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To: FJB who wrote (24325)	2/24/2000 10:19:00 AM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

TSMC could top Intel in semiconductor capital spending semibiznews.com Wouldn't you hate to see a "contest" for fab spending? By J. Robert Lineback Semiconductor Business News (02/24/00, 09:28:12 AM EDT) SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Here's a shocker: Intel Corp. may be threatened as king of capital spending in the chip industry if Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. moves forward and spends at least $4.7 billion to add silicon foundry capacity in 2000. During Friday's TSMC board meeting in Hsinchu, Taiwan, company directors approved additional expenditures for 2000, pushing the industry's largest silicon foundry supplier closer to the capital spending plans of Intel. In late January, Intel announced a $5 billion budget for capital expenditures in 2000, but about $200 million of that total will probably be used for non-semiconductor activities, suggested analyst Bill McClean, president of IC Insights Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz. "TSMC is going to be spending close to the same amount as Intel's semiconductor capital budget," McClean said. "We're talking about a $100 million gap between TSMC and Intel. But what's a real shocker is the fact that TSMC is at a run rate to be a $4 billion-to-$4.7 billion company in 2000, while Intel will be at $30 billion plus sales. "So, TSMC's capital expenditures will be at 100% of [the company's] sales," he added. Industry observers also note that TSMC--like its competitors in the silicon foundry segment--has steadily increased its capital spending plans during the past nine months. Last fall, for example, TSMC had raised its spending plans for 2000 to $2 billion from a record amount of about $1.5 billion in 1999. The pure-play foundry giant then upped the ante at the end of last year when cross-town rival United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) set its capital spending plans at $2.4 billion in 2000. In addition to adding wafer-processing capacity in its own fabs, TSMC is also expanding with acquisitions. Early this year, TSMC announced plans to acquire Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (WSMC)--Taiwan's third largest foundry company--after reaching an agreement to take full ownership of a joint-venture fab, called TSMC-Acer Manufacturing Corp. During last week's board meeting, TSMC directors signed off on plans to invest $450 million (NT $13.86 billion) to set up a 300-mm (12-inch) wafer pilot line in the company's new Fab 6 in Hsinchu. The facility is now expected to start equipment installation in the third quarter of this year with pilot production starting in the fourth quarter. TSMC's directors approved a plan to quickly ramp the 300-mm pilot line facility to full capacity, reaching 4,500 twelve-inch wafers a month by the end of 2001. Santa Clara-based Intel is also moving quickly to build and ramp a new 300-mm fab into volume production in Chandler, Ariz. Intel said it will initially start up new $2.0 billion fab with 200-mm wafers and 0.13-micron processes in the middle of 2001, but the facility will then shift over to larger 300-mm substrates about six months later (see Jan. 25 story). In Hillsboro, Ore., Intel is equipping its initial 300-mm pilot line for production runs of 12-inch wafers by the middle of 2001. Based on current plans, it now appears TSMC will beat Intel into 300-mm pilot production by at least six months.