SIS plans to build first wafer fab
By Sandy Chen
Electronic Buyers' News
(04/23/99, 06:19:05 PM EDT)
In a surprising move to secure its future product supply, PC chipset specialist Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SIS) has announce plans to build its first wafer fab.
SIS, one of Taiwan's largest fabless IC design houses, plans to convert its IC-test and packaging plant into a full-blown, 8-in. wafer-processing plant, according to Samuel Liu, president of the Hsinchu-based company.
The Hsinchu-based fab, which will move in volume production by early-2001, will be an 0.25- to 0.18-micron plant capable of making over 15,000 wafers per month, Liu said.
"We will continue to use our existing foundries,'' Liu said. ''Our relationship with our foundry partners remains the same. But when our size reaches a certain scale, we need to build a fab.''
At present, SIS uses several outside foundries, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Hsinchu.
SIS plans to raise $212 million in capital for its new fab. "Our existing shareholders are also able to buy equal stakes in the fab,'' Liu said.
Orient Semiconductor Electronics Ltd. (OSE), Kaohsiung, one the island's major IC packaging and testing houses, holds about a 16% stake in SIS. It is unclear if OSE will invest in the new fab.
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