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To: Math Junkie who wrote (29143)	3/22/1999 4:35:00 PM
From: Henry Eichorszt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Mosel-Vitelic considers Canadian fab A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 3:15 p.m. EST/12:15 p.m. PST, 3/22/99 By Sandy Chen and Mark LaPedus TAIPEI (ChipWire/EBN)-- In the latest sign that Taiwan's new science park remains in trouble, Mosel-Vitelic Inc. is evaluating the possibility of building its first offshore wafer fab in Canada. Hsinchu-based Mosel-Vitelic, one of Taiwan's largest memory makers, is looking at building a costly, 300-mm wafer-processing plant in several Canadian locations, including Montreal, Vancouver, among other sites. A final decision has not been reached about building a fab in Canada, however, a company spokesman said. "Nothing is certain yet," added the company spokesman. "Everything is still under evaluation." Analysts expressed skepticism about the possibility that Mosel-Vitelic would decide to build a plant in Canada, which some noted had higher labor costs than Taiwan. Should Mosel-Vitelic put its 300-mm fab in Canada, however, the action could be the latest in a series of setbacks for the island's troubled science park in the southern city of Tainan. Starting in the mid- to late-1990s, local chip makers began to run out of room to build new fabs in Hsinchu, the center of the island's semiconductor industry. In response, the Taiwan government began to develop a new science park in Tainan in order to prevent the island's chip makers from moving their plants (and investments) offshore. But the Tainan park has experienced a serious problems in recent times. The site itself is located in the middle of a swamp, presenting some major water drainage problems and other nagging issues for chip makers. Not surprisingly, local chip makers have delayed their plans in building fabs in Tainan, including Mosel-Vitelic, which two years ago announced plans to build a 300-mm plant in that location.. Other local IC vendors--including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC)--are instead putting their capital expenditures in their new offshore fab sites. TSMC continues to expand its capacity at WaferTech, a Camus, Wash.-based joint foundry venture between the Taiwan company, Altera, Analog Devices, and others U.S. chip makers. And this spring, TSMC and Philips will break ground on a new foundry venture in Singapore. Not to be outdone, TSMC's foundry rival, UMC, last year bought an 8-inch fab in Japan from Nippon Steel Semiconductor Corp. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All material on this site Copyright © 1999 CMP Media Inc. All rights reserved.