SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Visionox Finishes Construction of 6-Gen AMOLED Fab in Hebei
TSMC Aims to Build World’s First 3-nm Fab
Toshiba Memory Invests in Fab 6 at Yokkaichi
Brolis to Start Silicon Photonics R&D in Belgium
AIM Photonics Wafer Hub Opening Next Year
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Samsung Electronics to Invest in Manufacturing Facilities
in Xi’an
Samsung Electronics is going to invest $6.97 billion (7.8 trillion KRW) into its
manufacturing facilities in Xi’an, China and is going to extend its new NAND
flash memory semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
Samsung Electronics publicly announced that it is going to invest $7 billion
over three years period into constructing secondary line at its new NAND flash
manufacturing facilities located in Xi’an, China. Samsung Electronics’
management committee approved investment of $2.3 billion out of $7 billion on
this day. $7 billion is equivalent to amount of investment made into primary
line. Primary line is currently on full operation and its production capacity is
about 100,000 wafers per month based on investment into wafers.
“We are going to make investments to extend our manufacturing facilities in
Xi’an in order to respond to increase in number of demands for NAND flash
memories.” said Samsung Electronics.
Industries are deciding that Samsung Electronics’ plan for this investment was
already made before. It is heard that Samsung Electronics has been discussing
with Chinese Government regarding methods and timing for additional investments
since end of last year, which is immediately after Samsung Electronics fully
operating the primary line. Even when Samsung Electronics announced in this past
July that it is going to invest additional $19.7 billion (21 trillion KRW) into
its facilities in Pyeongtaek until 2021, it announced that it was mediating on
investment methods, amount of investments, and timing for its manufacturing
facilities in Xi’an.
“Although department heads that are at the level of a president and are in
charge of Samsung Electronics’ memory business have rights to make an arbitrary
decision on investments worth about $447 million (500 billion KRW), they need to
receive pre-approvals for investments that worth at least $1 billion.” said a
representative who is familiar with Samsung Electronics’ situations. “There is a
tendency that Samsung Electronics’ announcement on its investments in
manufacturing facilities in Xi’an seems delayed than initial predictions made by
industries.”
“Because NAND flash memory is currently at an extreme short supply, extensions
are necessary.” said a different representative. “It must had been hard for
Samsung Electronics to continue to delay its promise with Chinese Government
regarding investments.”
On this same day, Samsung Electronics public announced that some personnel of
Samsung Electronics was given a guilty verdict from ruling of the first trial
for an issue that was prosecuted by an individual special prosecutor, who was
appointed in order to investigate monopolistic government scandal led by
civilians such as Choi Soon-sil. These personnel includes Vice-Chairman Lee
Jae-yong, former Vice-Chairman Choi Ji-sung, former President Jang Choong-ki,
former President Park Sang-jin, and former Executive Director Hwang Sung-soo.
Actual confirmed amount is $7.23 million (8.09095 billion KRW).
Visionox Finishes Construction of 6-Gen AMOLED Fab in
Hebei
Visionox has completed the construction of the building for its 6-Gen AMOLED fab
in Hebei province, China. The company will start moving in and installing the
production equipment in the beginning of 2018.
Visionox's 6-Gen fab will have a monthly capacity of 30,000 substrates, and will
be mainly used to produce flexible AMOLEDs. Production will begin in mid-2018.
This fab will cost around $4.5 billion.
Visionox has started mass producing AMOLED panels in June 2015 in the company's Gen-5.5 AMOLED line in Kunshan. Visionox produces glass-based OLEDs for smart phones and wearables - and its displays (both PMOLED and AMOLED) are available on the OLED marketplace.
IQE to Open State-Of-The-Art Semiconductor Factory
A TECH giant is to open up a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at
Newport’s former LG site.
IQE, which is based in St. Mellons, has announced it is to move into the vacant
site in Coedkernew as part of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal.
The site at Imperial Park was sold by the Welsh Government to the ten councils
involved in the deal, including Newport, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent
and Caerphilly, for a £38 million makeover.
