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Semiconductor foundries heading for capacity crunch, says IC Insights |
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Aug 07, 2007 at 09:58 AM |
 IC foundry customers have been strongly encouraged by market research firm IC Insights to start securing their wafer capacity requirements for 4Q07 and 2008 as utilization rates at TSMC, UMC, Chartered and SMIC are expected to reach 95 percent by the end of the year!
TSMC is forecast to jump from a capacity utilization rate of 83 percent in 1Q07 to 100 percent in 4Q07. UMC, the second largest pure-play foundry, is going from a capacity utilization rate of only 70 percent in 1Q07 to an expected 4Q07 utilization rate of 95 percent, according to IC Insights.
Overall, the major foundries are forecast to go from operating, in total, at a capacity utilization rate of only 78.5 percent in 1Q07 to 97.5 percent in 4Q07!
SMIC's CapEx for 2007 is only US$720 million while UMC's is around US$1 billion, while Chartered's is in between the others. With growth expected to be good in 2008, a capacity crunch at the leading foundries is being highlighted.
IC Insights believes the ‘Big 4' foundries will need to be among the leaders in capital spending increases in 2008.
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