SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
May 2018
McIlvaine Company
Epistar Setting Up 6-Inch Epitaxial Wafer Capacity
Skywater is New US Based and Owned Foundry Player
Nexperia Secures $800M Financing to Fund Future
Growth Plans
Praxair Signs Long-Term Agreement
with Samsung
Nanya Technology Aims to Boost Capacity, Shipments
Nanya and Other
Semiconductor Companies Expand
Edwards Starts Building
US Innovation Centre
ON Semiconductor
Planning $23 Million Upgrade
GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Toppan Photomasks Extend
Advanced Photomask Joint Venture in Germany
Versum Materials Celebrates Opening of Research and
Development Facility
Microchip Research, Development Center Opens Near
Tamaqua
Micron Breaks Ground on New Flash Memory
Fabrication Plant in Singapore
Samsung Building
Advanced Chip-Packaging Facilities
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Epistar Setting Up 6-Inch Epitaxial Wafer Capacity
Epistar has disclosed it is setting up production capacity for 6-inch epitaxial
wafers mainly for making VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) and GaN
LED chips for power devices, with completion scheduled for June 2018 and
operation to kick off in the third quarter.
Epistar said it currently uses 4-inch capacity to produce VCSEL used in
fiber-optic communication and security surveillance devices, but 6-inch capacity
will replace the 4-inch one to decrease production cost.
While LED chip price drops have been mild, clients expect pricing to fall
significantly later and are conservative about placing orders at the moment,
Epistar said, adding orders received currently are mostly in small volumes.
However, Epistar expects demand to rebound in third-quarter 2018.
Epistar will begin to ship mini LED chips for smartphone and large-size display
backlighting applications in third-quarter 2018 and LCD monitor and TV
backlighting applications s at the end of the year. Epistar has made
breakthrough in micro LED technology and is likely to unveil the achievement in
second-half 2018.
Skywater is New US Based and Owned Foundry
Player
Tom Sonderman is the president of SkyWater - a
new/old US owned and operated semiconductor Fab. They make a lot of
interesting IoT, automotive and even quantum processing units and what makes it
unique is that it is US owned and operated.
The company was spun out from
Cypress manufacturing and has a similar business model to the
AMD/GlobalFoundries play. Cypress Semiconductor Corporation is still the biggest
customer for SkyWater but the SkyWater manufacturing fabs are bringing in a
number of new customers.
In October last year it hired manufacturing industry veteran Thomas Sonderman as
the company president. Sonderman comes from the long history and executive roles
at GlobalFoundries where he was vice president of manufacturing technology, and,
before that AMD. He played a key role in the formation of GlobalFoundries
and separating AMD’s manufacturing fabs from the main business that essentially
saved the existence of AMD. Before
joining SkyWater, Sonderman was the group vice president and general
manager for Rudolph Technologies' Integrated Solutions Group.
SkyWater has acquired a 200mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in
Bloomington, Minnesota from Cypress Semiconductor Corporation in March 2017 and
in a very short time managed to get a dozen customers on board.
It has 500 plus employees based in Bloomington, MN and manufacture on 200mm
wafers and the 130nm/90nm manufacturing node. This doesn’t sound cutting edge as
some other players are manufacturing today in 10nm, but you have to realize that
the cutting-edge manufacturing is also the most expensive and hardest to
customize. Most customers don’t need the cutting edge.
SkyWater has customers from government and defense agencies
and has the DMEA certification Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) -
which makes these manufacturing facilities
unique.
GlobalFoundries had a Fab in Malta, New York state, and
is US based and operated, but this company has foreign ownership, a clear
differentiation to SkyWater US' homefield advantage. With current US
administration and the persistence to dominate in the technology being US based
and owned that will definitely be attractive for government funded business. The
winners of the future need to make sense of billions of bits of data that the
massive IoT is creating.
There are a lot of customers for the
Internet of Things space -
automotive and medical devices, for example. Its play - which it considers to be
unique - includes advanced
technologies for cloud, quantum computing and DNA synthesis and sequences. This
is a future thing that has a chance to change the way we compute
in the early years of the
next decade. Quantum sounds very promising and can solve some problems that
traditional 1 and 01 computers can’t.
Another perspective for SkyWater is
the fact that this US owned and operated fab is also a pure play foundry. This
according lets customers do a
non-standard customization of its products before it "ramps up. SkyWater helps
with both development and a ramp up, it reckons.
