SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
February 2011
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Intel Announces Investment in Arizona
Infineon to Establish New Entity in China
Renesas Electronics Adds Space
IBM and Samsung Announce Joint Research
Provider of computing solutions Intel Corporation plans to invest over USD5.0bn to build a new chip manufacturing facility at its site in Chandler, Arizona.
The new Arizona factory announced, designated as Fab 42, is expected to be the most advanced, high-volume semiconductor manufacturing facility in the world. Intel said that construction of the new fab is expected to begin in the middle of 2011 and is expected to be completed in 2013. This fab will begin operations on a process that will allow Intel to create transistors with a minimum feature size of 14 nanometers. The addition of this new fab is expected to increase the company's American manufacturing capability significantly. Fab 42 will be built as a 300mm factory, which refers to the size of the wafers that contain the computer chips. The project will create thousands of construction and permanent manufacturing jobs at Intel's Arizona site, the company said.
President Obama visited Intel’s Fab D1D at the company’s Ronler Acres campus, a wafer fabrication facility that is an example of the leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing at Intel sites in Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and other states. The facility delivers a competitive advantage to US in the form of the most advanced transistors, helping the nation to fuel exports into global markets. Over the past 5 years the US semiconductor industry proved to be the country’s leading exporter.
Intel Corporation is a semiconductor chip maker, developing advanced integrated digital technology products, primarily integrated circuits, for industries, such as computing and communications. The Company designs and manufactures computing and communications components, such as microprocessors, chipsets, motherboards, and wireless and wired connectivity products, as well as platforms that incorporate these components. It operates in nine operating segments: PC Client Group, Data Center Group, Embedded and Communications Group, Digital Home Group, Ultra-Mobility Group, NAND Solutions Group, Wind River Software Group, Software and Services Group and Digital Health Group. During the fiscal year ended December 26, 2009 (fiscal 2009), it acquired Wind River Systems, Inc., a vendor of software for embedded devices. In May 2010, Micron Technology, Inc. acquired Numonyx B.V.
In January 2011, the Company completed the acquisition of the Infineon Technologies AG Wireless Solutions business.
The global chip maker is growing its research and development capacity and its 300 mm operations in Boise.
Construction crews are blasting rock and dirt at the site of Micron’s Fab 4 expansion to make way for space below the fab and a basement, according to a company article.
The blasting several feet underground should continue through the first week of March.
About 100,000 cubic yards of soil and rock, equivalent to a 6-foot-by-6-foot hole more than 14 miles deep, will be removed.
The new building will have 25,000 square feet of cleanroom space for 12-inch (300 mm) silicon wafers on which Micron fabricates its chips, and 25,000 square feet for future expansion. The project is expected to be completed in 2012, depending on market conditions.
The company no longer makes memory chips in Boise for sale but conducts most of its research on and development of improved chips and products here.
Micron’s current 300 mm research and development center will be remodeled as well.
The company has been growing over the past year, earning profits after years of losses that led to Boise’s manufacturing shutdown and the loss of thousands of jobs. Micron still employs about 5,000 people in Boise and is hiring. On Wednesday, Micron’s website listed 167 Treasure Valley jobs, from engineers to analysts.
Micron’s 300 mm production plants are in Utah, Virginia, Taiwan and Singapore.
Infineon Technologies AG opened a new facility in China called Infineon Integrated Circuits (Beijing) Co., Ltd., located in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area.
In addition to sales and marketing, application R&D and central functions, the new entity houses an IGBT stack manufacturing facility and a technical center for automotive solutions. IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) are power semiconductors used to drive electric motors both in automotive applications and in trains. Motor speed and torque can be regulated along a gradual scale. They also play an important role in the use of renewable energies: here IGBTs enable the efficient conversion of variable frequency output such as from a wind turbine or solar plant to a fixed frequency appropriate for the grid in the region concerned.
“Global energy demand is constantly increasing, particularly in emerging markets like China, one of the most important and fastest growing strategic markets for Infineon,” said Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. 'Infineon has dedicated many years to develop state-of-the-art semiconductor solutions. This new entity will enable us to raise our output to meet the extremely expanding demand especially for energy efficiency and electromobility solutions in China and brings us closer to our customers in this region.'
China plans to invest around 700 billion US dollars until 2020 in renewable energy projects and expects to expand the high-speed rail network from today's 7,500 to 13,000 kilometers by 2012. Infineon is engaged in many wind and solar power as well as high-speed train projects in China with its semiconductor solutions. According to the government's blueprint, China's railway network will serve more than 90 percent of the population by 2020, with 16,000 kilometers of new lines.
Furthermore, the Chinese government intends to make individual mobility more sustainable, investing in electric and hybrid cars. From 2020 onwards, one million hybrid and electric cars are planned to leave the assembly line in Chinese plants every year.
The new Infineon entity in Beijing will support all three Infineon business segments Automotive, Industrial & Multimarket as well as Chip Card & Security.
Today, Infineon develops, produces and markets innovative semiconductor solutions at several locations in China with around 1.700 employees serving the energy efficiency, mobility and security needs of the global and the Chinese market.
Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area is a state-level economic and technological development zone in Beijing, China. It is located in the Yizhuang district with convenient transport links and advanced infrastructure. Key industries in the zone include electronic products, pharmaceuticals, information technology, mechanical engineering and materials research.
Infineon Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2010 fiscal year (ending September 30), the company reported sales of Euro 3.295 billion with approximately 26,650 employees worldwide. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo.
