April 11, 2006 – Wafer fab Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Kulim, Malaysia, has increased production capacity by 20% to 33,500 wafer starts/month. Some of the capacity is dedicated to 0.13-micron copper processes, with the rest for 0.18-0.16-micron processes.

Silterra is currently in the middle of an expansion plan to achieve 40,000 wafer starts/month by the end of this year. The company stated that most of its future fab expansion would be for 0.13-micron copper metallization capacity, targeting volume production later this year.

Even with the added capacity, the foundry’s utilization rates remains over 95%, according to Silterra CEO Bruce Gray. The company expects the expanded 0.13-capacity, and a ramp to volume production of its 0.16-micron process, a 15%-18% area shrink of its 0.18-micron design, will generate business “considerably above that of 2005,” he stated.