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Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Math Junkie who wrote (7915)	6/10/1999 11:00:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 10921

Analysts Sue Billat of Robertson Stephens, Charles Boucher of DLJ to Discuss Semiconductor Industry Stocks on Today's Informed Investors Radio Show biz.yahoo.com informedinvestors.com

To: Math Junkie who wrote (7915)	6/10/1999 3:55:00 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

Intel restarts 300-mm program, plans copper on larger wafers A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story updated3:30 p.m. EST/12:30 p.m., PST, 6/9/99 By Jack Robertson SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Intel Corp. today announced it was reactivating its 300-mm wafer development program in Hillsboro, Ore., after putting the project on hold last year when the company decided production tools were not yet ready and that poor market conditions had delayed the need for larger diameter substrates. Now, "the technology and equipment are ready to move ahead," said Michael Splinter, senior vice president and general manager of the Intel Technology and Manufacturing Group. In an interview with SBN, Splinter said that Intel will start installing a complete 300-mm wafer development line at its D1C fab in Hillsboro. Splinter said the 300-mm fab will use copper interconnect processing and 0.13-micron design rules. Intel plans to begin copper and 0.13-micron processing a year earlier in a new 200-mm development line also located at Hillsboro, he said "We will then apply this experience to ramping up the new 300-mm line," Splinter added. "We will test out the 300-mm line and start ramping up production at the fab in 2002 to thousands of wafers a week," he said. Intel had previously said it would introduce copper interconnects with the 0.13-micron feature size chips. "We have been working on copper developments in our research facilities for some time. But it is clear we won't need to start copper interconnects until we reach the very small transistor feature size on chips in the 0.13-micron generation," he added. The 300-mm fab in Hillsboro is expected to be completed and equipped at a cost of about $1.2 billion, according to Intel. Equipment installation is scheduled to begin in early 2000. Splinter believed the new 300-mm equipment costs will not exceed the chip industry's target of 120-to-130% of the equivalent cost of a 200-mm line. But the Intel manufacturing chief expected the greatly increased number of chips and higher automation productivity from the 300-mm line "will actually lead to an overall 30% savings in cost-of-ownership." The 300-mm wafer has 225% more usable area of silicon yielding about 240% more die than the standard 200-inch wafer. Splinter believed there would also be higher productivity from the pervasive fab automation demanded in a 300-mm fab. "On top of this, we expect to get another 30% increase in cost reduction simply from the increased yields in the die shrink moving to the 0.13-micron generation," he added. Intel said its 300-mm process technology will be used to produce advanced microprocessors and other semiconductor products, including future versions of Pentium III, Pentium III Xeon, and Intel Celeron processors. In addition, Intel's new IA-64 processors will be produced with this process. When Intel originally announced the 300-mm project last year, the D1C fab was slated to become operational in the year 2000, at a cost of about $1.5 billion (see Feb. 18, 1998, story). The project was put on hold a several months later, but the company continued to review progress of tool evaluations at Sematech in Austin, Tex. Earlier this year, industry analysts and sources inside Intel said the company was preparing to restart its 300-mm program after evaluating progress of equipment development. With market conditions improving and Intel stepping up its work on the next-generation 0.13-micron processes, the Santa Clara chip company decided it was time to restart the 300-mm project. "The road to the Internet is paved with silicon. With a billion computers connected to the Internet, a huge volume of silicon building blocks will be required," said Craig Barrett, Intel's president and CEO. "The 300-mm wafers will help us get there more cost effectively and Intel believes it is the time for the industry to move to a new, larger wafer generation." Intel said it expects 300-mm (12-inch) wafers to cut the cost of high-volume IC production by about 30% when compared to today's 200-mm (8-inch) wafer production. Intel is now in the midst of ramping up its 0.18-micron process in volume production of products. By next year, Intel said it expects to be making almost all of its microprocessors in 0.18-micron technology in five fabs around the world. "With our 0.18 micron process technology now in production, it is time to aggressively step up our pursuit of our next-generation process technology development," said Sunlin Chou, vice president and general manager of Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group. "We plan to be the first to ramp production on 0.13-micron technology with copper metallization, initially on 200-mm wafers, and then on 300-mm wafers." Initial 300-mm wafer production at the Hillsboro fab will later be augmented by a copy-exact 300-mm fab at Fort Worth, Tex., which still remains on hold. Splinter said there has been no decision yet on the timetable for the Fort Worth fab. Splinter declined to name any of the vendors being considered for the new 300-mm fab. Sources said Applied Materials Inc. will be a major supplier, although it wasn't know which types of equipment the giant vendor would provide. The Intel official said the new 300-mm line will definitely use the next generation 193-nm wavelength deep ultraviolet lithography, as will the precursor 0.13-micron 200-mm line at Hillsboro. He said the 193-nm tool vendor will be selected shortly. Intel has invested an extra $10 million this year in Silicon Valley Group Lithography in Wilton, Conn., to further the 193-mm deep-UV development. Intel previously invested $10 million several years ago to help launch the SVGL 193-nm program. Asked if SVGL was a logical candidate for the 0.13-micron processing on the 200-mm and 300-mm lines, Splinter said Intel was still considering its options. He confirmed press accounts that Intel had signed an agreement with local government authorities to set a cap on the number of employees to be hired at Hillsboro over the next 15 years, because of local concerns about over-development of the area. He said Intel has no problem with the employment cap in meeting all its goals in the expected $12 billion buildup at the Hillsboro fab complex. -- Additional reporting by J. Robert Lineback