And now a new compound semiconductor wafer foundry is to be set up at the site
as part of the Welsh Government’s commitment to create the world’s first
‘semiconductor cluster’.
The Welsh Government has said the cluster could attract £375 million of private
sector investment into the area, while creating up to 2,000 highly-skilled jobs
and hundreds more in the supply chain.
Announcing the news, Wales’ economy secretary Ken Skates said: “It is hugely
encouraging that Welsh Government’s initial £12 million investment in developing
the cluster back in 2015 has been the catalyst for today’s announcement that IQE
plans to expand into the City Deal’s new facilities.
“Not only is it extremely exciting news for the Welsh economy, securing
additional jobs and investment, but it further cements Wales as a world leader
in this state of the art technology.
“With the world’s first compound semiconductor cluster located here in south
east Wales, we are punching well above our weight in developing technology which
not only plays an increasingly vital role in the way we live our lives today but
will drive innovation which will shape the world we live in tomorrow.”
Compound semiconductors used in circuits offer lower power consumption and
higher operating speeds than traditional silicon-based material.
IQE chief executive Dr. Drew Nelson said: “Compound semiconductors are rapidly
defining 21 century technologies and Wales is uniquely positioned to be center
stage of this global, high-tech industry sector.
“This dedicated compound semiconductor facility between Cardiff and Newport will
act as a key component of the burgeoning cluster that is already cementing
Wales’ reputation for technology leadership.”
He added the project was “a shining example of what can be achieved through
collaboration”.
“The Welsh and UK governments, along with the ten councils that form the Cardiff
Capital Region, have worked closely with academic institutes and industry to
build an innovation infrastructure that will support and nurture the region as a
true global player in new and emerging technologies,” he said.
“The facility will become the base for a number of compound semiconductor
related activities, including IQE, where we expect to rapidly expand our
production capacity to meet increasing demand for our technology.”
The former LG site was intended to be the largest-ever investment in Wales when
it was announced by then-prime minister John Major in 1996. But the promised
millions of pounds in investment and thousands of jobs never materialized.
TSMC Aims to Build World’s First 3-nm Fab
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will build the world’s first 3-nm
fab in the Tainan Science Park in southern Taiwan, where the company does the
bulk of its manufacturing.
The announcement lays to rest speculation that the company might build its next
chip facility in the U.S., attracted by incentives offered by the administration
of President Donald Trump to bring more manufacturing to America.
About a year ago, TSMC said it planned to build its next fab at the 5-nm to 3-nm
technology node as early as 2022. The more recent one-paragraph announcement
from TSMC on Sept. 29 didn’t provide a timeframe for the opening of the 3-nm
fab.
“TSMC recognizes and is grateful for the (Taiwan) government’s clear commitments
to resolve any issues, including land, water, electricity and environmental
protection,” the statement said.
TSMC previously estimated it would need 50 to 80 hectares (123 to 198 acres) of
land for an investment worth about NT$500 billion ($15.7 billion). The company’s
earlier 2022 timeframe for the fab takes into account potentially unanticipated
delays in construction. Some of TSMC’s recent projects in Taiwan have been set
back by as much as a year by public hearings on environmental impact.
TSMC has also faced shortages of water and power in Taiwan, where the company
does most of its production.
TSMC, Samsung and Intel have been in a tight race to lead process technology
development and grab profits from fabless customers such as Apple and Qualcomm.
This year, the leading-edge pure-play foundry market in sub-40-nm nodes is
expected to surge by a hefty $3.3 billion. Almost all of the pure-play
foundry growth is forecast to come from leading-edge production in 2017, and
most of the foundry profits will also come from the finer feature sizes, the
report said.
Earlier this year, TSMC logged its first revenue from 10nm products, trailing
Samsung, its main rival in the foundry business, by nearly four months.
TSMC said its 7-nm yield is ahead of schedule and it expects a fast ramp in
2018. The company plans to insert several extreme ultraviolet (EUV) layers at 7
nm, but declined to provide details. The company plans to offer a 7-nm plus node
that it expects will allow customers easy migration from 7 nm.
