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Continued strong demand for semiconductors is fuelling a continued increase in capital expenditure plans in 2010. According to Gartner, manufacturing capacity has increased from 5% to 6%, year-over-year in the second quarter, compared to its previous figures for the first quarter. Key IC manufacturers spending the most during the last three months include Globalfoundries, Samsung, Toshiba and, most recently, TSMC. Samsung tops the CapEx spenders for 2010, followed by Intel and TSMC, after several major revisions to its plans for 2010. Read more >>

In a renewed effort to add capacity ahead of the curve and return to historical capital spending patterns, TSMC has held a groundbreaking ceremony in Taichung’s Central Taiwan Science Park for its latest 300mm facility, Fab 15. The fab will be comprised of two manufacturing cleanrooms and an office building having a capacity of over 100,000wspm when fully ramped. Construction is expected to take approximately 10 months. TSMC said it expected to begin equipment move in for Phase 1 in June 2011, with volume production of 40nm and 28nm technology products for customers in the first quarter of 2012. The fully ramped cost of the facility was said to be US$9.34 billion. Read more >>

Following-on from its 300mm equipment purchases from bankrupt Qimonda, Texas Instruments has snagged 2 fabs in Japan from insolvent, Spansion Japan, including 300mm fab equipment. The financial details were not disclosed. TI plans to ship the 300mm equipment, which was capable of 65nm production and below to it’s recently opened 300mm RFAB and will support capacity expansion under TI’s Phase II plan. Read more >>

Toshiba and SanDisk are once again teaming to operate another 300mm mega-fab at Toshiba’s Yokkaichi Operations in in Mie Prefecture, Japan with the start of construction of delayed Fab 5, NAND flash facility. The fab will be constructed in two phases, with the pace of investment reflecting market trends. On completion of its second phase, Fab 5 will be comparable to Fab 4, with a ground area of some 38,000m2. Fab 4 has an estimated capacity of over 210,000wspm. Construction work is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011. Read more >>

A five-year contract to service all Applied Materials chip production equipment at NXP Semiconductor’s facility in Nijmegen, Holland has been signed with the equipment company. Through its Applied Performance Service program, over 70 Applied Materials systems at NXP’s 8-inch wafer facility will be covered by the new contract. Applied will also hire NXP engineers to become members of Applied’s on-site service team. Read more >>

Five finalists have been listed for this year's SEMICON West, Sustainable Technologies Award, which includes Applied Materials, Edwards, Pall, Tokyo Electron and Verigy. The annual award recognizes equipment, materials or services that have been introduced to the marketplace in the last three years that can contribute to sustainable improvement of the environment. Read more >>

Anticipated demand for leading-edge foundry processing has pushed Globalfoundries to immediately start construction of a new 300mm fab at its complex in Dresden, Germany. Part of its Fab 1 cluster, the facility will the largest in Europe with a capacity of 80,000wspm (wafer starts per month), employing an 110,000 square foot cleanroom. First wafers out are expected in 2011 and will capable of processing at the 45/40/28nm technology nodes as well as initial 22nm development.  Read more >>

Following in the footsteps of Komatsu Group, which successfully sold a redundant semiconductor wafer fab to SolarWorld, SUMCO Phoenix is now offering its wafer fab facility near Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A to the solar industry.  The 70,000 square foot cleanroom (Class 100) is housed in a 200,000 square foot building on a 100 acre site that can accommodate future growth. ATREG, a division of Colliers International has won the contract to sell the facility on behalf of SUMCO. Read more >>

ABB is acquiring a Czech power semiconductor firm, Polovodiče for an undisclosed sum to boost its power semiconductor production, due to the short supply and strong demand for power switching devices used in inverters. ABB is already spending US$150 million over three years to expand its semiconductor plant in Lenzburg, Switzerland. Polovodiče has been making power semiconductors since the mid-1950s and had revenues in the low double-digit millions of US dollars, according to ABB. Read more >>

TSMC has started its ‘green energy’ manufacturing initiative in earnest with the groundbreaking ceremony for its first LED lighting fab and R&D centre in Hsinchu Science Park at an initial first phase cost of US$175 million. TSMC said that equipment tool install was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2010 with volume production in the first quarter of 2011. The second phase of the capacity expansion would be decided later on market demand criteria, the company said.
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