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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (49139)	7/12/2001 10:00:49 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

NEC aims to make 0.10 micron chips by early 2003 TOKYO (Reuters) - NEC Corp on Wednesday unveiled technology for next-generation 0.10 micron chips that it aims to have ready by early 2003 for use in goods from supercomputers to mobile phones. NEC said design rules for most of the transistors in the large-scale integration (LSI) chips would be set jointly with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker. It is two companies' closest cooperation to date in chip technology. ``If we can have it ready in the first quarter of 2003, I think we'll be in the top group globally,'' said Osamu Kudo, an NEC general manager for device development. ``There's not much difference between standard devices. The competition is only in terms of speed,'' he told Reuters after a news conference. ``Getting out ultra-high speed or low-power products depends on process technology.'' The world's leading chipmakers, currently shifting their cutting-edge processes to 0.13 micron rules from 0.18 micron, or millionth of a metre, are racing to breach technological barriers still blocking the next step to 0.10 micron. EVER SMALLER SLICES The semiconductor sector's relentless march to ever-finer circuitry has enabled a steady stream of cheaper, faster chips, but the daunting costs of the advance are forcing many big manufacturers to join forces. Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest chipmaker, and Sony Corp announced plans in May for a joint development project to March 2004 to develop 0.10 and 0.07 micron process and design technologies for LSI chips. In March, Toshiba, Sony Computer Entertainment, a Sony unit that makes PlayStation game machines, and International Business Machines Corp said they would jointly develop a processor based on 0.10 micron process technology that IBM was scheduled to move to commercial production in early 2003. NEC officials said the collaboration with TSMC, which already supplies chips to the Japanese company on a contract basis, would be limited to designs for standard or high-speed transistors in LSI chips for digital consumer electronics and other high-volume products. NEC will keep to itself, however, the particularly high-value added items: ultra-high speed transistors for supercomputers or sophisticated game graphics, and low-power transistors for mobile devices such as third-generation mobile phones. Kudo said the company had no other alliances in 0.10 micron technology, although a dozen Japanese and South Korean chipmakers have formed an industry consortium to develop even narrower rules of 0.07 to 0.05 micron. NEC's shares ended 3.9 percent lower on Thursday at 1,528 yen, hit by a slide across-the-board in Japanese technology shares, but managed to hold above a two-year low of 1,509 hit on Monday.