DuPont Photomasks announces $40 million expansion in Asia as reticle race heats up
Semiconductor Business News
(03/23/00, 09:13:10 AM EDT)
ROUND ROCK, Tex.--DuPont Photomasks Inc. here today announced the addition of four mask-manufacturing lines in Asia as it races rival Photronics Inc. to serve chip makers in the region. Two photomask lines were added in a new Singapore facility, another was set up at a joint venture in Shanghai, China, and a fourth was installed in DPI's plant in Ichon, South Korea.
DuPont said it invested nearly $40 million in equipment for the expansion in Singapore, Korea, and China. The expansion is part of global battle between DPI and Photronics--both lay claim on being the world's largest supplier of reticles for photolithography processing in wafer fabs.
"DPI established a manufacturing presence in Asia in 1991 when we opened our Korean facility. Since then, we have aggressively expanded our position in the region by establishing manufacturing facilities in China, Taiwan and now Singapore," said Preston Adcox, president and chief operating officer at DPI. "Last quarter, 28% of our revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region. These four facilities, coupled with our customer service center in Japan, uniquely position DPI to increase its share of the rapidly growing Asian photomask market," he added.
Earlier this month, Photronics of Jupiter, Fla., announced an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Precision Semiconductor Mask Corp. in Taiwan for about $50 million. The company said the move was the "cornerstone" of its future growth strategy in the region (see March 14 story).
Photronics also said it was restructuring operations in the U.S. and Europe to cut costs and reduce its volume in mature mask-making technologies. The company is in the midst of completing a $114 million stock purchase of Los Angeles-based Align-Rite International Inc., which Photronics believes will make it the largest merchant photomask supplier in the world.
DPI officials in Round Rock have disputed that claim. In Singapore, the company expects to have Asia's most advanced photomask production facility in Southeast Asia when it has fully equipped its new facility on the island. The facility is being outfitted with advanced photomask inspection, metrology and repair equipment and is expected to start-up during the second quarter 2000. It will be capable of producing reticles for sub-0.25-micron processes.
In Korea, the new photomask line will support prototype IC production with feature sizes as small as 0.15 micron, said DPI. The company is doubling the capacity in its majority-owned joint venture in Shanghai by transferring photomask tools from Europe to China. The equipment and processes will support production of reticles for mature lithography processes, said DPI, which intends to use the facility to aggressively compete in the global market with lower costs. |
