
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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