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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (35567)	6/28/2000 9:26:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

World's Flash Memory Market to Hit US$11B in 2000, Nikkei Survey Says June 28, 2000 (TOKYO) -- According to a survey by Nikkei Market Access, the world's flash memory market in 2000 will grow 2.6 times over the preceding year to US$11 billion. NOR-type (1) flash memories for use mainly in mobile phones will account for 84 percent of the market. Flash memory shipments for mobile phones are expected to grow both in units and in memory capacity. In the European mobile phone market, low-end 8Mb devices are currently popular, but 16Mb devices are replacing them gradually. In Japan, 64Mb-based mobile phones will be put on the market this year. Accordingly, flash memories will remain in short supply through this year, without any price decrease. NAND-type (2) flash are enjoying growing demand. They are mainly used for memory cards for digital still cameras. Shipments of digital cameras have been increasing at a pace of 200 percent a year. Demand for memory is also growing as the quest for higher pixels becomes strong. In addition, music players which need memory cards are building a new market. Unlike NOR-type, NAND flash suppliers tend to lower the price to arouse demand. A 64MB card is currently priced at nearly 20,000 yen (about US$190), but the price will be reduced to less than half of it toward the end of next year. The flash memory market is expanding rapidly, but there are concerns about the future of the market. Since NOR type is highly dependent on mobile phones, demand for NOR flash would fall when sales of mobile phones dwindled. In addition, most industrial sources believe that 128Mb is enough for the built-in capacity of a mobile phone and competition for bigger memory capacity will cease in the future. Since the market demands that the NAND type be lower in price, sales in value will not grow though unit-based sales grow. Judging from the spread of mobile phones and the built-in capacity of a mobile phone, the expansion of the flash memory market will slow down in 2004. (1) NOR type flash memories include DINOR flash memories. (2) NAND type flash memories include AND flash memories. Note: Production value of flash memories quoted in this article is not the summation of each company's sales. It was figured out by multiplying the production and the average price of each memory capacity. (Tamao Kikuchi, Nikkei Market Access)

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (35567)	6/30/2000 9:05:12 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

UMC Helps Fill Up Driver IC Supply Gap June 30, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) has begun large-scale production of driver ICs using 8-inch wafers and 0.35-micron technology. This is a bid to ease the current shortage of driver ICs for thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT-LCDs). Against the background of an increasingly severe undersupply of TFT-LCD driver ICs, Taiwan's second-largest wafer foundry conglomerate began to expand its production capacity early this year. At present only NEC Corp. and UMC have the cutting-edge technologies to produce 8-inch wafer ICs. UMC makes driver ICs at its 8B plant, with an input of just under 3,000 wafers initially, rising to 7,000 by the end of 2000. As its 8-inch wafer IC production volume is nearly 80 percent higher than its production of ICs using 6-inch wafers, the shortage of first-tier ICs should be significantly relieved in the second half of the year. The wafer foundry powerhouse is also continuing to run its 6.2-inch fabs, said Peter Chang, chief executive officer of UMC, and expects its whole-year production volume of driver ICs to be five times as high as production recorded early this year. In volume terms, this will make UMC Taiwan a top driver IC producer. Chang added that in the near future, his company would work to produce a higher volume of components using the more sophisticated 0.25-micron and finer technologies, in a bid to sharpen its competitive edge. Related story: Taiwan's Semiconductor Manufacturers Respond to Drive IC Shortage (Commercial Times, Taiwan)

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (35567)	6/30/2000 9:05:12 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

UMC Helps Fill Up Driver IC Supply Gap June 30, 2000 (TAIPEI) -- United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) has begun large-scale production of driver ICs using 8-inch wafers and 0.35-micron technology. This is a bid to ease the current shortage of driver ICs for thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT-LCDs). Against the background of an increasingly severe undersupply of TFT-LCD driver ICs, Taiwan's second-largest wafer foundry conglomerate began to expand its production capacity early this year. At present only NEC Corp. and UMC have the cutting-edge technologies to produce 8-inch wafer ICs. UMC makes driver ICs at its 8B plant, with an input of just under 3,000 wafers initially, rising to 7,000 by the end of 2000. As its 8-inch wafer IC production volume is nearly 80 percent higher than its production of ICs using 6-inch wafers, the shortage of first-tier ICs should be significantly relieved in the second half of the year. The wafer foundry powerhouse is also continuing to run its 6.2-inch fabs, said Peter Chang, chief executive officer of UMC, and expects its whole-year production volume of driver ICs to be five times as high as production recorded early this year. In volume terms, this will make UMC Taiwan a top driver IC producer. Chang added that in the near future, his company would work to produce a higher volume of components using the more sophisticated 0.25-micron and finer technologies, in a bid to sharpen its competitive edge. Related story: Taiwan's Semiconductor Manufacturers Respond to Drive IC Shortage (Commercial Times, Taiwan)