SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
June 2013
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SMIC to Expand Wafer Capabilities
PHL Launches Lab for Semiconductor Failure Analysis
UMC Invests in R&D Centre in Singapore
UMC plans Singapore Research & Development center
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has teamed up with IDIMC and ZDG to establish a 35,000 wafer per month fab at a cost of $3.6 billion. The manufacturing capacity will focus on 45-nanometer and finer technologies.
SMIC and SMIC Beijing will contribute 55% of the registered capital in an aggregate amount of $660 million, and ZDG and BIDIMC will contribute 45% of the registered capital in an aggregate amount of $540 million.
SMIC is the largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry in mainland China, providing integrated circuit (IC) foundry and technology services at 0.35-micron to 40-nanometer. SMIC has a 300 mm wafer fab and a 200 mm mega-fab in Shanghai, a 300 mm mega-fab in Beijing, a 200 mm fab in Tianjin, and a 200 mm fab project under development in Shenzhen.
PNoy has opemed DOST's advance testing facility. President Benigno Aquino III and DOST Sec. Mario Montejo inspected facilities at the Advance Device and Materials Testing Laboratory during its inauguration at the DOST complex in Taguig City. ADMATEL is the country's most advanced failure analysis and materials characterization testing facility that will enhance global competitiveness of the semiconductor and electronics industries. Robert Viñas the Philippines has launched its first laboratory that has the capability to conduct failure analysis on semiconductors — a development expected to save money for the country's semiconductors industry.
No less than President Benigno Aquino III graced the launching of the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory (ADMATEL) at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) compound in Taguig City on Friday.
Through the laboratory, the semiconductors industry can save money as it need not send its products to other countries for failure analysis, Aquino said in his speech.
“Now that this lab is fully operational, companies here will not have to send their products for failure analysis to the United States or Singapore. They can do it here in their own backyard, with the tests conducted by our very own scientists,” he said.
The president added that the setting up of the laboratory is the government's answer to the industry's request.
“I know that many of you in the semiconductors industry have spent decades asking for a facility such as this one to be built. And knowing what you contribute to our economy—knowing how much more you can contribute—we made absolutely certain that this got done,” Aquino said.
Aquino added that the laboratory’s inauguration will help the semiconductor industry move up and reach its three-year targets.
“Without doubt, this facility will pull our semiconductors industry up the value chain, and move them closer to their target of becoming a 50-billion dollar industry by 2016,” he said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News
United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, has invested US$110m to set up a research and development Centre of Excellence at its Fab 12i in Singapore.
The company said the new Centre would focus on developing advanced specialist process technologies to make new products with stronger capabilities in the automotive, mobile, smartphone and computer tablet markets.
The Centre will also collaborate with local institutions such as Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics.
This year, UMC plans to hire more than 80 engineers at the 12in semiconductor fabrication plant in Singapore, which is known as Fab 12i, where around 1,600 people already work.
“Having a dedicated 300mm base for advanced specialist R&D and manufacturing will help ensure the timely delivery of these technologies, and enable UMC to tap into new market opportunities,” said W Y Chen, Chief Operating Officer at UMC.
He added that Singapore was chosen as the location for the Centre owing to its ‘strong close support, robust engineering talent base and established semiconductor infrastructure’.
UMC’s Fab 12i is the company’s only 300mm fab outside Taiwan. The current capacity is nearly 45,000 wafers a month, accounting for 45% of UMC’s total 12in output.
Total cumulative investment for Fab 12i is nearly $3.6bn to date.
United Microelectronics Corp, the nation’s second-largest contract chipmaker, said it has invested US$110 million to set up a research and development (R&D) center at its Singapore plant. The company said the new R&D center would focus on developing advanced specialty process technologies to make chips for tablets and smartphones.
The center would also facilitate UMC’s collaboration with local research institutes such as Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics, the company said in a statement.
This year, UMC plans to add more than 80 engineers to its workforce of 1,600 at the 12-inch semiconductor fabrication plant in Singapore, known as Fab 12i.
UMC hopes the establishment of the center will help it “ensure the timely delivery of these technologies and enable UMC to tap hot new market opportunities,” chief operating officer Chen Wen-yang said in the statement.
The Singaporean plant can produce 45,000 12-inch wafers per month, accounting for 45 percent of UMC’s overall 12-inch wafer output. UMC has invested a total of US$3.6 billion in the factory.
The company, which ranks as the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and US-based GlobalFoundries Inc, plans to spend US$1.5 billion on new facilities and equipment this year.
In related news, the book-to-bill ratio for the North American semiconductor equipment industry stood above one for the fourth consecutive month last month, industry association SEMI’s latest survey showed.
“Both bookings and billings trends have been improving over the last four months, with the book-to-bill ratio remaining above parity over the same period,” SEMI president and chief executive officer Denny McGuirk said in a press release.
He said the “current order and spending activity are aligned with 2013 capital plans.”
The three-month average of worldwide bookings grew 6.4 percent to US$1.17 billion last month from March’s US$1.1 billion, but fell 26.8 percent from a year ago. The three-month average of worldwide billings increased 9.3 percent to US$1.08 billion last month from US$991 million in March, but declined 25.7 percent from a year ago.
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