Hyundai begins DRAM fab conversion to increase foundry services
Semiconductor Business News
(10/24/00, 09:16:07 AM EDT)
CHEONGJU, South Korea -- As part of a plan to become a $1 billion supplier of silicon foundry services, Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. announced an increase investment in its 0.25-micron capacity for the conversion of a DRAM wafer fab here to logic manufacturing processes. Hyundai has targeted the use of maturing DRAM fabs as a vehicle to become a major player in the foundry arena (see July 14 story).
The new investments in Hyundai's Fab 4 here include back-end of line (BEOL) tools for interconnects used in logic devices as well as new deep-ultraviolet (DUV) steppers, said the company. The 8-inch fab is being converted from 64-megabit DRAMs to logic, said Hyundai, which is transferring the memory production to another plant.
About half of Fab 4's capacity is capable of 0.35-micron logic services and the other half for 0.25-micron chips. Hyundai said its new 0.25-micron logic capacity is expected to be implemented by the second quarter of 2001.
Hyundai said it is pushing ahead with plans to have six wafer fabs to support foundry services in 2001. Two of those fabs will be newly converted DRAM plants, while two other 8-inch frontend facilities were set up earlier for logic foundry production. The two fabs are existing 6-inch foundry plants (one owned by LG Semicon, prior to last year's acquisition, and the other a Hyundai facility). Most of the 6-inch wafer fab capacity is for 0.5-micron processes.
The company said its growing foundry operations will be running at a monthly capacity of 90,000 eight-inch equivalent wafers by the end of the year.
During interviews with SBN the summer, Hyundai officials said the company was aiming to increase its foundry business by 277% to $400 million in 2000, from about $106 million in 1999. In 2001, the South Korean company intends to increase its silicon foundry revenues by another 88% to $750 million and then reach $1.2 billion in 2002, managers said. |
