Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Lam Research (LRCX, NASDAQ): To the Insiders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (3612)	11/4/1999 11:44:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 5867

In foundry race, UMC bets TSMC will struggle with first Tainan fab By J. Robert Lineback Semiconductor Business News (11/04/99, 11:10:52 AM EDT) HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Which will ramp up silicon foundry volumes faster: two new wafer fabs in Hsinchu's established-but-crowded industrial park, or a huge new plant located about 150 miles south in Tainan? The answer to that capacity question is expected to play a major role in determining market share of the world's two largest silicon foundry companies--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and rival UMC Group. TSMC is racing ahead to become the first chip company to start a wafer fab in Tainan's new high-tech industrial park by early 2000 while UMC is pressing ahead with expansion near its headquarters in Hsinchu. "Next year, we will have two new 8-inch fabs here--8D and 8F--while they [TSMC] start up in the Tainan park," observed John Hsuan, chief executive officer of UMC, the No.2 pure-play foundry supplier behind crosstown rival TSMC. Hsuan believes UMC could finally catch up with TSMC in foundry revenues during 2000, but he said it will all hinge on how well both companies do in starting up new wafer capacity early next year. "It could also depend upon acquisitions," the CEO added. "If there are no new acquisitions [by UMC or TSMC], next year we will be neck-and-neck." UMC figures it will end this year with about $1.75 billion in revenues while TSMC is expected to finish 1999 around $2 billion in sales. Together, TSMC and UMC will account for about 60% of the world's $6.3 billion total foundry revenues, based on estimates by UMC managers. (Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. sales were placed at about $625 million in 1999 by UMC.) With wafer-processing capacity now being completely booked up at the top foundries, TSMC and UMC are scrambling to build up their manufacturing volumes. TSMC is expected to increase its capital spending to more than $2 billion in 2000, while UMC is earmarking about $2.4 billion next year. UMC and TSMC are also both actively hunting for potential wafer-fab acquisitions, according to Hsuan, who would not discuss specific candidates except to say they were both inside and outside Taiwan. Rumors in Taiwan indicate that UMC has been exploring a deal with three-year-old Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which early this year began processing 0.25-micron ICs in Hsinchu's industrial park using licensed technology from Toshiba Corp. Officials from WSMC and UMC would not comment on those rumors (see Oct. 28 story). Aside from potential acquisitions, UMC and TSMC are pushing hard to increase internal production capacity. A major part of those efforts are based on two different fab-expansion strategies that pit TSMC's monster 8-inch fab in Tainan against UMC's two new plants in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park. Hsuan estimated that the potential start-up capacity from UMC's two new Hsinchu fabs will roughly be equal to TSMC's Tainan facility. UMC believes the infrastructure in Tainan is not as well developed at it is in Hsinchu, which is the home of nearly all of Taiwan's advanced fabs. UMC also believes it will benefit from having all of its wafer fab engineers and technicians closer to the two new fabs in Hsinchu. A major concern in both Hsinchu and Tainan is power--especially after Taiwan's powerful earthquake on Sept. 21 knocked out electricity for several days, causing fabs to temporarily shut down. With nearly all of Taiwan's fabs concentrated in the Hsinchu industrial park, government leaders were willing to give the city a high priority in restoring the power grid in late September, but questions remain about how well Tainan will fair in similar circumstances. In Hsinchu, UMC's new Fab 8D is being set up in a facility that was heavily damaged by a fire two years ago when it was operated by United Integrated Circuits Corp. (UICC). The facility was taken over by UMC--a major shareholder in UICC--and now it's slated to be equipped for production in the first quarter. By December 2000, Fab 8D is expected to be processing 20,000 eight-inch wafers a month, and it will be using some of its capacity to fabricate some of UMC's first 0.15-micron ICs. UMC's Fab 8F is now installing production equipment, and it is expected to be processing 20,000 wafer a month by the end of 2000. The 8-inch wafer fab will be UMC's first production plant to use only step-and-scan exposure tools. The facility will start up with a 0.25-micron process but it also is slated to begin 0.15 production in the second quarter next year. Each of the two new UMC fabs will be able to fabricate up to 40,000 eight-inch wafers a month once they are fully equipped, according to UMC officials. Meanwhile, TSMC is also pushing hard to increase production capacity next year with its new Fab 6 facility, which is now being equipped and expected to begin processing 8-inch wafers by February. The facility is expected to migrate to 0.15-micron technology during next year, said Yen-Chun Huang, vice president and assistant to TSMC's chairman. The huge Fab 6 facility is the first part of a planned cluster of plants in Tainan's new science-based industrial park. TSMC has secured 40 hectares of land in the new park to build six fabs, including the company's first high-volume 12-inch wafer-processing plant, designated Fab 7. Groundbreaking for the 12-inch fab in Tainan is expected to start next year, Huang said. The construction will follow the initial work on TSMC's first 12-inch fab in Hsinchu--designated Fab 12--a joint-venture plant with DRAM maker Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. Both 12-inch fabs are now slated to begin production during 2002. UMC also plans to eventually set up production in Tainan because there is no more land available in Hsinchu's industrial park for new wafer fabs. Excavation work for Fab 12A--UMC's first 300-mm (12-inch) facility--is scheduled to start next year. Installation of 300-mm equipment for the 12-inch fab is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2001. Originally, UMC had planned to set up a fab in Tainan earlier, but the company delayed its move there because of concerns about the infrastructure--especially electrical power and water, according to company officials. Currently, about a half dozen companies are now building or planning manufacturing facilities in the 638-hectare Tainan industrial park.

To: Duker who wrote (3612)	11/9/1999 8:59:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 5867

Hyundai rolls out 0.15-micron 256-Mbit SDRAM A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. SEOUL--Hyundai's MicroElectronics Group today announced samples of a second-generation 256-megabit synchronous DRAM for PC133 memory systems. The 256-Mbit SDRAM is being fabricated with a new 0.15-micron process that results in higher performance and potentially lower costs, said the semiconductor group of Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. The new memory is capable of responding to microprocessor requests for data in 42.5 nanoseconds vs. 50 ns with conventional SDRAMs, according to Hyundai. The new SDRAM has a column address strobe (CAS) latency of 2 instead of a CAS latency of 3. Hyundai has been producing 256-Mbit SDRAMs with 0.18-micron processes. The new 0.15-micron process enables the Korean chip maker to produce more devices on an 8-inch wafer as well as increase the speed of the memory circuit. Qualified as a PC133 part, the new chip actually can achieve 166-MHz speed, the company said. The sampling price for the new part is about $130. Full production is slated to begin in the second quarter of next year. Hyundai MicroElectronics said it also expects to make available 512-megabyte and 1-gigabyte memory modules using the new 256-Mbit SDRAM in the same time frame. Industry sources said Hyundai is using ASM Lithography's 248-nm step-and-repeat tool in the 0.15-micron process. The ASML 248-nm wavelength krypton fluoride laser scanner is the same scanner used by Hyundai to make DRAMs with its 0.18-micron processes.