It calls itself a right sized
operation as it is big enough to
deliver what it thinks industry leading operational performance and small enough
to deliver custom services to the defense and supercomputing community.
DOD and Intelligence communities are unlikely to go to Taiwan based TSMC, Korean
based Samsung or any other Asian based leading-edge manufacturers due to the
sensitivity of products and
information. SkyWater technology foundry reckons it has solved that problem.
When it comes to ASIC capability the SkyWater guys have already produced 200
semiconductor devices and over one billion devices manufactured with a rich IP
library. It can offer a proven track record of developing custom technologies
for various customers. It
specializes in areas like superconductors, photonics (Quantum Processing Units)
and DNA Sequencing.
When the time is right it will be able to offer 65nm manufacturing too, but 90
and 130 nm appears to be the right fit for most customers right now. T
Manufacturing something today in 90 nm is a fraction of a cost of 14 or 10nm
manufacturing and a lot of customers are aware of it.
The company is working on
future automotive products that even include QPUs (quantum processing
units) for customers. Having a semiconductor that works at negative 273 °C or
0.015° K above absolute zero is definitely not a walk in a park.
Can you imagine that your future self-driving car could have night vision too?
Well, these things will all be possible in the future.
Nexperia Secures $800M Financing to Fund Future
Growth Plans
Nexperia, a developer of discretes, logic and MOSFET devices, announced the
successful completion of a refinancing of its current facilities with USD 800
million equivalent of senior credit facilities. This includes a significant
proportion of Revolving Credit facility. The proceeds will be used to refinance
existing outstanding debt and for Capex expenditure to fund future growth.
The facilities were arranged by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC, acting
as Global Coordinators, and were syndicated by a group of nine global banks. The
refinancing is fully supported by JAC Capital and Wise Road Capital, Nexperia’s
two main shareholders, and provides a flexible financing package at very
attractive terms to support the further growth of Nexperia going forward.
Comments from Frans Scheper, Nexperia’s CEO: “This is the first time that
Nexperia has approached the financial markets as an independent company, so we
are very pleased with the enthusiastic response. Refinancing the outstanding
debt will result in significant savings and give us greater flexibility, while
the extra credit will enable us to pursue our ambitions fully with investment in
new facilities and manufacturing technology.”
Nexperia is a Netherlands-headquartered, global manufacturer of discrete
semiconductor components. The company is investing in increasing its capacity
and footprint, having recently made a significant expansion to its Guangdong
Assembly and Test Facility in China.
Praxair Signs Long-Term Agreement
with Samsung
Praxair, Inc. (NYSE: PX) announced it has signed a long-term agreement to supply
ultra-high purity industrial gases, including nitrogen, oxygen and argon, as
well as hydrogen, to Samsung’s semiconductor manufacturing facility in
Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi province, South Korea. This is Praxair’s largest investment
in a single customer project to date.
Praxair will build, own and operate several hydrogen plants and air separation
units that will supply the gases to meet Samsung’s growing semiconductor demands
worldwide. Praxair will also build multiple purifiers and an extensive pipeline
system to support the project. The first of Praxair’s new plants will start up
in 2019.
"For more than 40 years, we have worked closely with Samsung to provide a
reliable supply of industrial gases and innovative technologies that enable them
to serve their electronics customers globally, while helping drive efficiency
and growth,” said B.S. Sung, president of Praxair Korea. “We are proud to
strengthen our longstanding relationship with Samsung, a world leader in
semiconductor technologies, and look forward to supporting their newest
world-scale manufacturing complex."
About Praxair:
Praxair, Inc. is a leading industrial gas company in North and South America and
one of the largest worldwide. With market capitalization of approximately $40
billion and 2017 sales of $11 billion, the company employs over 26,000 people
globally and has been named to the Dow Jones® World Sustainability Index for 15
consecutive years. Praxair produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process
and specialty gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Our products,
services and technologies are making our planet more productive by bringing
efficiency and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including
aerospace, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics, energy, healthcare,
manufacturing, primary metals and many others. For more information about the
company, please visit our website at www.praxair.com.
Nanya Technology Aims to Boost Capacity,
Shipments
DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技)
said it plans to spend an additional NT$19.71 billion (US$658.6 million)
to boost its 20-nanometer process capacity, which would help increase overall
shipments by 15 percent next year.
The spending would contribute to a total investment of NT$754 billion on a new
12-inch fab, which currently produces about 65,000 12-inch wafers per month, of
which about 35,000 are 20-nanometer chips and the remainder are 30-nanometer
chips.
