World News
05/01/2003
Business Trends
February chip sales down 3.3%, orders up 6%
Worldwide semiconductor sales totaled $11.8 billion in February, a 3.3% decrease from the $12.2 billion reported in January, but an 18% increase from the $10.0 billion reported in February 2002, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
"The recovery in the semiconductor industry that has been underway for more than fifteen months appears to have stalled in February," said SIA president George Scalise. "Demand has softened in markets that drove growth through the past year, including PCs, global wireless, and consumer."
The North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $782 million in orders in February (three-month average basis), according to that month's Express Report published by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (Semi). The bookings figure is 6% above the revised January level of $739 million, and 6% above the $737 million in orders posted in February 2002.
"Bookings of new semiconductor-manufacturing equipment have remained essentially flat for the last six months, and as a result, a number of equipment manufacturers have recently announced plans for further consolidation and restructuring of operations and product offerings," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of Semi. "While the bookings outlook appears sluggish, more than 20 new fabs are expected to begin production in the next two years."
In other news, frontend capacity utilization totaled 73.9% in February, showing no change from January, according to VLSI Research Inc.'s Industry Pulse Pro. That number is projected to rise to 78.8% in March and 80.9% in April, according to VLSI.
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VLSI commented that frontend capacity utilization showed no improvement in February, but noted that there is a huge divergence occurring. While utilization remains below 70% for 250nm and above, capacity is tight at 130nm and below, with utilization approaching the 90% level. VLSI predicts that the January-February time frame will prove to be the bottom of frontend utilization and that it should begin to increase in March.
WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS
IMEC and International Sematech (ISMT) have signed an agreement to work together in an advanced technology program aimed at speeding the development of 157nm lithography. In parallel, collaboration agreements between IMEC and several IDMs are also under negotiation. The 157nm program will ramp to full speed in 2Q03. A consortium of IC manufacturers and equipment suppliers, as well as resist suppliers and mask shops, has already been established.
USA
Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, CA, will eliminate approximately 2000 positions or 14% of its global work force. About 1400 positions in the North America operations will be affected; the majority of notifications will occur at the end of 2Q03. The remaining 600 positions will be eliminated at other locations worldwide by the end of 4Q03.
FSI International Inc., Minneapolis, MN, will discontinue its microlithography operations and focus exclusively on its surface-conditioning business. Approximately 292 of the company's 710 employees will be affected by this decision.
Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, has established an office in Shanghai, China. Separately, the company has opened a refurbishment facility in Korea. The 25,000 ft2 facility is the company's first international chamber refurbishment hub for DUV light sources.
Veeco Instruments Inc., Woodbury, NY, has opened a 15,000 ft2 epitaxial process integration center adjacent to its molecular beam epitaxy manufacturing operations in St. Paul, MN. The center will advance compound semiconductor epitaxial technology, and provide Veeco's equipment and processes to production operations.
Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA, has completed its acquisition of Numerical Technologies Inc. As the final step of the acquisition, Synopsys merged its wholly owned subsidiary, Neon Acquisition Corp., with Numerical.
Amkor Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ, has completed the sale of its wafer fab services business to Korea-based Aman Semiconductor Inc. for $62 million. The company has also obtained releases from customers regarding Amkor's contractual obligation to perform wafer-fab services subsequent to the transfer of the business.
Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America, Eugene OR, the US.subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor, Seoul, Korea, is launching a $100 million upgrade to its DRAM facility in Eugene. Production will continue at the site through the upgrade.
Asyst Technologies Inc., Fremont, CA, said that its majority-owned subsidiary and joint venture partner, Asyst-Shinko Inc. (ASI), has substantially completed installation of a $10 million automated materials-handling system in a new 200mm fab in Shanghai, China. This is ASI's second 200mm fab project in China.
ASIAFocus
China
Construction has started on a $360 million semiconductor Sino-foreign joint venture project, Nanjing Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., in a high-tech development zone in Nanjing. The project was jointly set up by investors from China, Singapore, France, the US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. The first phase of the project will include two 150mm wafer plants and two 200mm plants. Construction is expected to be complete in June 2004.
