World News
11/01/2007
Tracking growth in PAT, and the rise of outsourcing
Growth in global packaging and testing (PAT) revenues is expected to slow significantly in 2007, but will pick up marginally in 2008 and 2009, according to new data from Gartner Dataquest. Total PAT revenues will top $48.16 billion this year, up 8.9% from last year. In 2008, Gartner sees a 12% increase in total worldwide PAT sales to $54.15B, followed by another minor slowdown to 9% growth in 2009 ($59.12B).
Note the continued emergence of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS), where growth has outpaced the overall semiconductor industry by ≥50% since 2001 (last year: 26.4% vs. 8%-9%), according to Gartner. Most of the growth in test sales this year is in outsourcing (10.7% vs. 4.4% for IDM test sales), and the firm predicts 17% growth in SATS in 2008 (to $24.53B) and 13% in 2009 (to $27.72B), and pulling even with the IDM segment in about three years.
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WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
MEMS revenue will double from 2005-2011 to $10B, with a “select group of large, well-established MEMS suppliers” benefiting from growth in the automotive sector, and “new, emerging entrants” capitalizing on opportunities in consumer, communications, and portable end-product sectors, according to Semiconductor Partners.
After spending >$10B in each of the past three years on equipment, global TFT-LCD firms will cut back investments by 35% this year to $8.2B, according to DisplaySearch. But the firm thinks TFT-LCD array equipment spending will return to growth again in 2008 (13%) and 2009 (13% again), thanks to tightening supply/demand and better financial performance by panel makers.
Sony Corp. and Qimonda AG say they have agreed to create a 50/50 joint venture to design high-performance, low power, embedded and customer specific DRAMs for consumer and graphic applications. The proposed venture, Qreatic Design, would be started up in Tokyo by year’s end, with up to 30 specialists from Sony and Qimonda.
Aviza Technology Inc. and Mosel Vitelic Corp. plan to jointly develop advanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) materials for next-generation flash applications. Aviza will provide the hardware and process expertise for materials development, with Mosel Vitelic offering device design and process integration. Work will focus on producing advanced films for advanced flash memory devices (58nm structures and below) for use in consumer devices, but eventually move over to logic devices to address continued IC device scaling.
USA
At its annual developer forum, Intel debuted working test chips built with 32nm process technology, saying it will start production at the next node sometime in 2009. The 32nm SRAMs house more than 1.9 billion transistors, utilizing high-k and metal gate technologies, the company claims.
IBM says it has developed a low-cost, integrated semiconductor technology that enables integration of multiple RF/analog functions on a single chip. The “CMOS 7RF SOI” technology, based on IBM’s 0.18μm process, uses SOI as a lower-cost alternative to compound semiconductor materials (e.g. GaAs), and also to minimize insertion loss and maximize isolation. Initial hardware evaluations have been completed, and design kits are expected to be released sometime in 1H08.
Fujifilm’s Electronic Materials Division has acquired Air Products’ OptiYield positive photoresist developer line for undisclosed terms. Transfer of supply and support functions from Air Products’ facility in Tempe, AZ, to Fujifilm’s site in Mesa, AZ, is expected to be done by 1Q08.
Analog Devices has agreed to sell parts of its Baseband Chipset Division, including its Othello radio and SoftFone baseband chipset product lines, as well as certain cellular handset baseband support operations, to Taiwan’s MediaTek for $350M in cash.
ASIAFOCUS
Sony reportedly plans to sell system chip fabrication lines to Toshiba for nearly 100B yen (about US $870M). A new JV between the two firms would fabricate system chips (e.g., the Cell microprocessor as well as image-processing chips), with Sony the primary buyer.
Spansion says it has begun production of 65nm process-based MirrorBit NOR flash memory devices at its SP1 300mm fab in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, with shipments due out by year’s end.
Hynix Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics’ jointly owned chipmaking facility in Wuxi, China, has sold its 200mm line “C1” to Chinese conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.
Intel says it has started groundbreaking for its proposed “Fab 68” in the coastal Chinese city of Dalian, the chipmaker’s first wafer fab in Asia and first greenfield fab location in 15 years. The $2.5B 300mm fab is slated to come online in 2010.
