectronics in Wuxi, China, is the only overseas chip plant for the South Korean company, built with an initial investment of $2 billion.

After the new spending, Hynix's ownership in the joint venture will rise to 77.44 percent, it said in its filing to the Korea Exchange without giving its current ownership.

In 2007, Hynix completed a $1.5 billion capacity expansion at the Wuxi facility.

Also, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said that it completed the construction of a 1.1 trillion won ($1.16 billion) production line in its plant south of Seoul.

Hynix started construction of the 12-inch wafer line in April 2007 in its Cheongju plant located 137 kilometers south of the capital, according to the company. It currently has a monthly output capacity of 20,000 wafers.

The company said it is mulling investing an additional 3.2 trillion won in the plant, depending on the market situation. The facility will be used mostly to produce high capacity NAND flash memories.

While many Taiwan-based companies mull over the possibility of relocating their production away from China amid increasing costs, Peter Su, chairman of memory module maker Transcend Information, has revealed that the company will start constructing a large production base in Taiwan this year.

Su said the new plant, which is a demonstration of Transcend's optimism in Taiwan's future, is expected to become operational in the third quarter of 2009. Su revealed the plant will be located at a piece of land in Neihu, Taipei that he personally bought five years ago. Excluding the land cost, the cost of construction of the plant is expected to reach NT$1.2 billion (US$39.15 million), the chairman said. The new plant will help keep the proportion of the company's production in Taiwan above 30 percent.

Meanwhile, Transcend will also expand its production in China. Transcend started setting up operations in China in 2005, and currently there are 11 production lines at its China facilities, according to the company.

Industry observers commented that Transcend's plan to expand its production in Taiwan comes in line with the thoughts of many fellow makers who are considering the possibility of increasing their production outside China, where changes to the labor law which have raised salaries and reductions in tax incentives are increasing production costs.

While Vietnam is a popular option for relocation, makers may also consider increasing their presence in Taiwan, the observers added.

Transcend Information
NAND flash and DRAM product types and production capacity
Taiwan production	7 production lines, monthly capacity 2.5 million units
China production	Fab 1: 11 production lines that put out 6 million units of commodity products, or 4 million units of niche products monthly
	Fab 2: to come on line in April with 4 production lines
Shipments	2007: 45 million units of NAND flash products, 13 million units of DRAM modules
	February 2008: 4.1 million units of NAND flash products, 1 million units of DRAM modules
Shipments breakdown	February 2008: 54% for NAND flash products, 41.7% for DRAM modules, 4.3% for others (such as digital music players, portable hard disk drives, digital photo frames)

Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, March 2008

A state board unanimously approved $300 million on Friday for International Sematech's move to Albany, N.Y., the final step in the oversight process.

The five-member Public Authorities Control Board was the last group that needed to sign off on the grant, which the state Legislature approved in May 2007. The state's economic development arm also has approved the funding, which International Sematech will match.

International Sematech is a subsidiary of Sematech Inc., an Austin, Texas, consortium of computer microchip manufacturing companies. The company has had a research operation at the University at Albany since 2002, a partnership that received $160 million in state funds. It currently has about 250 employees on campus.

Now, International Sematech--which focuses on semiconductor manufacturing and research--will add an extra 450 jobs by moving its headquarters to the area, according to state officials.

Colleges in the region are preparing to train the workers AMD and other advanced-technology companies will need, and local public schools are beefing up math and science curriculums, and preparing for a potential influx of children of high-tech workers.

AMD officials last week filed applications with the town of Malta laying the groundwork for permission to build a $3.2 billion plant in the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta and Stillwater, starting in 2009. If those plans go forward, the company will be looking for well-trained people to hire locally for what will be good-paying jobs. AMD officials said last week the plant could employ 1,465 people, up from a previous estimate of 1,200.

Under an agreement signed with New York State in 2006, AMD will receive $1.2 billion in economic incentives if it breaks ground by July 2009.Officials at the world’s No. 2 microprocessor maker, while starting to move forward, have also emphasized it hasn’t yet made a final commitment to construct. “That decision is still several months away,” said Terry Caudell, AMD’s project manager.

If the project does go forward, though, he estimated about 900 of the projected employees would be directly involved in chip manufacturing operations, done in “clean rooms” where computer chips are made under near-sterile conditions.

AMD officials have said the quality of the local work force was a major factor in their site selection.

Hudson Valley Community College announced plans to build a $13.5 million “TEC-SMART” training building at the Saratoga Technology and Energy Park in Malta, right next door to the Luther Forest Technology Campus. It will contain a clean room for training semiconductor manufacturing technicians. College officials say it could prepare 500 to 600 students a year.

AMD has worked with community colleges near its chip fabs in Austin, Texas, and elsewhere to developing local training programs, and has already been in touch with HVCC about its needs.

The 1,350-acre Luther Forest Tech Campus is zoned to allow those support businesses as well as up to four chip fabs. AMD’s zoning application this week asks to change that to three fabs, but each bigger than what was originally envisioned.

Consultant has estimated 3,000 new construction jobs will be created every year for the next 20 years, because of AMD and all the spinoff activity it will bring. That will mean new demands for the types of vocational training programs BOCES is traditionally known for.

Already, HVCC has started a semiconductor manufacturing training program, though it currently uses the clean rooms at the University at Albany.

The Albany Nanotech facility, in addition to doing advanced semiconductor research and training graduate students and community college students, also routinely opens up for tours by middle school and high school students intended to expose them to potential high-tech careers.