Israel
Meissner-Baran Ltd., a subsidiary of The Baran Group Ltd., has signed an amendment to a previous contract with Tower Semiconductor to begin Phase II of construction on the turnkey project FAB 2 plant in Migdal Haemek, Israel. The project, valued at $35.8 million, will be performed in five sub-phases with construction on the first sub-phase to start immediately. Phase II will increase the manufacturing capabilities of Tower's plant to 33,000 wafers/month.
Japan
SEH plans to invest some $730 million (¥90 billion) to ramp its production of 300mm wafers to 200,000 wafers/.month by the middle of this fiscal year, and to 300,000 as demand warrants, within existing space at its
 Japan tool orders rose 9% in January to ¥64.8 billion. |
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Shirakawa plant in Fukushima. The facility can currently produce 100,000 wafers/month.
Nissan Chemical will invest about $8 million (¥1 billion) to double its capacity to make antireflective coatings (ARCs) by mid-2004. Nissan claims a 60–70% share of the $50 million (¥6 billion) Asian ARC market with partner Brewer Science.
Sumitomo Chemical has formed a new metal-organic epitaxial business with sites in the US and Japan. The company will use facilities acquired from ATMI in Connecticut and part of Sumitomo's site in Chiba, giving it capacity to process 2000 gallium arsenide wafers/month in the US and 6000 in Japan.
Toppan Printing has started mass production of masks for the 90nm node on two lines at each of its two plants in Japan, and one line at its site in Taiwan. Total investment in the new facilities is about $140 million (¥17 billion). The company also added new development facilities at its Asaka site for 65–45nm masks.
Marubun Corp., Tokyo, Japan, intends to strengthen its microchip design operations by opening a design center in Shanghai during this fiscal year. The center will employ 20–30 engineers and will carry out semiconductor design operations on behalf of Japanese chipmakers.
Korea
Chip foundry Dongbu Electronics, Seoul, will initiate capital spending of 300 billion won ($252.04 million) for its plant in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province. The move comes after the government eased environmental restrictions in the factory's area and designated it as a water resource reserve.
Samsung Electronics Co., Seoul, Korea, will invest some $295.5 million in memory-chip-producing facilities during 1H03 to meet increased demand. The company said it would spend some $167.6 million to upgrade the system large-scale integration assembly line and invest approximately $87.8 million to expand equipment to assemble and check memory chips at its Onyang factory.
Taiwan
The Taiwan government has okayed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s plans to invest US$898 million in a 200mm wafer plant in Songjiang, near Shanghai, China. Final government approval of the TSMC project, however, requires the company to first prove that its 300mm wafer production plant in Taiwan has reached "mass production" output.
EuroFocus
The semiconductor division of Philips Electronics NV, Amsterdam, will cut 1600 jobs in the US and Europe, and close chip factories in San Antonio, TX, and Albuquerque, NM. The division, which employs about 34,000 people, will also reduce capacity at its other factories by 20%, and cut its annual R&D spending by $220.7 million.
STMicroelectronics, Geneva Switzerland, Philips, and Motorola recently opened an R&D center near Grenoble, France, as part of the Crolles alliance formed by the chipmakers. The center will be used to develop CMOS technology for 90–32nm processes over the next several years, and also includes a functioning 300mm pilot line.
Infineon, Munich, Germany, has joined IMEC's industrial affiliation program (IIAP), which focuses on technology for reconfigurable systems. Infineon is the second organization to join IIAP, and will use IMEC's design technology for future SoC platforms.
ASML Holding NV, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, said that the US International Trade Commission has ruled in its favor on all claims filed by competitor Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan. The commission denied a petition by Nikon seeking review of the initial determination made by a judge in January, determining that ASML has not violated Section 337 of US trade law, which governs investigations into allegations of unfair practices in import trade.
Wacker Siltronic AG is on track with the construction of its 300mm wafer fab in Freiburg (Saxony/Eastern Germany). The new production line is scheduled to go on line in June2004. Capacity will start at 60,000 wafers/month and may be increased to 150,000/month in the final stages.