TSMC to invest US$5 billion to build another 12-inch fab
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Claire Sung and Hans Wu, Taipei; Greg Wu, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 12 March 2008]
Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), recently announced that the company plans to invest US$5 billion to establish another 12-inch wafer plant for R&D purposes, which will be utilized at the 32nm, 22nm, and 15nm technology nodes.
TSMC's current 12-inch fab focuses on the 90nm, 65nm, and 45nm technology nodes. Despite seeing wafer OEM makers trim their capex for 2008, TSMC is still endeavoring to work on the development of 12-inch fabs in order to expand its capacity for long-term competitiveness. TSMC previously considered Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) for the location of the new fab, but finally decided upon a site at Hsinchu Science Park.
In contrast, rival United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) invested US$1.5 billion to establish the R&D center it opened last year.
TSMC and UMC have capex totals of US$1.8 billion and US$500-700 million, respectively, for 2008.
Meanwhile, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) recently began photolithography equipment move-in at the 12-inch plant in Wuhan, China, it is establishing in partnership with the Hubei provincial government.
SMIC will focus on the production of NOR flash and NAND flash, as well as multi-chip package (MCP) and one-time-programmable (OTP) memory, of which the company plans to start pilot runs of 3,000 units in mid-2008. Capacity is expected to reach 6,000-8,000 units by the end of 2008, according to SMIC CEO, Richard Chang.
Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) has yet to announce any budget or plan for its 12-inch fab. |
