World News
05/01/2006
BUSINESS TRENDS
Analysts: Chipmaker spending to increase 10% this year
Several industry analysts who had projected little or no increase in semiconductor industry capital spending in 2006 have changed their tune, thanks to continued strong chip demand early in the year, high utilization rates, and several investments announced by chipmakers.
Earlier this year, Gartner Inc. hiked its capex projections from flat in 2006 to 10% growth, and adjusted its chip sales outlook slightly upward as well. Now, IC Insights also sees a 10% increase in capital spending in 2006 to $50.4 billion, second only to the $60.3 billion spent in the boom year of 2000. Paired with the firm’s 8% chip sales forecast, the capex/sales ratio will rise just a fraction to 20.4% this year-vs. a high of 32% in 1995 and 30% in 2000, previous periods of severe overcapacity buildups.
 Worldwide semiconductor industry capital spending trends. (Source: IC Insights) |
IC Insights predicts there won’t be an excessive amount of overall capacity this year, but individual segments such as flash memory could run into problems, as aggressive capacity investments from new entrants (e.g., Intel/Micron JV IM Flash) and existing players (e.g., Samsung and Toshiba/SanDisk) could overshoot demand late this year or early 2007.
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
USA
NEC Electronics America Inc. is expanding capabilities at its fab in Roseville, CA, to include 0.15µm process technologies on 200mm wafers, in answer to demand for devices used in automotive and consumer applications. Production of 150mm wafers using 0.25-0.35µm process technologies will be transitioned over to the new setup.
ZiLog Inc., San Jose, CA, has sold a 200mm fab and 19 acres of land in Nampa, ID, former assets of its Mod III subsidiary, to Micron Technology Inc. for $5 million. Micron aims to invest in facility improvements, as well as increase staff, in order to bring the site online by year’s end.
Inspection equipment providers Rudolph Technologies Inc., Flanders, NJ, and August Technology Corp. officially completed their merger on Feb. 15. The new corporate entity will keep Rudolph’s name, with a combined workforce of over 550 employees worldwide, and US operations in MN, MA, and TX.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Santa Clara, CA, has agreed to acquire the printer semiconductor business of Avago Technologies, the former chip business of Agilent Technologies, for $240 million in cash, plus $35 million in incentives.
ASIAFOCUS
Tokai Rika Co. plans to build a new fab to eventually quadruple its output of semiconductors for the automotive market, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The 5 billion yen (about US $42.8 million) f`cility, built at the company’s complex in Aichi Prefecture, would produce up to 2 million units/month by 2010 for applications such as in-vehicle LANs and high-frequency devices for anti-theft systems.
Amkor Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ, is adding wafer-bumping operations to its existing test operations in Singapore, using “copy-exact” processes currently used in bumping operations by its Unitive subsidiary in Taiwan. The site will begin offering 300mm/90-65nm wafer bump and probe services in 2H06.
ASAT Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-based provider of semiconductor package design, assembly, and test services, was expected to transfer substantially all of its manufacturing operations to its new 560,000 sq. ft facility in Dongguan, China, by the end of April.
Advanced Process Semiconductor Foundry Planning Co., the planning company set up by Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp., and Renesas Technology Corp. to evaluate the feasibility of a joint fab operation, expects to start production by the end of 2007, with target output of 10,000 300mm wafers/month, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
EUROFOCUS
ASML Holding NV, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, is switching to a continuous 24/7 production schedule to expand manufacturing capabilities and provide more flexibility for working through market cycles.
Semefab is establishing a new design and development center for nanotechnology in its Glenrothes, Fife, operation, under a GBP 15 million (US $26.2 million) project jointly funded by the Scottish Enterprise and the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry.
Europe’s Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) has chosen Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials’ 193nm photoresist, optimized for immersion contact hole imaging, as a Process of Record and a baseline material for its 65nm immersion lithography process efforts.