Taiwan's GaAs foundry race heats up as new 6-inch fab opens
semibiznews.com
When completed, Win's GaAs fab will have capacity of 100,000 6-inch wafers per year. They will specialize in HBT and pHEMT processes. For comparison, Kopin's HBT production capacity is scheduled to be about 300,000 4-inch wafers and 120,000 6-inch wafers per year by the end of this year, rising to 400,000 and 200,000 respectively by the end of next year. So, Win will be adding capacity in the ballpark of Kopin's current 6-inch capacity. While Kopin offers epitaxy services only, I assume that a foundry would be able to handle anything from the epi on up; the article does not give details. Sooner or later, the outsourcing will involve the entire device, not just the epi.
Other companies in Taiwan are also jumping into GaAs technology as demand grows for high-speed communications devices and radio-frequency ICs made with the compound semiconductor material. In fact, taking a page out of the silicon foundry model established in Taiwan, nearly a dozen companies on the Island are hoping to launch GaAs-processing services over the next year, according to some industry observers here.
Yikes! It looks like Taiwan will be adding significantly to global demand for GaAs substrates.
WT |
