SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
July 2018
McIlvaine Company
UMC Acquires 300mm Fujitsu Fab
UMC has announced that it has acquired Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor (MIFS) in a bid
to boost its 300mm wafer production capacities. Having previously already owned
a 15.9 percent stake in MIFS, UMC assumes ownership of the remaining 84.1
percent of shares in a 57.6 billion JPY deal, equivalent to approximately $520
million USD.
“UMC is experiencing high demand from mature 12" processes. With new
applications in 5G, IoT, automotive and AI requiring these technologies, we
anticipate the market conditions driving this demand to remain strong for the
foreseeable future. The acquisition of a fully qualified, equipped, and volume
production proven 12" facility provides greater time and ROI advantages compared
to building a fab from scratch, which would cost several billion dollars and
several years to construct and equip," commented UMC co-president Jason Wang.
The Mie facility will be UMC's first facility in Japan, sitting alongside its
other 300mm facilities in Tainan, Xiamen and Singapore.
Refurbished 2,421 sq. ft. (225 square meter) cleanroom will play a key role in
assisting businesses across South Wales as part of the world’s first Compound
Semiconductor cluster
Welsh Government Economy Secretary Ken Skates has welcomed Cardiff University’s
refurbished £4m Institute for Compound Semiconductors cleanroom, at the launch
of the new facility.
The refurbished 2,421 sq. ft. (225 square meter) cleanroom will play a key role
in assisting businesses across South Wales as part of CS Connected – the world’s
first Compound Semiconductor cluster.
The ICS cleanroom, situated in the University’s Queen’s Building, has undergone
a £600,000 refit to improve room conditioning in preparation for new equipment.
In addition to the clean- room upgrade, ICS has invested in new equipment to
bring a small area to 6-inch fabrication capability online, with support from
both the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the
Welsh Government via European Regional Development Funds totaling £3.3m.
ICS will see further improvements, including state-of-art laboratory space and
an increased 8-inch fabrication capability, when it moves into the new
Translational Research Facility on Maindy Road – part of Cardiff Innovation
Campus.
Ken Skates said: “The ICS Cleanroom is an outstanding example of a leading edge
facility being developed with Welsh Government support. The project helps to
bridge the gap between research and commercial solutions, taking ideas from the
lab bench into our boardrooms and on to the shop floors of companies across
Wales, so that the economic benefits are felt in communities across Wales. It is
encouraging exactly the kind of cutting edge innovation and technology that
Wales needs in order to compete globally and thrive. "
Peter Smowton, director of the Institute of Compound Semiconductors said: “The
Institute for Compound Semiconductors (ICS) provides cutting-edge facilities
that help researchers and industry work together to translate the science into a
commercial production environment and the clean room is a critical part of that.
Many advances in our daily lives depend upon compound semiconductor (CS)
technology. The EPSRC funding allows ICS and its partner companies to continue
to develop technology that enables emerging trends, such as self-drive vehicles
and 5G communications."
ICS turns its laboratory research into products and services by working with
commercial partners to lead in developing one of the world’s key enabling
technologies and along with the Compound Semiconductor Centre – a joint business
venture with Cardiff-based IQE which forms part of CS Connected.
Cleanroom manager, Angela Sobiesierski said: “The upgrade and new equipment has
transformed the ICS cleanroom into a robust, fit for purpose facility that is
well placed to meet the requirements of Academic driven research projects and
also meet the demands of our commercial customers and project partners."
ON Semiconductor Expands Operations in
Pennsylvania
ON Semiconductor plans to invest $51 million to support expansion of the Luzerne
County facility. The ON Semiconductor Mountain Top location specializes in the
manufacturing of semiconductor discrete devices used in power management
applications across a wide variety of industries, including automotive,
industrial, communication and computing.
Today, ON Semiconductor occupies 437,000 square feet of space on 84 acres in the
Crestwood Industrial Park. The Mountain Top site is a high-tech location with a
highly skilled workforce, benefits, clean work environment and open
communication environment. The investment is planned to increase production and
in turn create over 70 new jobs, including production staff, technicians,
engineers and other support staff.
“We have an outstanding team of highly motivated employees combining our
technical capabilities and expansive space capacity to meet exploding business
growth in critical markets for ON Semiconductor,” said Heather Carreiro, general
manager at ON Semiconductor’s Mountain Top facility. “The initial phase of
expansion is currently underway. I’m very proud of our accomplishments and
excited about the future of our operation here in Mountain Top.”
With its acquisition of Fairchild’s product portfolio of medium and high voltage
products in late 2016, complementing ON Semiconductor’s specialization in low
power, the company now has a complete suite of power conversion and power
management technologies. This makes ON Semiconductor uniquely positioned to
support customers across multiple sectors in working purposefully toward
realizing the degree of energy efficiency desired by their customers and
increasingly required by regulations.
ON Semiconductor is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and offers a portfolio of
over 80,000 energy efficient power management, analog, sensors, logic, timing,
connectivity, discrete, SoC and custom devices utilized in, computing, consumer,
industrial, medical and military/aerospace applications. The company operates a
network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and design centers which are
located in key markets throughout North America, Europe, and in the Asia Pacific
region.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
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847-784-0012; Fax:
847-784-0061
E-mail:
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