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To: BillyG who wrote (17439)	5/12/1998 11:47:00 AM
From: Paul Dieterich	Respond to of 25960

SGS invests now to produce .13 by 2003: SGS-Thomson Plans 300-Millimeter Pilot In France (05/12/98; 10:19 a.m. ET) By Staff, Semiconductor Business News SGS-Thomson Microelectronics unveiled plans Monday to create a new 300-millimeter wafer research fab and pilot line at its Crolles, France, facility, located near Grenoble. In addition, the St. Genis, France, company said it plans to create a new advanced research center for non-volatile technologies for stand-alone and embedded memory application in Agrate, Italy, near Milan. With the move to create a 300-mm development fab, SGS-Thomson (company profile) joins a growing list of chip makers preparing for the huge transition to next-generation 12-inch wafers. Most industry managers and analysts said they believe the ramp up of 300-mm wafer production will begin around 2003, but companies are now beginning to nail down plans for their first pilot lines, albeit a year or two later than expected 12 months ago. The new center, Crolles 2, will house the R&D and a pilot line for 300-mm CMOS and BiCMOS processes, according to SGS-Thomson, which said it estimates the project will cost $500 million. The construction of the center will begin in 1999 with the first 300-mm wafers being processed in 2000, depending upon the availability of 12-inch tools, the company said. In addition to the 300-mm development activities, SGS-Thomson said it will accelerate its research activities in Agrate to speed the launch of four new non-volatile memory technology generation in the next five years. The budget for the new Agrate center, R2, is also $500 million. The new center will include a new class "0" cleanroom and 200-mm equipment, which will have the capability to process device feature sizes down to 0.13-micron by 2003, according to SGS-Thomson.