World News
12/01/2007
BUSINESS TRENDS
Analyst: Double-digit IC unit growth marches on; ASPs now key
Strong shipments of memory devices and automotive-related analog ICs are the main reasons why IC unit shipments will grow by double digits in 2007 (10%), continuing an “unprecedented” streak of six straight solid years of growth, according to data from IC Insights Inc.
 Only three times since 1978 has the industry enjoyed 3+ years of double-digit annual growth in IC unit volumes. (Source: IC Insights) |
Since 2002 IC unit shipments have grown by 10%−18% each year (see figure), and will grow another 10% in 2007, thanks to strong shipments of DRAM (49% growth) and NAND flash memory (38%), as well as data conversion devices (58%) and automotive-related analog ICs (32%), the firm notes. Only twice in the past three decades has the industry even seen three consecutive years of double digit growth: 1982−1984 and 1986−1988. Both periods were followed by significant dropoffs in IC unit growth.
But this time, things are different. “Average annual unit growth of 10% seems to be a ‘lock’,” the firm writes in a report, and it sees “a very good chance” that at least 10% annual growth will continue over the next 5−10 years, due to new and evolving applications in communications (cell phones) and consumer electronic systems (digital TVs, handheld computing, music, gaming devices, etc.), and surging IC demand from emerging regional markets.
Such reliably sustained expansion is “good news” for IC suppliers, who can count on running near or at full capacity, the firm notes. But it also means that there will be continued pressure on IC average selling prices (ASP), which will increasingly influence future IC market growth-e.g., a ±5% change in ASPs could push market growth to +5% or +15%, the firm notes.
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
Air Products and Matheson Tri-Gas Inc. plan to jointly build and operate a liquid helium production plant near Big Piney, WY, processing crude helium produced as a byproduct at a local natural gas processing facility owned by Cimarex Energy Co. and Riley Ridge LLC. The operation, slated to start production in 2009 with 200M standard cu. ft. (~5.7M m3) annually, is believed to contain enough helium “to support production for decades,” according to the companies. Matheson parent company Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. will invest ¥5−10B (~US$42−$86M) in the project in exchange for rights to half of the projected output (about 3M ft3/year); of which 1.2M m3 will be shipped to Japan, notes the Nikkei daily.
Spansion and Chinese foundry SMIC are partnering to delve further into NOR flash, in a deal that utilizes SMIC’s 65nm foundry work for Spansion’s MirrorBit technologies, and extend into “selected segments” of flash memory to sell 90nm and 65nm and beyond MirrorBit Quad products in China.
Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc. and Taiwan foundry UMC have agreed to jointly develop a copper low-k backend process for both advanced DRAM and phase-change random access memory (PRAM). Under the deal, UMC will license Elpida’s copper low-k technology for Elpida’s production, and UMC will be authorized to offer DRAM as part of its advanced system-on-chip solutions. The two also will cooperate on development of PRAM technology, combining Elpida’s expertise in GST materials (Ge, St, Te) with UMC’s expertise in high-performance CMOS logic.
USA
Intel said it has begun 45nm production this week at its new $3B Fab 32 300mm site in Chandler, AZ. Shipments of the 45nm chips, which utilize hafnium-based high-k dielectric as the gate insulator and two different metals as the gate electrodes, were to commence on Nov. 12. Intel’s sixth 300mm site, Fab 32 is the second site to ramp 45nm manufacturing after the company’s D1D site in Oregon.
To increase its manufacturing capacity for products used in handsets and analog devices, Skyworks Solutions says it has started converting its gallium arsenide heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) fab in Newbury Park, CA, from 4-in. to 6-in. wafers, and is expanding its work with Taiwan foundry partners.
Microchip Technology says it has sold its idle Fab 3 facility in Puyallup, WA, for $30M following an unsolicited offer received in September, taking a $16.5M loss on the sale. The company acquired the site in July 2000, intending it to be a 200mm facility utilizing 0.7 and 0.5-micron process technologies, but “deteriorating business conditions” delayed the intended production startup and the site was never ramped.