TSMC has also said its 5-nm roadmap is on track for a launch in the first
quarter of 2019.
Toshiba Memory Invests in Fab 6 at Yokkaichi
Toshiba Corporation announced that its board of directors has approved a further
investment by Toshiba Memory Corporation (TMC), a wholly-owned subsidiary that
manufactures Flash memory, in manufacturing equipment for the Fab 6 clean room
under construction at Yokkaichi Operations. TMC will invest approximately 110
billion yen as a second investment in Fab 6 for the installation of additional
manufacturing equipment in the Phase-1 cleanroom.
Production at Fab 6 will be entirely devoted to BiCS FLASH, Toshiba’s innovative
3D Flash memory. As Toshiba announced in its August 3, 2017 release “Update on
Toshiba Memory Corporation’s Investment in Production Equipment for Fab 6 at
Yokkaichi Operations”, TMC has previously invested approximately 195 billion yen
in Fab 6 as its first investment covering the installation of manufacturing
equipment in the Phase-1 cleanroom and the construction of the Phase-2
cleanroom.
Demand for TMC’s next generation 3D Flash memory devices is expected to increase
significantly due to growing demand for enterprise SSDs in datacenters, SSDs for
PCs, and memory for smart phones; TMC expects this strong market growth to
continue in 2018. TMC’s investment timing will position it to capture this
growth and expand its business.
The investment in Fab 6 will enable TMC to install manufacturing equipment for
96-layer 3D Flash memories, including deposition and etching equipment.
There is no change in the FY2017 Financial Forecast announced on Aug 10, 2017,
as the impact of the additional investment will be realized after FY2018.
However, the FY2017 investment plan for Toshiba Corporation Storage & Devices
Solutions Segment will be revised from 330 billion yen, as announced on August
10, to 400 billion yen by accelerating a part of the investment previously
planned for FY2018. This will be used with the remaining 40 billion yen in the
FY2017 investment plan, bringing this second investment to 110 billion yen. As
announced on March 17, 2016 announcement “Notice of Construction of New
Semiconductor Fabrication Facility,” Toshiba decided on a construction and
equipment investment plan for the new fabrication facility, with an estimated
cost of approximately 360 billion yen from FY2016 to FY2018. The company will
update its investments plans to reflect any subsequent changes.
TMC has recently asked SanDisk, its collaborator in three joint ventures for
investment in manufacturing equipment at TMC’s Yokkaichi Operations, whether it
intends to jointly participate in this second investment for the Phase-1
cleanroom in the Fab 6 facility.
Brolis to Start Silicon Photonics R&D in Belgium
Brolis Semiconductors, based in Lithuania, has announced a new R&D division -
Brolis Semiconductors BVBA in Ghent, Belgium - that will focus on the design and
development of novel cutting-edge integrated photonic systems. These will
combine Brolis' proprietary III-V technology of long-wave infrared light sources
and CMOS-compatible photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology.
Special emphasis will be directed towards development of a new OEM
GaSb/Silicon-on-insulator system-on-a-chip laser sensor technology for sensing
applications in the 1.5 - 3.5 micron spectral range and beyond for healthcare
and industrial markets.
AIM Photonics Wafer Hub Opening Next Year
AIM (American Institute for Manufacturing) Photonics says that production of
photonic integrated circuits (PICs) at its wafer facility in Rochester, New
York, will begin in mid-2018.
The 30,000 square-foot test, assembly and packaging (TAP) center will begin in
two stages. Laboratory and cleanroom space will start up in the Q1 2018, with
tool installation scheduled for Q2.
The hub is awaiting delivery of nearly $40 million worth of processing, test,
and metrology tools that are said to be in the pipeline, while new offices at
the Rochester site are set to open next month.
The American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics initiative is a
$600 million-plus public-private venture backed by the US Department of Defense
and New York state. The state has committed $250 million, of which $120 million
has been allocated, officials said.
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