Toshiba is accelerating its planned 25% increase in CMOS image sensor production by roughly six months, augmenting some lines at its system chip plant in Japan’s Oita Prefecture to minimize the investment, notes the Nikkei daily. Meanwhile, Sony Corp. is planning mass production of 8-megapixel CMOS sensors by the end of 2008, in an effort to increase sales of the devices by 30% by fiscal 2009 to about 300B yen ($2.62B), reports the Nikkei daily. At the heart of the plan is a 60B yen (US $493.3M) expansion of its Kumamoto Technology Center (TEC) in Kyushu over the next three years.
Following a similar European Commission ruling this summer, the South Korean Fair Trade Commission has formally charged Intel with violating antitrust laws, alleging the firm pressured computer customers with a variety of tactics to buy its chips instead of those from rival AMD.
FormFactor will spend ~$200M to expand its wafer probe card manufacturing operations in Singapore with a new 300,000 sq. ft facility, expected to ramp in early 2009.
Another half-minute power outage at Samsung Electronics’ K2 production line in its Giheung facility caused no damage, a spokesperson told the Korea Times. A more severe blackout in early August knocked out six lines at K2, ultimately denting NAND flash output by about 10% and costing the company about 40B won (~$43M), the paper noted.
China’s Grace Semiconductor has named Ulrich Schumacher, former CEO of German chipmaker Infineon Technologies, as its new president and CEO.
SanDisk Corp. has opened a flash memory assembly/test plant in Shanghai’s Zizhu Science Park, its first production facility in China. The site, which will focus on system-in-package (SiP) chips and flash memory products, is expected to meet approximately 30% of projected global demand for SanDisk’s SiP products.
Dai Nippon Printing has developed a method to fabricate 18nm-design rule templates for nanoimprinting circuit patterns, avoiding the problem of overlapping the e-beam by creating a tighter spot and adjusting the beam’s strength and exposure, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. The company also says it has optimized the conditions when etching the pattern template into the quartz glass (which is then pressed into a resin coated on the wafer). Work will now turn to refining the process to draw more precise and accurate patterns; a practical version of the 18nm nanoimprinting technology isn’t expected for another eight years.
Tokyo Electron Ltd. is bringing production for each type of its chipmaking equipment under one roof, in order to cut costs and boost group operating margins to 20% by fiscal 2011 (vs. 16.9% last year), according to the Nikkei Financial Daily. The new efforts involve a 3.5B yen (~$30M) investment in a new facility at its Kyushu site, which makes coating and image development equipment, and another 20-30B yen ($173-$260M) for a new etching equipment factory in Miyagi Prefecture.
Japan’s Gigaphoton says its GT61A argon fluoride (ArF) excimer laser light source is part of a new immersion litho tool now installed at an unnamed “major Korean chipmaker,” and expected to ramp into high-volume production by year’s end.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) and NXP Semiconductors have completed their assembly/test JV in Suzhou, China, about 10 months after its formation. “ASEN,” launched in February 2007 with ASE as the 60/40 majority owner, initially will focus on mobile communications, though the firms expect to eventually expand to other segments. The operation will use NXP’s existing assembly/test facility in Suzhou, with further expansion planned in the next few years.
EUROFOCUS
Freescale Semiconductor has put two Scottish facilities on the market for sale, one already producing 150mm/0.35µm devices, and the other an unoccupied 200mm shell upgradeable to 300mm.
Cutbacks at Intel’s Leixlip factory are already underway, mainly targeting contractors and extending “significantly” beyond the expected 200 voluntary resignations, reports the Irish Times. Most of the layoffs are said to be at Intel’s Ireland Fab Operations (the merged Fab 10 and Fab 14, Intel’s first domestic factories).
The European Commission has authorized €200M (~$277M) in funding over five years to support the “NanoSmart” R&D program, which aims to develop advanced substrates for microelectronic and optoelectronic components.
Synova SA and Manz Automation AG say they’ve created a hybrid inline laser edge isolation system for photovoltaic manufacturing of mono- and multicrystalline solar cells. The ILE 2400, aimed to be “production-ready” by year’s end, targets edge isolation, a technique used to prevent parasitic shunts between the front- and back-sides of the solar cell, preventing short circuits and improving cell efficiency.