TOKYO — Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will build a new semiconductor facility that will feature advanced technology compatible with 12-inch wafers. The company has later plans to introduce cleanroom facilities.

Construction on the new facility, to be located in Koochi Prefecture, will be begin during the second half of 2001. The company said it plans to erect the plant and assess trends in chip demand and the market before deciding when to introduce cleanrooms and mass production facilities.

The project is expected to cost approximately 200 billion yen, or $1.7 billion US. Mitsubishi has asked Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Matsushita Electronics Corp., which it works with in the development of system chip architecture, to assume some of that burden. The first phase of the project is expected to cost approximately 10 billion yen, or $86 million US.

Mitsubishi officials hope the new facility will eventually be able to produce the equivalent of 25,000 to 30,000 12-inch wafers per month. In 2003, it is expected to begin mass-producing flash memory and cutting-edge system chips for digital appliances.

–Jeff VanPelt