NEC's Beijing joint venture to add $1 billion 8-inch fab in 2002, say sources
By Mark LaPedus
Semiconductor Business News
(03/27/01 06:26 a.m. PST)
BEIJING -- In a major effort to significantly upgrade its silicon foundry and chip-making operations, Shougang NEC Electronics Co. Ltd. here is preparing to break ground on its initial, 8-inch wafer fab. The new fab is expected to cost more than $1 billion.
The new plant would be NEC Corp.'s second 8-inch (200-mm) fab venture in China. The Japanese company is also involved in an ambitious, 8-inch wafer-processing venture in Shanghai. That company, dubbed Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co. Ltd., has been in production for some time.
Beijing-based Shougang NEC is preparing to break ground for its new 8-inch fab in May, and it will install tools for 0.35-micron processes, which will be ramped into production during the third quarter of 2002, according to industry sources.
The Beijing facility will process integrated circuits for both NEC and other silicon foundry customers, said Yamai Masaharu, general manager of Shougang NEC. The company is a joint chip-manufacturing venture between NEC and Beijing-based steel giant Shougang Group.
In an interview with SBN today (March 27), Masaharu declined to comment on when the new, 8-inch fab would move into production.
But still, the new plant represents a major upgrade for the chip maker. Since the mid-1990s, Shougang NEC has been manufacturing chips on 150-mm (6-inch) diameter wafers, using 0.35-micron process technology. The 6-inch fab serves both NEC and other foundry customers.
In the near future, Shougang NEC will upgrade the 6-inch fab to increase its capacity. The company plans to boost the fab's volume from its current run rate of 13,500 six-inch wafers a month to 20,000 wafers per month, according to sources.
Meanwhile, Shougang Group itself is also involved in another 8-inch fab venture in China. That venture, called Beijing Huaxia Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (HSMC), will concentrate on foundry services for analog and power ICs using a new wafer fab in Beijing starting next year (see March 27 story). |
