May 30, 2007 – The Fab Owners Association (FOA), a collection of an association of mainly second-tier semiconductor manufacturers, has expanded its roster with the addition of three chipmakers: Austriamicrosystems AG (analog), Avago Technologies (analog+mixed-signal, opto), and X-Fab (mixed-signal foundry). The FOA also has added National Grid, an economic development group for upstate New York, to its membership.

The three chipmaker additions expand the FOA’s global membership base as well as the range of technologies provided, noted L.T. Guttadauro, FOA executive director, in a statement. The addition of X-Fab is notable — the German firm ranked 10th in global foundry revenues by Gartner Dataquest (helped by its 2006 merger with Malaysia’s 1st Silicon), and recently padded its business by acquiring ZMD AG’s ZFoundry wafer production facilities, which it plans to upgrade from 150mm to 200mm capabilities.

Including its three newest members, the FOA’s device maker membership represents approximately 1.1 million wafer starts/month (200mm-equivalent) and over $27 billion in annual revenue, with more than 60 semiconductor and MEMS manufacturing fabs worldwide. Device maker members include AMI Semiconductor, Cypress Semiconductor, Delphi Microelectronics Center, Fairchild Semiconductor, Freescale Semiconductor, International Rectifier, Intersil, Jazz Semiconductor, MagnaChip Semiconductor, Micrel Semiconductor, Microchip Technology, NXP, ON Semiconductor, Skyworks Solutions, Spansion, and ZMD AG.

Major FOA efforts include exploring manufacturing efficiencies through such efforts as collaborative purchasing efficiencies, an online member to member marketplace for surplus used manufacturing equipment (launched earlier this year), and collaboration on solving common manufacturing problems.