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Soitec sees both 200mm and 300mm SOI wafer demand increase |
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Apr 19, 2006 at 02:55 PM |
 Soitec has reported that it is experiencing strong demand for SOI wafers being used at the 90nm node for both 200mm wafer size as well as the 300mm wafer size. Demand has also started for 300mm wafers used for 65nm processes, according to the company.
300mm wafer sales increased 256 percent over the previous year, reaching 60 percent of total wafer sales. 200mm wafer sales grew by 12.5 percent in 2005 compared to 2004 figures. Key demand as expected comes from AMD, IBM and Chartered Semiconductor. Next generation gaming consoles were cited as growth drivers in the last quarter, which refers to both IBM and Chartered. Full-year total sales reached 262.8 million Euros, a year-on- year growth of 89.2%, which is a new record for the company. The company is now forecasting that sales should reach 400 million Euros in the 2006 financial year, nearly a further 60 percent rise in sales. To support the growth projections, Soitec plans to construct a new 300mm SOI wafer plant at a cost of 350 million Euros that will be timed to come on stream in line with the expected full utilization of Bernin II. The size of the planned fab will allow for a capacity of 1 million wafer starts per year when fully equipped, in comparison to 720,000 wafer starts per year for Bernin II. The company has yet to announce where the new fab will be built.
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