If I understand correctly chipsets used to be a bread and butter biz for TSMC but 12 to 18 months ago or so Intel started to go aggressively after this biz.
INTC probably used the older lines - it's probably 1/4 micron.
Right now TSMC dedicated one additional fab just for LCD drivers which is also within .25 to .35 micron range.
Excess capacity at foundry level is at .18 micron - but that might be overkill for chipsets.
Hard to believe (knowing Intel) that they did not plan the supply for chipsets properly;
for example last quarter Micron mentioned that they were building DDR2 inventory in order to support the ramp.
DDR2 makes gains in market as global DRAM output exceeds 500m units in March
Printer friendly
Related stories
Comments
Email to a friend
Latest news
Hans Wu, Taipei; Carrie Yu, DigiTimes.com [Friday 15 April 2005]
Global DRAM output grew 8.2% sequentially to 510 million units last month, up from 471 million in February, according to DRAMeXchange.
Most of the increase came from Taiwan and Germany, and a steady increase in wafer starts at 12-inch wafer fabs was the main contributing factor, along with improving yields for 0.11-micron process production at several 8-inch wafer fabs, DRAMeXchange said.
Infineon Technologies saw its DRAM output jump 24% sequentially in March due to expanded 12-inch wafer capacity from OEM partners such as Taiwan-based Inotera Memories and China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
In addition, Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC) also had a significant increase in output, as its 12-inch wafer capacity rose to 45,000 8-inch equivalent wafers and it aggressively migrated to 0.10- and 0.11-micron processes, the research firm said.
DDR2 output also increased 20% from 88 million units in February to 106 million units in March. The proportion of DDR2 chips also increased from 18.9% of overall DRAM output to 20.8%, DRAMeXchange indicated.
DDR2 chip output is likely to rise to over 10% of monthly growth in the future, according to sources.
Related stories
Spot prices for 512Mbit DDR2 chips drop below US$6 (Apr 14)
Samsung slashes 512MB DDR2-533 module quotes 20% (Apr 4)
Taiwan DRAM makers: Migration to DDR2 hitting snags (Mar 29)
DRAMeXchange: Weak confidence, sluggish pricing (Mar 9)
DRAMeXchange: Post-holiday market still on the downside (Mar 2)
DRAMeXchange: Worldwide DRAM output grows 0.8% sequentially (Feb 21)
DRAMeXchange: DRAM chipmakers to shift more capacity to NAND flash memory (Feb 4) |
