TSMC renames new fabs, plans 300-mm production in Fab 14 at end of 2001
Semiconductor Business News
(05/02/00, 10:46:35 AM EDT)
HSINCHU, Taiwan--Taking care of a little housekeeping in its aggressive expansion and acquisition of wafer fab capacity, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. here today renamed several new chip-processing plants. Even TSMC officials say they have had a hard time keeping up with the names of new plants being added to the foundry company's capacity in 1999 and 2000.
TSMC's planned 12-inch wafer fab, now under construction in Tainan, Taiwan, has been renamed Fab 14 from its original designation as Fab 7. This facility is currently slated to become TSMC's first high-volume 12-inch wafer fab, starting operations in Tainan's Science-based Industrial Park during the fourth quarter of 2001. The initial capacity of Fab 14 has not yet been determined, according to TSMC.
The company is also building another 12-inch (300-mm) wafer production plant, designated Fab 12, in Hsinchu. This facility is on a site where memory maker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. is also planning to set up a 300-mm fab, which will share infrastructure with TSMC's frontend manufacturing line. Fab 12 is now slated to become operational in the first quarter of 2002. The initial target for annual capacity in Fab 12 has not been determined, said TSMC.
The pending acquisitions of TSMC's joint venture with the Acer Group and Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (WSMC) will also give the company two existing 8-inch wafer-processing plants, which are now being called Fab 7 and Fab 8, respectively. The merger of WSMC and TSMC-Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TASMC) are slated to be completed on June 30.
By the end of 2000, the TASMC "Fab 7" facility is scheduled to be capable of processing 400,000 eight-inch wafers a year with 0.25- and 0.22-micron processes. The WSMC "Fab 8" plant is expected to be at an annual capacity of 254,000 eight-inch wafers with 0.25- and 0.18-micron technology. In 2001, the Fab 8 facility will have an annual capacity of 602,000 wafers, TSMC said.
"In 1999, TSMC's annual capacity was 1.8 million eight-inch equivalent wafers. By the end of 2000, that number is expected to reach 3.4 million wafers," said F.C. Tseng, president TSMC. "This increase is in direct response to the industry's rising demand for pure-play foundry services. TSMC has been aggressively expanding to meet that demand through fab creation, mergers, and capital investments. In 2000 alone, TSMC's capital expenditures will rival nearly every other semiconductor manufacturer in the world."
In 2000, TSMC is planning $4.7 billion in investments to expand fab capacity in its own facilities as well as joint ventures and affiliated plants that provide processed wafers to foundry customers (see April 25 story).
--J. Robert Lineback reporting from U.S. |