“The extra capital expenditure will allow the company to next year increase bit
shipment growth by 15 percent year-on-year,” Nanya Technology deputy spokesman
Joseph Wu (吳志祥)
said by telephone.
The growth would be slower than the worldwide DRAM market’s average annual
growth of 20 percent.
Nanya Technology anticipates monthly output to climb to about 73,000 wafers per
month from the second quarter of next year, with the output of 20-nanometer
chips increasing to about 47,000 wafers per month, Wu said.
“The new outlay will not affect the company’s plan to grow bit growth by 48
percent annually this year,” he said.
“We plan to move in the equipment at end of this year or early next year,” he
added.
The chipmaker plans to allocate its own cash to fund the capacity expansion.
Last quarter alone, Nanya Technology generated NT$5.87 billion in free cash flow
after more than doubling its net profit to NT$7.23 billion from the same period
last year.
The company said that 20-nanometer chips have become its major revenue source,
contributing more than 60 percent to total revenue of NT$18.8 billion in the
first three months of this year.
Separately, GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓),
the world’s third-largest silicon wafer maker, said net profit last quarter
soared more than sevenfold from a year earlier to NT$2.78 billion, thanks to
increasing demand and higher prices. That translated into earnings per share of
NT$6.36, up from NT$0.95 a year earlier. The company reported net profit of
NT$349 million in the first quarter of last year. Last quarter’s net profit set
an all-time high, as prices surged due to solid customer demand. GlobalWafers
said that it has clear order visibility through 2020.
Nanya and Other
Semiconductor Companies Expand
Taiwan chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp said it will invest $1.85 billion to
boost its share in the memory chip market, joining a flurry of rivals boosting
capital expenditure to cash in strong global demand for semiconductors.
Samsung Electronics Co said last month that the memory chip boom that propelled
it to record profit in the second quarter is likely to continue into the third,
and announced it was investing at least $18.6 billion to extend its lead in the
market.
China, led by state-owned group Tsinghua Unigroup, is also making a big
investment in memory chips to reduce its reliance on foreign chipmakers.
As new applications such as cloud computing, autonomous driving and virtual
reality emerge, chipmakers have recently benefited from a so-called
semiconductor super-cycle.
Nanya Technology said it would invest T$55.7 billion ($1.85 billion) in building
new headquarters, a fabrication plant and purchasing equipment, adding the plan
would help its move to 20-nanometer process technology.
The investment will enable the memory chip supplier to increase its total
production capacity to 68,000 wafers per month and boost its annual revenue by
T$20 billion from as early as 2018.
The DRAM products to be rolled out from its 20-nm process line will specifically
target demand in connected devices used in vehicles, homes, and offices, the
company said.
Nanya, a laggard in DRAM market dominated by Samsung and South Korea's SK Hynix, also plans to start research and development on 10-nm technology, President Pei-Ing Lee told reporters at the company's opening ceremony at its new headquarters in New Taipei City. ($1 = 30.1680 Taiwan dollars).
Edwards Starts Building
US Innovation Centre
Edwards Vacuum, a manufacturer of vacuum and abatement solutions, has begun the
process of construction for a new Technology Innovation Centre in Hillsboro,
Oregon.
The 75,000 square foot facility will serve as the UK-based company’s North
American semiconductor headquarters. Edwards held a ground-breaking ceremony at
the Century Boulevard site attended by company officials and local dignitaries,
including Hillsboro City Mayor, Steve Callaway, and president of the Hillsboro
Chamber of Commerce, Deanna Palm.
"Edwards has many options for global investment, and our community greatly
appreciates Edwards and its commitment to Hillsboro," stated Mayor Callaway. “As
a city, we will continue to support Edwards employees when the new high-tech
facility opens."
Scott Balaguer, vice president and general manager, semiconductor division North
America, stated, “Our state-of-the-art innovation center and manufacturing
facility is strategically located close to some of our key accounts in the
Pacific Northwest, and will enable us to work closely with them, as well as
other customers in North America, on R&D and continuous improvement programs.
This proximity will also enable us to provide rapid service & support, as well
as serve as our regional training center.
Edwards has approximately 100 employees at its current Hillsboro locations, and
with consolidation expects to double in size at the new facility, which is
scheduled to open in Q2 2019.
