World News
12/01/2003
BUSINESS TRENDS
Japanese toolmakers: Global orders hot, domestic orders not
Global sales in August of Japanese semiconductor equipment achieved levels not seen in nearly 15 months, according to the latest figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), while results from a broader perspective appear mixed.
 Japan bookings and billings. |
Worldwide equipment orders in August cracked the triple-digit mark at ¥102.07 million ($921.6 million), up from ¥98.64 billion ($822.6 million) in July and a 69.4% increase from one year ago. August's orders are the highest seen since May 2002. Domestic orders, however, continued to slide, down to ¥46.66 billion ($421.3 million) in August from July's ¥56.92 billion ($490.3 million) — but still up from August 2002's anemic ¥31.07 billion ($280.6 million).
Global sales of Japanese-made equipment were ¥77.34 million ($698.3 million) in August, basically flat growth compared with July sales of ¥77.22 million ($665.0 million), and a 27.0% increase from August 2002 sales. After four months of steady gains, domestic sales slipped in August to ¥52.18 billion ($471.1 million), down from July's totals of ¥61.37 billion ($511.8 million), but a 77.8% increase compared with one year ago.
The worldwide book-to-bill in August was 1.24 — the fourth consecutive month above 1.0 — down from July's 1.40 but up slightly from 1.21 in August 2002. A book-to-bill of 1.24 means that $124 in new orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month. Domestically, the book-to-bill was above 1.0 (just barely) for the fifth consecutive month at 1.03, down 22.6% from July's figure of 1.33 and a 19.5% drop from one year ago.
Global orders for testing equipment were particularly brisk in August 2003 at ¥23.34 billion ($210.8 million), up 65.5 percent from July and a whopping 187.6 percent from August 2002. On the flip side, sales of Japanese-made mask and reticle equipment sank alarmingly to ¥171 million ($1.5 million) — down 90.6 percent from July and a 91.9 percent plunge from August 2002.
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (Semi) has published 11 new technical standards for improving productivity in semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturing operations. Included in the new crop of standards are methods for fluorescent light testing and prevention of electrostatic discharge, and safety guidelines for the semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Semi has also agreed to transfer 74 silicon-related standards from ASTM to the Semi Standards program.
The long-term forecast remains upbeat despite slow 2Q equipment sales, says Gartner Dataquest, which reduced its estimates for 2003 semiconductor equipment sales. Gartner says worldwide semiconductor capex will be $29.7 billion in 2003, a 7.9% increase from $27.7 billion in 2002 but below the $29.9 billion it predicted in July. Gartner's original capital equipment projection of $20.6 billion was cut to $19.2 billion, which is still a 3.5% increase from 2002. Wafer-fab equipment sales are projected to grow 1.1% to $16.4 billion, down from earlier projections of $17.6 billion. Packaging and assembly, previously pegged at $2.97 billion, is now projected to be $2.81 billion, still nearly 20% growth from 2002.
CMOS wafer prices rose an average of 3% from 2Q03 to 3Q03, according to the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA). In its quarterly pricing survey of 122 fabless companies and IDMs, the FSA says the majority of fabless respondents ordered 0.18µm process technologies, with 13% requesting 0.13µm. IDMs, meanwhile, mainly ordered 0.35µm features, with 17% ordering 0.13µm processes. The survey also noted that only about 2% of fabless companies used 300mm wafers, while 80% used 200mm and 19% used 150mm.
USA
IBM says it has created a new chip design that combines a SiGe bipolar communications chip and CMOS computing chip on a single SOI wafer. IBM's technique, the first to build SiGe bipolar chips onto thin-silicon SOI, could result in a fourfold increase in performance, or fivefold decrease in power consumption in wireless devices. IBM says the design could be implemented within five years.
Mykrolis Corp., Billerica, MA, plans to acquire the assets of privately held gas-purification provider Aeronex, San Diego, for an undisclosed amount. The deal adds to Mykrolis' portfolio of gas contamination-control products and fluid handling products and subsystems for semiconductor manufacturing processes, and opens sales and support channels for Aeronex in Asia and Japan.
Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, has signed a deal with SCP Global Technologies to include SCP's single-wafer vapor drying technology with Applied's Reflexion LK CMP system. The drying technology will be used in place of a spin-rinse-dry process to help eliminate post-CMP defects.
Jazz Semiconductor, Newport Beach, CA, and Skyworks Solutions Inc., Woburn MA, have signed an agreement to co-develop SiGe and BiCMOS technologies for Skyworks' wireless cellular systems. Under the four-year deal, Jazz will also provide wafers and CMOS/BiCMOS processes for Skyworks' mixed-signal, RF, and DCR designs.
Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany, has opened a facility in New York City, as part of a plan to become a top five semiconductor supplier in North America. CEO Ulrich Schumacher told the Financial Times Deutschland that the company plans to increase US sales from 24% to 35% of total sales.
ASIAFocus
China
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has invested $56 million into its subsidiary in Shanghai, the first Taiwanese chipmaker to send investment funds to the mainland. TSMC plans to invest up to $1 billion in the plant, which it expects to be operational in 2H04. TSMC is still in the process of gaining full approval from the Taiwanese government for the move to the mainland.
Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, ME, has completed the first phase of its new assembly and test facility in Suzhou, China. Half of the 800,000-sq. ft. facility is now open, employing 570 people; by 2005 that will nearly quadruple to about 2000. Fairchild expects the plant will save it as much as 30% on assembly and test costs compared with outsourcing.
