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To: robert b furman who wrote (7699)	10/23/2003 10:32:34 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Intel chip gear aims to detect disease By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com news.com.com Story last modified October 22, 2003, 9:00 PM PDT Can equipment that's used to make semiconductors help detect the early stages of cancer? Intel and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are going to try to find out. The chipmaker will construct a device, called a Raman Bioanalyzer System, at the Seattle-based research organization that will be able, ideally, to detect chemical anomalies in individual cells, which in turn could be used to flag diseases in their early stages. Raman spectroscopy is used to analyze the chemical composition of chips during the fabrication process. When a laser beam is directed toward a chip or a region of a chip, the molecules in the light beam become stimulated and emit a specific spectrum of light, which the Raman spectrometer picks up. Because every molecule emits a different spectrum, the molecules can be identified. "The instrument beams lasers onto tiny medical samples, such as blood serum, to create images that reveal the chemical structure of molecules," Andrew Berlin, lead researcher of Intel's Precision Biology program, said in a statement. "The goal is to determine if this technology, previously used to detect microscopic imperfections on silicon chips, can also detect subtle traces of disease." Although Raman spectroscopy has been around for a while, it hasn't been used in this context, according to Berlin, because the fields of semiconductor manufacturing and biological research haven't interacted extensively until recently. Life sciences has become a key area of growth for high-tech companies. Breakthroughs such as the mapping of the human genome have opened up new horizons in drug discovery and health care. Technologies such as server clustering and BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool), a complex application for protein analysis, have evolved to help scientists get a better grip on the mushrooming quantities of biomedical data they must analyze. Biosciences organizations will spend an estimated $30 billion on technology-related purchases in 2006, up from $12 billion in 2001, according to research firm IDC. The rising cost of health care, along with new legislative initiatives such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, are prompting hospitals and others to try to automate more of their systems. Intel, for instance, is working on a program to develop computer systems that will help monitor the behavior of Alzheimer's patients. IBM and Hewlett-Packard also are concentrating intently on this market. A formal announcement of the initiative will take place later at the BioSilico Seminar at Stanford University. The university also is opening the James H. Clark Center for interdisciplinary scientific study.

To: robert b furman who wrote (7699)	10/23/2003 1:05:24 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Analyst's Couch: China's 200-mm wafer fab explosion By Peter Clarke Silicon Strategies 10/23/2003, 6:36 AM ET LONDON -- With Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Company set to be the fifth provider of foundry manufacturing services on 200-mm diameter wafers to come on stream in mainland China, and many other plans brewing, the sector is set to struggle for at least two years, according to Nancy Dang, an analyst with market research firm iSuppli. Dang lists Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics (HHNEC), Motorola China Electronics, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Hejian Technology of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province as already being in manufacture on 200-mm wafers. The most advanced manufacturing process technologies that these fabs are capable of range from 0.25-micron down to 0.15-micron, according to Dang. With GSMC's plans to ramp production to 10,000 wafers per month by the end of the year (and to 27,000 wafers per month by the third quarter of 2004) these companies could be capable of producing 100,000 wafers by the end of 2003, Dang said. In addition Dang identifies Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ASMC), due to start in the first quarter of 2004, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comapany Ltd. (TSMC), due to start by the end of 2004, plus the New Belling unit of Hua Hong Group, and Taiwan-based ProMOS as expected to start manufacturing on 200-mm wafers in 2004. Encouraged by apparent booming demand within China, Dang thinks even more off-shore and indigenous companies will be tempted to throw up 200-mm wafer fabs in mainland China, but they will do so at their peril, she warns. Dang identifies two companies that she thinks will be able to sail through the resulting oversupply situation; Hejian and TSMC. Dang gives four reasons the others will struggle. First: 200-mm wafer fab set-up costs are no different in China to anywhere else in the world. It is only in the long-term running of a Chinese fab that manufacturers can expect to show a benefit through reduced labor costs Second: China's local demand for leading-edge or near leading-edge ICs is insufficient to keep the fabs loaded and so they will depend on sales outside China, which requires far-reaching sales and marketing. Third: the supply of spare parts and materials into CHina fabs are likely to impact adversely delivery schedules and are higher cost than outside China. Fourth and probably most important: although money can expand the number of wafer fabs relatively quickly it cannot expand the number of experienced wafer fab engineers and IC management teams at the same rate. These teams have to learn by doing, and so there is a relatively slow rate at which the number of capable engineers can be increased. Dang believes that this lack of seasoned engineers is likely to hamper the expansion of Chinese 200-mm manufacturing. It will be compounded by the opening of 300-mm wafers being built specifically to service western demand, and the opening of 150-mm wafers fabs that may be better suited to servicing the Chinese market. Dang does not give a reason why Hejian and TSMC should be exempt from these pressures, but foundry giant TSMC is certainly large enough to move load between mainland China and Taiwan to optimize its costs.