“We are excited about opening our innovation center here in Hillsboro," said
Balaguer. “Edwards is fully committed to the Northwest Region, creating jobs and
participating in the local growth, as environmentally conscious corporate
stewards in the neighborhood. We anticipate continued expansion on site, as we
plan to design & manufacture our integrated vacuum & abatement production
solutions, as well as other world-class products in our portfolio.
ON Semiconductor
Planning $23 Million Upgrade
ON Semiconductor in South Portland, Maine, has been awarded a $1 million
challenge grant from the Maine Technology Institute and plans to invest a total
of $23.2 million to upgrade its manufacturing plant.
The investment comes less than two years after the Phoenix-based company
officially purchased the facility, which had been owned by rival Fairchild
Semiconductor, for $2.4 billion. At the time of the sale, there were concerns
about the age of some of its equipment and what that could mean long-term.
The global semiconductor industry has been in a state of flux as competing
companies opt for consolidation and outsourcing to capture greater market share
and better returns. ON Semiconductor, which has a global workforce of about
25,000, told investors in September 2016 that it planned to close two or three
manufacturing facilities in its global network by the end of 2018.
According to the award announcement from MTI, ON Semiconductor plans to add new
“equipment and facilities infrastructure to enable the introduction and volume
manufacturing of two new technologies. … The introduction of the new
technologies will advance factory capability, improve factory utilization and
create more than 25 jobs.”
As of last year, ON Semiconductor employed 650 people locally.
Joshua Madore, the company’s managing director, could not be reached for
comment.
The MTI challenge grant was one of seven awards announced, totaling $10.9
million. The money came from the Maine Technology Asset Fund program, which is
financed by a $45 million bond approve by voters last year.
During the application period, MTI received 183 proposals from businesses
seeking just under $400 million.
“The funding decisions were incredibly difficult given the breadth of quality
proposals that MTI received,” Brian Whitney, MTI president, said in a statement.
“It is our hope that, given the enormous economic impact that this funding will
have in Maine and the many incredible projects that are still in the pipeline,
future state funding may be made available to broaden the impact even further.”
GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Toppan Photomasks Extend
Advanced Photomask Joint Venture in Germany
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (GF) and Toppan Photomasks, Inc. (TPI) announced a
multi-year extension to their Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC) joint
venture in Dresden, Germany. Opened in 2002, the AMTC provides GF’s fabs in
Dresden, Malta and Singapore with high-end production and development masks at
world-class cycle times in support of the foundry’s ambitious technology
roadmap. The AMTC also supports TPI customers worldwide from Dresden.
Owned equally by TPI and GF, the AMTC joint venture was previously extended in
2012 to further increase tool capability and capacity. This new extension to the
agreement aims to continue the current charter for manufacturing production
masks as well as developing mask technology for ever smaller geometries. GF is
both TPI’s partner in the joint venture and a strategic and critical customer,
while TPI is GF’s preferred mask supplier, leveraging AMTC and TPI’s global
manufacturing network to support GF’s worldwide operations.
The AMTC provides one of the most essential and complex elements in the
semiconductor manufacturing process, which puts the latest technology
innovations at consumers’ fingertips.
Since its inception, the output of AMTC has grown continuously with growth rates
exceeding 10 percent in recent years. Sizeable investments have enabled the AMTC
to keep up with the rapid technological developments and challenges of this
dynamic market sector; in 2017 alone more than 100 million Euros (US$124
million) were invested.
“From computing to communication, and from automotive to medtech – our dual
roadmap allows us to provide innovative technologies for the benefit of our
customers around the world,” said Geoff Akiki, World Wide Mask Operations
Executive at GF. “Regardless if they choose FD-SOI with its focus on energy
efficiency or FinFET with its focus on high performance, both require
leading-edge lithographic masks. AMTC is a great partner and provider of those
masks. We are especially pleased that the experience of AMTC will be fully
utilized to support us at the leading edge of chip technology.”
“Having been in place for more than 15 years, this joint venture is one of the
lengthiest in the mask industry,” said Mike Hadsell, TPI CEO. “This is a
testament to the synergy and commitment of the partners, as well as the strength
of the AMTC and Toppan Dresden team members. AMTC is truly a best-of-breed
effort that has provided high-quality masks to TPI’s customer base, both in
Europe and globally.”
