SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
October 2020
McIlvaine Company
SK Hynix to Acquire Intel NAND Memory Business
Foxconn
Breaks Ground for New Chip Plant in China
Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision
Industry) recently broke ground for an advanced semiconductor assembly and test
plant in Qingdao, northeast China.
Foxconn plans to invest a total of CNY60
billion (US$8.6 billion) in the new plant project, according to sources familiar
with the matter. China’s state-backed Rongkong Group will be co-financing the
project.
Foxconn’s new Qingdao plant will be dedicated
to providing advanced packaging technologies, such as fan-out, and wafer-level
bonding and stacking, for chip solutions for use in 5G and AI related device
applications, sources indicated. The plant will be ready for production in 2021
and scale up its output to commercial levels by 2025.
Foxconn’s new advanced backend plant in
Qingdao is designed for monthly capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers, the sources
said.
Foxconn in 2017 set up a semiconductor
subgroup to consolidate resources to grow its semiconductor business. The new
Qingdao plant is believed to be part of Foxconn’s efforts to strengthen its
deployments in the semiconductor field.
Over the past two years, Foxconn struck deals
with China’s local governments in Zhuhai, Jinan and Nanjing regarding its
participation in the local chipmaking sectors.
Bosch Set
to Expand in Malaysia with New Plant in Penang
The German manufacturing giant has signed a
Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the Penang Development Corporation for
land in the Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang.
The company is reportedly planning to build a
manufacturing facility at the industrial park which will focus on semiconductor
components and sensor testing, according to a press release from MIDA (the
Malaysian Investment Development Authority).
Construction of the plant is scheduled to
begin in 2021 and completion of the production area and first series production
to commence in 2023. Some 400 new jobs are expected to be created with the
establishing of the new facility.
According to the press release, the to be
facility will primarily focus on the final testing of components manufactured at
Bosch Automotive Electronics’ fab in Dresden, Germany. These components comprise
semiconductors used in airbag systems or engine control units, to name a few.
The plant will also house R&D and training facilities.
“With the long-term forecasts for growth of
semiconductor component quantities, coupled with the front-end production in
Bosch’s Dresden facility in Germany, capacity expansion is required for the
back-end production, which is the final testing phase of semiconductors and
sensors. This new site is also intended to strengthen the matured eco-system for
the semiconductor industry here in Penang,” says Simon Song, managing director
of Bosch Malaysia, in the MIDA report.
SK Hynix
to Acquire Intel NAND Memory Business
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax:
847-784-0061
E-mail:
editor@mcilvainecompany.com
Web site:
www.mcilvainecompany.com