DRAM Makers Poised to Enter IC Contract Manufacturing Market
November 30, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- DRAM makers in Taiwan and Korea intend to allocate
half of their production capacities to IC contract manufacturing and application-specific
integrated circuits in the coming year, so as to bypass the risk of placing their focus
only on one product.
The entries of Taiwan's top five DRAM makers -- Winbond Electronics Corp, Nanya
Technology Corp., Mosel Vitelic Inc., Vanguard International Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. -- and the entries of Korean DRAM powerhouses,
such as Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., are
expected to bring the IC contract manufacturing market an additional capacity of 4.8
million pieces every year, equivalent to the annual capacity presently possessed by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and half the capacity of United
Microelectronics Corp.
The decision by DRAM manufacturers to move into the IC contract manufacturing
market has posed some threats to IC contract manufacturers such as Taiwan's TSMC
and UMC, and Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., which has
just faced a downgrade by several leading investment agencies due to the run-down in
market demand.
However, TSMC and UMC are not worried about the capacity restructuring projects of
DRAM makers, although these DRAM producers are believed to provide a 0.175-micron
service, just as TMC and UMC have in their main manufacturing process.
According to executives of TSMC and UMC, DRAM companies will not be able to
move into the IC contract manufacturing business immediately, because it will take too
long and need more resources than they originally expected. The capacity
diversification is expected to take up at least six months, and these companies will
eventually find several restrictions in extending their reach into the IC contract
manufacturing market, the executives said.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan) |
