South Koreans wait-and-see on 300-mm wafers
By B.H. Seo
EE Times
(12/09/99, 01:51:44 PM EDT)
SEOUL ( ChipWire) -- South Korean semiconductor makers are closely monitoring their Taiwanese rivals' early foray into 300-mm wafer production while maintaining that it is too early to begin mass production with the larger-sized wafers.
Taiwanese companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), have recently announced investment plans for building 300-mm production facilities. Since then, South Korean chip makers such as Samsung and Hyundai have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Company executives have decided it is better to be prepared than to be the first company to begin mass production of 300-mm wafers.
Industry officials here said reliable equipment for 300-mm production is still several years away. "The performance of equipment used in production of 300-mm wafer is not [certain] and we do not have any reason for hurrying a mass-production system," said one South Korean industry source. "The problem is the performance instability of the equipment."
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has surveyed production equipment available for 300-mm fabs and found it lacking. The company said it would not invest in 300-mm production facilities until the reliability of equipment is proved.
Aggressive Taiwanese companies are taking a big risk using unproven equipment, according to another industry source in Korea. They are "preparing a mass-production system for 300-mm wafers with equipment that has not been inspected yet," he warned.
Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., meanwhile, also said it is holding off on 300-mm investments, and will focus instead on improving 200-mm yields. "We plan to decide on investments [for 300 mm] according to the moves of rival companies," a Hyundai executive said. "The time is not quite ripe."
Instead, Samsung and Hyundai plan to begin equipping a 300-mm production facility in 2001, about the time they expect reliable equipment to be ready. Both plan to begin volume production in 2002.
The bold move of Taiwan's manufacturers into 300-mm wafer production is seen here as an attempt to grab market share from dominant Korean chip makers. The gambit has prompted South Korean companies to declare that Taiwanese semiconductor makers lack the production savvy of U.S. and Japanese companies that will be necessary to make 300-mm wafers a financial and technological success.
Other observers go further, saying a complete production facility for 300-mm wafers is at least two years away and that Taiwanese investment plans are largely intended to boost stock prices.
TSMC and other Taiwanese chip makers dispute those assertions, and maintain that the equipment needed to begin 300-mm wafer production is ready. -- Exclusive to EE Times by Chom Dan Inc. (Seoul).
|
