India's fab venture plans 200-, 300-mm plants
Mark LaPedus
12/31/2004 11:46 AM EST
URL: siliconstrategies.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. — More details are surfacing about India's first major fab company, including its bold plans to build both 200- and 300-mm plants, according to a report from the Express Computer Web site.
The new fab company, India Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (ISMC), also plans to design its own chips as well as provide foundry services, according to the Jan. 3, 2005 edition of Express Computer, an Indian IT Web site. ISMC is also talking about providing foundry services for the likes of LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Toyota, according to the report.
In recent times, a little-known South Korean firm called Intellect Inc. approached the regional government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) with a plan to build a fab at a total cost of $1.6 billion. The fab, to be located in Hyderabad, would be called India Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (see Nov. 16 story).
ISMC is expected to break ground on what is believed to be a 200-mm plant in February of 2005, with production slated for July of 2006. Investors in ISMC include India's Reliance, Tata and others (see Nov. 26 story).
The specific details of ISMC have been few and far between. However, in a question and answer format conducted by Express Computer, P. June Min, chairman of Intellect, indicated that the South Korean company and the Indian government are close to finalizing the deal to form ISMC. Under the terms, ISMC would build 200- and 300-mm fabs.
"We expect to sign an MoU with the AP government shortly and work will be completed by 2005 and commercial production will take place by the third quarter of 2006," Min said in the report. "The capacity will be 30,000 wafers per month. The first phase will make 8-inch wafers and the state-of-the-art facility in the second phase will manufacture 12-inch wafers with a capacity of 20,000 per month."
ISMC hopes to build the fabs in two phases. "The facility will have two fab units for manufacturing 8-inch and 12-inch wafers and the project will come up in two stages at an investment of $600 million for phase-1 and $2.5 billion for the second phase," Min said.
It appears that ISMC will straddle the fence between being an integrated device manufacturer and foundry provider. "Our revenue sharing model comprises technology partners (30 percent), captive customers (30 percent), and shared foundry customers (40 percent)," he said in the Q&A.
"In the first phase of operations, we expect a turnover of $300 million. We are talking with companies such as LG, Moser Baer, Millennium Electronics, Samsung, and Toyota that are potential customers," he said. "We also undertake jobs for companies such as Motorola, which supplies chips to Hyundai. Our fabs will cater to the domestic market to meet local demand for the next five years. Our products will be marketed under the ISMC (India Semiconductor Manufacturing Co) brand name."
The Q&A can be read here.
expresscomputeronline.com |
