Chartered Maintains Trailing Edge
By Tom Murphy, Electronic News -- 5/9/2002 2:25:00 PM
e-insite.net
It will be older technology, not just new technology, that will provide Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. with an edge in the next upturn.
The Singapore-based foundry will strive to gain market share on the leaders of the contract wafer manufacturing market by providing a mix of processes that are found throughout electronic systems, company representatives said.
No. 1 foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and No. 2 foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), both of Hsinchu, Taiwan, have been highly aggressive in pushing process technology in their fabs. Both have said their efforts to install 0.13-micron capacity and expand capacity at 0.18 micron have led to increased sales and profits-even UMC recently posted its first profitable month in more than a year.
However, Chartered said it is within a design cycle behind TSMC of producing 0.13-micron technology for its customers, according to Rob Baxter, senior VP of Chartered business operations. He said the company plans to stay within that reach as it migrates to 90nm technology. Ironically, it is the technology at 0.35 micron and 0.25 micron that will allow it to better service its customer base and maximize its fab utilization rates, Baxter said.
Baxter said only 12 percent of Chartered’s full capacity is at 0.18-micron process technology, but they are rapidly expanding their offering at this node. The company will offer 90nm technology to its customers by the end of 2003, and it is also starting to move equipment into its newest facility, Fab 7, an all-300mm wafer plant which sat empty during the downturn. |
