 Inotera Memories is on track to set one of the fastest 300mm fab ramp rate records this year at its new 300mm DRAM facility, Fab-2. The Taiwan memory manufacturer previously achieved one of the fastest 300mm fab ramps with its first 300mm fab, achieving an average monthly ramp rate of approximately 3,000wspm over a 24 month period to reach full capacity of over 60,000wspm from initial production start-up.
With volume production started at Fab-2 at the end of 2006, Inotera is now claiming that the combined capacity of Fab-1 & 2 will reach 120,000wspm by the end of the third quarter 2007 rather than by year-end. Fab-1 is estimated to be able to handle approximately 70,000wspm, which indicates strongly that Fab-2 will reach approximately 50,000wspm by that time and a monthly ramp rate of over 5,500 wafers per month. According to Semiconductor Fabtech's own quarterly ‘300mm activity report' this new ramp-rate level is a new industry record for sustained capacity ramping of any 300mm fab to date. The ramp at Fab-2 based on a 12 month comparison with the previous ramp at Fab-1 is almost double that achieved at Fab-1. Inotera is aggressively ramping to counter balance the steep decline in DRAM ASP's put at nearly 50 percent quarter-on-quarter as well as migrate to smaller features sizes to boost bit shipments and remain profitable, which it did. The fast ramp of Fab-2 has meant that Inotera has been seen sequential wafer shipment growth reached 35 percent and bit shipments increased by 40 percent in the second quarter. The company also expects its bit shipments to increase in the range of 10 percent and 20 percent for the third quarter that would see bit shipments growth of nearly 100 percent for the year, up from the previous guidance of 80 percent! Inotera is fueling the increased ability to ramp with good yields by increasing its capital spending budget for 2007 by NTD 11.4 billion. Previously, Inotera had planned to allocate approximately $1.2 billion spending for Fab-2 through the first-half of 2007.
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