Philips to outsource 50% of chipmaking, says report
Silicon Strategies
09/03/2003, 6:30 AM ET
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Royal Philips Electronics NV said Wednesday (September 3, 2003) it plans to farm out a much greater proportion of its chip production to Asian foundries, according to a Dow Jones report published the same day.
Philips Semiconductors is to increase outsourced production to 50 percent from the current 10 percent proportion, the report said.
"That's our plan, but we don't have a set time frame," the report quoted Robyn Kao, Philips' head of corporate communications for the Asia Pacific region, as saying.
Such an expansion could provide extra work for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., which is the world's largest foundry manufacturer of chips and in which Philips holds a 21.8 percent stake (see July 9 story).
Kao was quoted as saying she expected the increased outsourcing load to go to TSMC as well as Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (ASMC) in Shanghai and Systems-on-Silicon Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (SSMC) in Singapore, a joint venture between Philips, TSMC and the Economic Development Board of Singapore.
Philips announced the plans to close wafer fabs in San Antonio, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, earlier this year which was expected to strip out about 20 percent of its CMOS manufacturing capacity (see March 13 story). |