Weeks after selling its photoresist developer line to Fujifilm, Air Products has sold its high-purity process chemicals (HPPC) unit to Houston-based KMG Chemicals, including a production facility and warehouse in Pueblo, Colorado, and assets in San Giuliano Milanese, Italy. The HPPC unit, part of Air Products’ 2003 purchase of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company’s electronic chemicals business, amounted to ~1% of the company’s total sales in the past 12 months.
ASIAFOCUS
STMicroelectronics has begun construction at a new packaging/test facility in Longgang, Guangdong Province, China. Plans call for 20,000m2 of manufacturing space to be ready by Sept. 2008, followed by equipment move-in during 4Q08. Eventually that size will double to 40,000m2, at an undetermined time. The site is expected to produce >800M units in its first year of operation, scalable to >10B units/year at full ramp-up (~20% of ST’s current total backend production), primarily focusing on assembly and test for power conversion devices.
Samsung Electronics reportedly has acquired TransChip Israel, an Israel-based CMOS image sensor firm. No financial terms were provided, though the Korea Economic Daily and the Associated Press pegged the pricetag at $70M. Samsung has already turned TransChip into its 17th global R&D development center, with about 60 staff, noted the Chosun Ilbo.
Singapore’s Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. (SSMC), a JV between NXP Semiconductors and TSMC, plans to invest $44.8M over the next four years to establish a R&D center to focus on development of specialized manufacturing process, initially targeting the e-government solutions, automotive, near-field communication, and RF markets.
Air Products and its Taiwan subsidiary Air Products San Fu Co. have agreed to supply nitrogen and bulk gases for Taiwan DRAM producer Rexchip Semiconductor Corp., the Powerchip-Elpida memory JV. Air Products will build and operate two nitrogen air separation plants at Rexchip’s two 300mm fabs (R1 and R2) in the Central Taiwan Science Park in Houli, Taichung.
After two years of legal battles, a district court in Hsinchu, Taiwan, has ruled that three former execs of foundry UMC broke no laws in their roles helping to set up Chinese chip company He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co. (Taiwanese prosecutors had been pushing for jail time, even though a lower court this summer threw out fines.) An Associated Press report noted that since UMC’s activities came under scrutiny, Taiwanese investments in China have surpassed $100B.
SAFC Hitech, part of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, says it has signed a MOU with Korea’s Gyeonggi Province to “explore investment opportunities” with the goal of building a facility in the province to supply and manufacture electronic materials.
Japan Air Gases, a unit of Air Liquide, plans to spend ~€15M (US ~$21.7M) to build a new electronics material center in the Harima Science Park in Ako, Hyogo (northwest of Osaka), complementing two other such centers in Tsukuba and Ina. The new site, to be operational sometime next year, will focus on silane bundle transfilling and other high-value molecules, with capacity for further expansion.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it has developed a 64Gb multilevel cell NAND flash memory chip using 30nm process technology, built using double-patterning lithography, with commercial chips ready in about a year.
Making official what had been reported for weeks, Sony and Toshiba have announced an agreement to transfer Sony’s Cell microprocessor production lines to Toshiba under a new joint venture, reportedly at a price approaching ¥100B (about US $870M).
Days after reportedly picking a winning bidder for its semiconductor business auction, Sanyo Electric Co. has changed its mind and will keep the unit after all, blaming difficulties by its suitor to raise money from investors due to the US subprime mortgage woes. The company now says it will retain and expand the business “as a key operation in its component and device division” of its parent group.
EUROFOCUS
A new public/private R&D initiative will replace the MEDEA+ program for European cooperative R&D in microelectronics, which is set to expire in 2008 after seven years of watching over three generations of CMOS technology and work on fields ranging from smart cards, image sensors, and automotive electronics. Unlike predecessors JESSI, MEDEA, and MEDEA+, which split programs into technology and applications subprograms, CATRENE (Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics), a 4-8 year program requiring about €6B/year (US $8.65B), will emphasize convergence, focusing on large identified application markets from which required technologies will be derived.
AMD, Carl Zeiss SMT, and Qimonda AG are forming a €12M (US ~$17.4M) “innovation center” in Dresden, Germany (“Silicon Saxony”), under a larger “Nanoanalysis” project to develop new analytical and characterization methods for next-gen chip development. The center will utilize ultrahigh-resolution particle beam systems to image, analyze, and process specimens in support of characterization of 3D semiconductor structures and development of new materials for chip fabrication.