China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has signed a deal with MicroFab Technology, a subsidiary of Singapore design and packaging services specialist Ellipsiz Group, to provide wafer bumping solutions, according to the Xinhua Financial News. MicroFab will integrate a wafer bumping line and grant a 10-year license to SMIC, while purchasing up to $5 million worth of equipment.
Fujitsu Ltd. has established a subsidiary in Shanghai. Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., wholly owned by Fujitsu China Co., started operations on October 30, with a capex of $400,000 and a sales target of $223 million in 2004. Fujitsu's China operations were previously through Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia in Singapore, and Fujitsu Microelectronics Pacific Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong.
Japan
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Xerox have agreed to develop optical chip technologies. The deal will combine Fuji's method for layering metal films using optical lithography techniques with Mitsubishi's fabrication equipment for 100nm nanostructures. The goal is to create chips that incorporate the functions of optical switches and transformers into a single component.
A group of Japanese semiconductor firms are combining to promote standardization for 65nm process technologies, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Toshiba, NEC, Renesas, and other companies want to tap the experience of the Advanced SoC Platform Corp. (ASPLA), which was set up to standardize 90nm process technologies. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) plans to develop a detailed strategy for the initiative by 2Q04.
Fujitsu has signed a deal with mobile chipmaker Transmeta to be the initial foundry for Transmeta's Efficeon processors, based on Fujitsu's CS100 90nm CMOS process. Transmeta had previously worked with TSMC for the chip's 130nm generation. Volume production is slated for 2H04 at Fujitsu's Akiruno Technology Center near Tokyo.
LSI Logic Corp., Milpitas, CA, has sold its 6-in. wafer manufacturing facility in Tsukuba, Japan, to Kyoto-based Rohm Co. for approximately $23.5 million. LSI also has signed a wafer supply contract with the fab, which produces 25,000 wafers/month using 0.35µm process technologies. The agreement is expected to close in 4Q03.
Tessera Inc., San Jose, CA, and Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. have signed a licensing agreement to use Tessera's packaging technology for Sanyo's consumer electronics products. The deal incorporates over 150 patents for Tessera's Compliant chip technology, which covers various IC packaging formats.
Toshiba Corp. is boosting production in China and Malaysia in order to more quickly respond to domestic demand, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. In China, Toshiba plans to increase product lines at its production subsidiary in Jiangsu province, and boost production of voltage regulation transistors at its Wuxi operations to 27 million units/month by May 2004. Toshiba also plans to expand a subcontracting deal with ChipPAC's plant in Malaysia, to which it currently outsources 3–5 million units/month.
Chipmaker International Rectifier, El Segundo, CA, has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court seeking to nullify the formation of Renesas Technology, the JV of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric. IR claims that Hitachi didn't properly notify it about plans to spin off Hitachi's chip business into Renesas. The two companies have been fighting several court battles since 2001, over disputed licensing fees for IR's power MOSFET technology.
Taiwan
Brewer Science has established Brewer Science Taiwan Ltd. in Taipei. The subsidiary of Brewer is a joint venture between Brewer Science Inc., US, and Trivet Industrial Corp., a Taiwanese technology and trading company. The new company will provide customers with Brewer's chemicals, specialty optoelectronics, and equipment expertise.
Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, ME, has signed an agreement to sell equipment and supply agreements from its plants in Wuxi, China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Taiwan's Lite-On Technology Corp. The transfer is expected to be completed within six months. Under a separate deal, Lite-On will take on manufacturing of components at the sites, including infrared devices, optocouplers, and displays.
Korea
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it will boost memory chip sales to $10 billion next year, largely on the back of its NAND flash memory chips. Samsung has invested nearly $3 billion this year to boost output of flash memory chips, which have seen prices remain basically stable compared with DRAM. Samsung is aiming for a 21% share in the global market for memory chips, and plans to more than double its share in the flash memory market to 66% by 2005.
Korean semiconductor exports to the US and Europe were down in August to their lowest amount in a decade, according to the Korea International Trade Association. Chip exports to the US were $2.01 billion in August, a 17.7% decrease from August 2002, while chip exports to some European countries were down by as much as 60%. Total chip exports in 2003 stand at $11.61 billion, a 9.3% increase from the first eight months of 2002.
Malaysia
Wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. plans to expand manufacturing capacity to support ramping up of sub-18µm technologies. At its Fab 1 facility, utilization is over 90%.
EuroFocus
United Kingdom
Bookham Technology, Oxfordshire, UK, has agreed to acquire a pair of companies in all-stock transactions. The $190 million purchase of photonics and microwave systems provider New Focus, San Jose, CA, triples Bookham's nontelecom business, and adds semiconductor customers including KLA-Tencor and ASML. Bookham also will acquire Ignis Optics, a San Jose, CA, provider of optical transceivers, for $15.5 million.
Germany
Wacker Siltronic, Burghausen, Germany, announced plans to shut down 200mm wafer production facilities in Wasserburg and Burghausen, Germany, in order to concentrate its global 200mm capacity in Asia. Global overcapacity, pricing pressures, and a strong euro against the US dollar were listed among the reasons. Meanwhile, the company plans to invest about $470 million to ramp up production at its Freiberg, Germany 300mm facility, scheduled to come online in 2004.
Schott Lithotec, Jena, Germany, has signed EUV lithography agreements with a pair of industry groups. Schott will provide International Sematech, Austin, TX, with advanced mask blanks for EUV lithography under the one-year deal. Schott will also provide EUV mask blanks to industry consortium EUV LLC, as well as the right to use results of the group's research into EUV lithography. Schott and EUV LLC plan to create a commercially operating EUVL photomask blank by 2006.