SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
UPDATE
February 2021
McIlvaine Company
Entegris Invests in New Manufacturing Facility in
Taiwan
Beneq Completes New Cleanroom Facility
Tyntek to Start 6-Inch Wafer Production
Kioxia to Construct New 3D NAND Fab by Early 2022
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Entegris Invests in New Manufacturing Facility in
Taiwan
The supplier of materials and process solutions for the semiconductor industry
says that it is expanding its manufacturing presence in Taiwan with an
investment of approximately USD 200 million over the next three to five years.
Entegris plans to start the construction of a new facility in early 2021 and
expects to begin initial operations in late 2021 as it ramps to full production
in subsequent phases. Located in Southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Science Park, the
new, 27'000 square-meter facility will develop and produce solutions "critical
to chipmakers," the company states in a press release. These includes filters
for microcontamination control, gas delivery systems, advanced chemistries as
well as other products and services.
The site where the new facility will be located totals approximately 61'700
square meters, which will allow for expansions of the manufacturing capacity, as
needed.
According to Bertrand Loy, Entegris’ president and chief executive officer,
expanding the company’s manufacturing capacity reflects the increased and
growing demand for its products and services from global manufacturers of
semiconductors in Taiwan and the broader Asia Pacific region. Based on IC
Insights’ Global Wafer Capacity report in 2020, nearly 22% of the global
semiconductor wafer fab capacity is in Taiwan while the Asia region, including
Taiwan, Korea, China, and Japan, produce approximately 75% of all global
semiconductors.
“Taiwan is a well-established global leader in the semiconductor industry, and
with this expanded presence we will be well positioned to be even more
responsive to our customers’ emerging needs as we work closely with them to
accelerate their development cycles and product ramps. In addition, our closer
proximity will strengthen supply security to our customers in the region while
supplementing our expansive manufacturing capacity throughout Asia in South
Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and China,” Loy says in the press release.
As part of the planned expansion, the company expects to recruit more than 200
new employees with engineering backgrounds and manufacturing experience to add
to its existing Taiwan headcount of approximately 300.
Entegris also plans a significant expansion of its Taiwan Technology Center for
Research and Development (TTC) on its Hsinchu campus where its scientists and
engineers collaborate with customers to explore and develop innovative solutions
to some of the chipmakers’ most complex materials and contamination control
challenges.
Alvin Hsieh, Entegris Taiwan country president, said, “Entegris’ presence in
Taiwan spans 30 years and this expansion of our manufacturing and R&D facilities
represents an important next phase in the company’s ongoing commitment to the
industry and the region. We will leverage advanced automation, digitalization,
and analytical tools in this state-of-the-art facility to achieve the highest
standards of quality and productivity as we respond to the rapidly evolving
needs of our customers.”
Minister Mei-Hua Wang with the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs commented
about Entegris’ planned expansion: “We are happy to see Entegris building upon
its three-decade presence and ongoing investment in Taiwan and its leadership
role within the global semiconductor industry. The company’s planned expansion
will help Taiwan accumulate and broaden significant innovation capacity in the
semiconductor equipment manufacturing sector and further strengthen Taiwan’s
expertise and ecosystem. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will continue to
provide full support to Entegris and to help the semiconductor industry advance
and prosper.”
Beneq Completes New Cleanroom Facility
The new ISO 7 cleanroom will be dedicated to manufacturing ALD equipment for
semiconductor and other markets with similar cleanroom requirements.
We have completed construction of a brand-new cleanroom and application
laboratory at its corporate headquarters in Espoo, Finland. The new Espoo,
Finland facility includes a 350 sqm ISO 7 cleanroom and a 150 sqm ISO 5
semiconductor ALD application laboratory.
Built with the latest cleanroom design and construction technology, the new
facility adds approximately 350 sqm of ISO 7 cleanroom floor space at Beneq's
headquarters. It will be used for product and process development, equipment
assembly, prototyping, and testing services.
"Since the launch of the Beneq Transform last year we have seen great demand for
our ALD equipment products from semiconductor customers," said Dr Tommi Vainio,
VP of ALD at Beneq. "Together with the semiconductor application laboratory the
new cleanroom will be the engine for Beneq's rapid growth in More-than-Moore
markets, including power semiconductors, RF, image sensors, MEMS, compound
semiconductors, LED & Micro-LED, OLED, and more."
The new cleanroom is part of Beneq's ISO 9001 certified processes. It also
houses a modern 150 sqm semiconductor application laboratory, solely designed
for developing and prototyping ALD solutions for More-than-Moore applications.
Beneq has also expanded its existing cleanroom facility to ensure the highest
availability and new safety features.
The new cleanroom officially entered into production in December 2020. Prior to
this facility the company had 1900 sqm of existing cleanroom capacity, which it
will continue to operate for other customer markets.
Tyntek to Start 6-Inch Wafer Production
Vertically-integrated LED maker Tyntek has completed 6-inch epitaxial wafer
production capacity for producing customized Si-based sensor chips mainly, and
expects to gradually obtain product certification from clients beginning the
first quarter of 2021 and start volume production in the following quarter,
according to the company.
Kioxia to Construct New 3D NAND Fab by Early
2022
Kioxia has announced via a press release that it plans to build a new 3D NAND
manufacturing facility. The Fab 7 is expected to be co-funded by Kioxia and its
long-time partner Western Digital and to be completed by early 2022 with
production starting in late 2022 or early 2023. The factory will be located at
the Yokkaichi Operations memory production complex in Mie Prefecture, Japan.
The Fab 7 facility will be constructed on the north side of the Yokkaichi Plant.
Land development for the fab has already commenced and Kioxia expects to start
building the first phase of the factory next spring with the aim to complete by
spring, 2022. It usually takes companies like Kioxia a couple of quarters to
equip a cleanroom, so expect the first wafers carrying BiCS 3D NAND memory to be
made at Fab 7 in late 2022 or early 2023 with higher volume output to commence
in the second half of 2023.
Kioxia does not disclose when it intends to build the second phase of its Fab 7,
but usually such plans depend on demand and prices of 3D NAND memory.
Traditionally for semiconductor manufacturing facilities located in seismic
hazard zones, Kioxia's Fab 7 will have an earthquake absorbing structure. In
addition, it will feature an environmentally friendly design that will use
energy saving production tools.
Western Digital plans to co-invest in Fab 7 and operate the factory together
with Kioxia.
"Our successful 20-year partnership with Kioxia continues to be a strength of
the business," said David Goeckeler, CEO of WD. "Our joint memory technology
roadmap remains strong with impressive BiCS4 and BiCS5 yields and associated
strong cost improvements underpinning our entire portfolio. We also regularly
work with Kioxia on future facility planning. To that end, this afternoon Kioxia
announced the construction of the shelf Fab 7 in Yokkaichi, which is expected to
commence in the spring of 2021. We expect to continue our joint venture
investments for Fab 7 and look forward to our ongoing successful partnership."
Kioxia and Western Digital already operate five NAND manufacturing facilities
and an R&D center at the Yokkaichi Operations memory production complex, which
is the world's largest NAND production site. Three fabs — Fab 2, Fab 5, and Fab
6 — are used to make mass market 3D NAND memory, whereas two others — Fan 3 and
Fab 4 — are used to make special purpose memory. In addition, the two companies
operate Fab K1 manufacturing facility near Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.
McIlvaine Company
Northfield, IL 60093-2743
Tel: 847-784-0012; Fax:
847-784-0061
E-mail:
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