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced that it has transferred part of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment at the Kochi Factory, the company's production facility in Kochi, Japan, and has started leasing part of the manufacturing space within the facility, both to Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
The company will continue its manufacturing at the remainder of the Kochi Factory on the first floor of the facility. As part of its strategy related to the merger between Renesas Technology Corp. and NEC Electronics Corporation in April 2010, Renesas Electronics has been promoting organizational reforms to strengthen its business structure to become a semiconductor company resistant to changing markets.
Renesas Electronics has been increasing its manufacturing efficiency at the Kochi Factory by improving the manufacturing capability of the first-floor line through miniaturization of the chip size and streamlining of the manufacturing equipment, and by consolidating into the first-floor lines the production of products that had been fabricated on the second-floor lines. After a thorough evaluation of the most effective use of the remaining manufacturing resources, Renesas Electronics has reached an agreement with Sumitomo Electric Industries to transfer part of the plant's equipment and to lease part of the available space.
On July 29, 2010, Renesas Electronics announced the results of its '100-Day Project' and introduced its three-pronged business strategy including formulation of growth strategies, realization of merger synergies, and implementation of structural reforms.
Overview of the Kochi Factory Location: 123 Kagami-cho Tokuoji, Konan, Kochi Prefecture, Japan Employees: Approximately 650 (as of January 1, 2011) Major operations: Front-end manufacturing of semiconductor devices Product categories: Microcontrollers (MCUs), mixed-signal devices, power MOSFETs, SoC products About Renesas Electronics Corporation Renesas Electronics Corporation, the world's number one supplier of microcontrollers, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analog and power devices.
Business operations began as Renesas Electronics in April 2010 through the integration of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) and Renesas Technology Corp., with operations spanning research, development, design and manufacturing for a wide range of applications. Headquartered in Japan, Renesas Electronics has subsidiaries in 20 countries worldwide.
IBM and Samsung announced they will collaborate on basic research into new semiconductor materials, manufacturing processes and other technologies. The agreement calls for the two companies to jointly develop new semiconductor process technology that can be used in a broad range of applications, from smart phone handsets to communications infrastructure.
For the first time, Samsung researchers will join IBM scientists in the Semiconductor Research Alliance at the Albany Nanotech Complex, Albany, NY, where researchers will investigate new materials and transistor structures, as well as innovative interconnect and packaging solutions for next-generation technology nodes. The research developments from this joint activity are planned to enable the delivery of industry leading silicon solutions that are optimized for performance, power consumption and size.
“We are pleased to have our top-level scientists involved with the cutting-edge research that’s taking place at the Albany Nanotech Centre,” said ES Jung, senior vice president of technology development, System LSI Division, Samsung Electronics. “This should further enhance our joint efforts to continue technology leadership well into the future.”
New process technology developed by the companies is planned to extend leadership in mobile computing as well as other high performance applications. For consumers, a new generation of devices -- smarter, connected and more mobile -- will require essential semiconductor breakthroughs to keep pace with technology trends (i.e. the mobile web, cloud computing,) and users' loftier expectations around performance and reliability.
"Collaborative innovation will be critical if the semiconductor industry is to continue driving new forms of consumer electronics and new methods of computing," said Michael Cadigan, general manager, IBM Microelectronics. "That's why we're excited to have Samsung scientists working with us at the most fundamental stages of the R&D process."
The agreement also renews IBM and Samsung's joint process development agreement (JDA) to multiple nodes starting at 20nm. IBM and Samsung plan to develop advanced technologies for foundry customers, enabling high-performance, energy-efficient chips at 20nm and beyond. To further enhance the JDA, Samsung’s Semiconductor R&D centre will also participate in development contribution.
CEA-Leti will significantly expand its technology offering this month when it ramps up one of Europe’s first 300mm lines dedicated to 3D-integration applications. By adding this technology to its existing 300mm CMOS R&D line, Leti now can offer heterogeneous integration technologies to customers on both 200mm and 300mm wafers.
The new line, dedicated to R&D and prototyping, includes 3D-oriented lithography, deep etching, dielectric deposition, metallization, wet etching and packaging tools that will be available for Leti’s customers and partners around the world.
It will allow Leti to apply its 3D-integration generic processes on 300 mm wafers. This 3D toolbox includes a large portfolio of through-silicon vias (TSVs), and advanced capabilities in alignment, bonding, thinning, and interconnects in specific integration schemes for manufacturing optimized die stacks and building efficient advanced-systems solutions. This will be done in close collaboration with local design and characterization platforms.
“This extension offers important new capabilities to equipment manufacturers and other Leti partners,” said Laurent Malier, CEO of Leti. “Together we will demonstrate 3D and heterogeneous integration technologies on 300mm wafers.”
The Irish government has announced that Intel it will begin work on a $500million upgrade on Fab 14 plant in Leixlip.
Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowen said the investment will support 850 construction jobs as well as 200 new high skilled employees and called the announcement by the US company a 'watershed moment' for Intel's relationship with Ireland.
"Intel's investment demonstrates that Ireland remains a competitive location for advanced manufacturing," Cowen said. "This is a cornerstone of the smart economy strategy which recognizes that manufacturing will play a fundamental part in our economic future. We are also investing in R&D and innovation to ensure that major international companies like Intel continue to create jobs in Ireland."
The investment is part of Intel’s announced capital expenditure of around $9 Billion after recording the best quarter revenue performance.
The news has been welcomed widely in the country as Intel is one of Ireland’s biggest employers and there has been a great deal of uncertainty about Intel’s role in the country after EU regulations saw the hoped for 300mm fab end up in Israel.
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