Online information source for semiconductor professionals

Texas Instruments (TI) has submitted a bid for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from Qimonda's factory in Virginia as Qimonda is currently going through bankruptcy proceedings, its assets liquidated. TI and Qimonda have submitted their agreement to the bankruptcy court, which must still approve the bid agreement. Read more >>

One of four facilities owned by Spansion for final manufacturing has been sold to Powertech Technology for approximately US$31 million. The Suzhou, China facility opened in 1998 and employs 565 workers. Spansion said the sale was in-line with plans to operate more variable, outsourced manufacturing model as it continues to reduce costs as part of its restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. PTI will provide final manufacturing services to Spansion. Read more >>

Moving from a fab-lite to a fabless business will take Integrated Device Technology (IDT) approximately two-years to complete as it plans to shift its product processes and geometries to TSMC. IDT intends plans to shutter its fab Hillsboro, Oregon and engage a third party to market the facility as a fully equipped going concern. Read more >>

UMC saw fab utilizations rates rocket in the second quarter of 2009, surpassing previous projections for the quarter. Fab utilization rates had plummeted to 30% in Q109, in response to weak demand and problems with IC inventory with customers. However, inventory restocking in ‘Q2 resulted in utilization rates reaching 79% up from an expected 75% utilization rate. UMC also guided that rates would climb further in Q309, reaching 85%. UMC said that spending would be raised to US$500 million with 82% of the budget specifically used for expanding 45/40nm and 65/55nm production and to acquire the R&D equipment for 28nm node development. Read more >>

Complying with the original stipulations set-out by New York State for being eligible for US$1.2 billion worth of financial incentives, Globalfoundries has started construction of Fab 2 at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County, New York. The incentives, originally attributed to AMD would have required renegotiation if the US$4.2 billion project had not started in July, 2009. Read more >>

Chartered Semiconductor saw capacity utilization in second quarter of 2009 rebound to 60%, compared 38% in first quarter 2009. Customers in the communications sector had driven the growth in wafer starts, though all sectors saw growth, according to the company. Overall fab utilization is expected to reach 70% in the third quarter and leading-edge capacity has become increasingly tight. Read more >>

SEMI announced that Nano Green Technology is the recipient of the 2009 SEMI Best of West award, in recognition of the CCS-1000 Critical Cleaning System. This product, unveiled at SEMICON 2009, combines deionised water and ammonia gas to form "coherent" water, a renewable and environmentally friendly cleaning process solution. Read more >>

The shift to a foundry model goes deeper than a new name and logo, according to AMD spin-off Globalfoundries. With official groundbreaking at Fab2 in NY State expected to take place later this week, the new 300mm manufacturing facility has been redesigned since the announced spin-off to increase its capacity and improve tool layout that is both more cost effective and better suited to foundry operations, according to Thomas Sonderman, VP, Manufacturing Systems and Technology at Globalfoundries. Read more >>

Macquarie Electronics has been selected to sell core equipment from Qimonda’s 300mm fab in Dresden Germany, according to an EETimes report. The semiconductor equipment reseller and lease specialist, part of Macquarie bank is to offer selected mainstream tools for sale from Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor, Tokyo Electron, and ASML, the report says. Read more >>

Still in spreadsheet preservation mode after 10 sequential quarters of financial losses, Micron Technology has said that it will maintain capital spending at 2008 levels during its next financial year, which starts next quarter. According to Micron’s CFO, Ronald Foster in a scheduled quarterly conference call to discuss FY3Q09 results, CapEx would be in the range of US$650 million and US$700 million. Spending so far in its current financial year has reached US$566 million, with US$93 million spent in the last quarter. Read more >>