I'm not sure if this was posted yet:A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted at 11 a.m. EDT/8 a.m. PDT, 6/4/98
There's life in 5-inch and 6-inch wafer fabs
By Jack Robertson
OSAKA, Japan -- A semiconductor market report from SEMI Semicon Kansai here disclosed the surprising projection that trailing-edge 5-inch and 6-inch wafer fabs will continue producing about the same number of chips annually through 2003.
Yasuo Komatsuzaki, manager of market statistics for SEMI Japan, said that 6-inch-wafer starts around the world will hold steady at just under 500,000 per month for the next five years, while 5-inch-wafer starts will ease slightly to 200,000 per month in the same period.
He also reported that 8-inch-wafer starts each year month will continue to mushroom through 2003 to 650,000 per mnth by 2003--a jump from 450,000 wafer starts per month this year. Coupled with rapid die shrinks on the wfaers during this period, this portends a continuing avalanche of chips on the market.
With all the attention on 8-inch and the upcoming 12-inch wafers, the long continuing life of 5-inch and 6-inch wafer fabs has received little attention. Although yields of the old fabs are far behind modern 8-inch plants, these venerable facilities have been depreciated for years and so continue to be low-cost operations.
The majority of 5-inch and 6-inch fabs are in Asia--particularly Japan and South Korea--although a bevy of U.S. logic-chip makers also continue to operate the smaller wafer size plants.
Komatsuzaki predicted minimal 12-inch wafer starts in 2001, ramping up to 100,000 starts a month by 2003.
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