“AMTC was founded with a mission to be its customers’ first choice for
photomasks. To achieve this goal, our experienced and dedicated team pursues
cost-effective and timely manufacturing of high-quality masks for multiple
nodes. In the process, the partners have continued to strengthen their
relationship while allowing AMTC to serve as a valuable resource for our
demanding global customer base,” noted Thomas Schmidt, AMTC’s general manager.
“AMTC was established to support AMD’s microprocessor production in Dresden at
the 65nm/90nm node. We have moved way beyond that and are looking beyond the
current 14nm node.”
AMTC was founded in 2002 by AMD, Infineon Technologies and DuPont Photomasks,
which became TPI in 2005. Subsequently, GF and TPI became the ownership partners
in 2009. AMTC has seen a cumulative investment of more than US$600 million since
2002. The mask facility employs more than 250 engineers and other specialists.
The company is currently expanding its team.
Versum Materials Celebrates Opening of Research
and Development Facility
Versum Materials, Inc. (NYSE: VSM), a materials supplier to the semiconductor
industry, announced the grand opening of its new research and development (R&D)
facility at its semiconductor materials manufacturing site in Hometown,
Pennsylvania. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place April 10, 2018. Versum
employees, members of the community, local government, customers and strategic
partners attended the event.
The R&D laboratory is dedicated to new materials used in the manufacture of
semiconductors. Scientists in the facility will synthesize and purify new
molecules down to parts per billion impurity levels and below using the latest
technologies available in the industry. The researchers can assess the
applications for these new molecules and scale up the molecules to larger
quantities for customer evaluation. These new organometallic compounds will be
deposited on semiconductor wafers through cutting-edge technologies to test
their performance for semiconductor applications. Additionally, the facility is
capable of small-volume manufacturing and advanced analytical and quality
assessment.
State Senator Dave Argall commended Versum for being the region’s third largest
employer and for the company’s investments in the local community. Approximately
30 employees, half of which hold advanced degrees in chemistry or chemical
engineering, are based in the new facility. The company’s Hometown campus now
totals 250 highly-skilled employees.
The latest expansion is part of a $60MM multi-year investment in the Hometown
campus. Last year the company announced it had increased production capacity and
modified equipment configuration to reduce manufacturing bottlenecking. Versum’s
Hometown manufacturing facility produces a variety of high purity specialty
gases and chemicals for semiconductor manufacturers around the world, including
Tungsten Hexafluoride, WF6 and Nitrogen Trifluoride, NF3. WF6 is used as a
metallization source for the formation of tungsten interconnects between
multiple layers in semiconductor devices. It is an important material in the
production of both logic and memory (DRAM and NAND) devices. NF3 is primarily
used for chamber cleaning of chemical vapor deposition reactors.
Versum’s Senior Vice President of Materials, Ed Shober addressed the attendees
stating, “We enable the largest tech companies around the world to stretch the
boundaries of science and technology, whether it be supporting computing power,
mobility, connectivity, artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality, the
Internet of Things, Big Data and machine learning. Versum Materials is at the
core of enabling all these technologies. Our Versum Materials team delivers
valued products and solutions that bring this cutting-edge innovation to the
market safer, faster, easier and more reliably than ever before.”
Microchip Research, Development Center Opens
Near Tamaqua
The smartphone, laptop and other electronic devices you own would not exist
without the major technological improvements to the integrated circuit, or
microchip, over recent decades.
And the semiconductor industry that makes those modern microchips relies on
special materials and chemical processes developed by companies like Versum
Materials.
The next level of electronic speed and performance will rely on the work done at
Versum’s new research and development facility in Rush Township.
Versum, an electronic materials company spun off from Trexlertown’s Air Products
in October 2016 and based in Tempe, Arizona, held a grand opening for the $20
million Tamaqua-area facility. It’s part of a $60 million investment in the
larger campus, home to more Versum employees (nearly 250) than any of its other
manufacturing facilities around the world.
The new research and development center created about 30 new jobs, and many of
these workers hold advanced degrees in chemistry or chemical engineering.
The campus produces a variety of specialty gases and chemicals for semiconductor
manufacturers around the world. Two of the main ones are nitrogen trifluoride,
used to create clean plasma etching of silicon wafers, and tungsten
hexafluoride, which the semiconductor industry uses to make thin films.
“The gases and chemicals that we invent, manufacture and supply here are used to
make the most advanced computer chips in the world,” said John Langan, senior
vice president and chief technology officer. “Our customers produce devices that
are powering the digital era by processing and storing information on scales
that were just unimaginable a few generations ago.
To continue improving and shrinking microchips, Langan said, semiconductor
companies are turning to 3-D technology that relies on stacking silicon wafers.
“These complicated designs require new enabling materials and processes to make
them possible,” Langan said. “That’s both the challenge and opportunity for
Versum.”
Jim Hart, a chemical engineering technology manager, said Versum was able to
make the investment in the technology center in part because it no longer has to
compete for major project funding. When Versum was a division of Air Products,
it vied with the core industrial gases division for capital.
CEO Guillermo Novo has made a point of encouraging innovation, Hart said.
Versum’s process materials team will use the facility to focus on specialty
materials manufacturing improvements and the identification of new etching and
cleaning gases.
Versum’s organometallic team will use it to more quickly synthesize, test and
deliver new organometallic precursors. This will enable faster and more
comprehensive collaborations with its global semiconductor customers and
partners.
Ed Shober, senior vice president of materials and a graduate of nearby Marian
High School, said all of Versum’s customers have one thing in common: They’re
working on “the next big thing.”
“The next big product, the next technology, the next breakthrough that boosts
efficiency, power and performance,” he said. “We remain fully committed to
always be looking around the corner ... this investment is further validation of
our commitment to invest for the future.”
Versum employs about 2,200 people worldwide. It had revenues of $1.1 billion in
2017.
Micron Breaks Ground on New Flash Memory
Fabrication Plant in Singapore
Semiconductor giant Micron Technology broke ground in North Coast to add new
cleanroom space to meet future manufacturing requirements for its 3D NAND flash
memory products.
Micron did not disclose the size of the investment except to say that the new
facility will be a "multi-billion dollar investment". It will be equipped over
the next five years or more, and add 1,000 new jobs.
As part of its agreement with the Economic Development Board, Micron will also
broaden its research and development capabilities in Singapore.
Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) Mr. S Iswaran, who
attended the groundbreaking ceremony, said: "Since 1998, Micron has been a key
player in our electronics sector. I am delighted that Micron has decided to take
another step to further expand and anchor its activities in Singapore."
Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief executive of Micron Technology, told the
gathering: "Over the past 20 years, Micron has invested more than US$15 billion
in Singapore. The 3D NAND flash we create here is at the leading edge of all
flash today -- and it is a highly complex semiconductor to build. Our flash has
64 layers of data cells and is manufactured through many, many precision process
steps.
"The cleanroom we are launching today... will allow us to continue to advance
our technology to even more intricate designs."
Construction of the new facility is expected to be completed in mid-2019, with
initial wafer output expected in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The facility gives Micron space to continue technology transitions for its
existing 3D NAND wafer capacity. No new wafer capacity is planned at this time,
Micron said.
Micron employs more than 34,000 people in 17 countries. In Singapore, it has
more than 7,500 staff, or 22 per cent of its global workforce.
Micron's Singapore presence, comprising three wafer fabrication facilities and
one assembly and test facility, is a major part of the company's worldwide
operations.
Singapore is also Micron's designated NAND Center of Excellence, driving the
implementation of the company's leading-edge 3D NAND production for use in
mobile phones, solid state drives, digital cameras and more, said the company.
Samsung Building
Advanced Chip-Packaging Facilities
Samsung Electronics is ramping up investments in advanced chip packaging
technologies, building a new manufacturing complex in Korea, according to
industry sources.
The new complex will be using Samsung Display’s LCD panel production plant in
Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, to adopt advanced chip packaging
technologies such as high-bandwidth memory and wafer-level packaging.
The HBM greatly improves power efficiency as it is increasingly being integrated
into chips for artificial intelligence technologies. The 3-D WLP is used for
imaging sensors of high-speed cameras in mobile devices like the current Galaxy
S9.
Samsung plans to adopt 2.5D and Fan-Out packaging technologies at the new
complex. Taiwan’s TSMC was the first to commercialize the Fan-Out packaging,
adopting it to Apple’s A Series processors.
“Considerable resources are expected to be poured into equipment purchases.
After completing the initial setting by the year-end, Samsung could seek
expansion depending on demand,” an industry source related on condition of
anonymity.
Samsung, the world’s largest memory chipmaker and a foundry powerhouse that
makes chips for outside clients, has been focusing on wafer processing thus far,
while making little investments in packaging technologies.
But recently, demand for advanced packaging technologies is growing as they play
a key role in integrating upgraded chips into smaller mobile and wearable
devices or vehicles.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
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