Asiafocus
05/01/2000
Japan sees rising demand for LCD driver ICs
The demand for LCD panel driver ICs for both PC monitors and cellular phones is expected to increase by more than 50% this year, and in an effort to keep up, many Japanese fabs are increasing production of driver ICs by 30-50% from the previous year. NEC will spend 7 billion yen (approximately US$65.5 million) and add driver-IC-manufacturing capabilities to its plants in China, Scotland, and Roseville, CA.
NEC currently produces nine million LCD driver chips/month at its facilities in Yamaguchi and Kansai, Japan. In Beijing, NEC produces one million driver ICs/month for PCs. At its plant in Roseville, the company said it will produce one million LCD driver ICs/month for cellular phone applications. At its facility in Scotland, the company intends to produce three million driver ICs/month to keep pace with both PC and cellular phone demand.
Under a recent agreement, NEC will transfer its LCD driver IC design and manufacturing technologies to Sanyo Electric. In turn, Sanyo will manufacture chips for NEC at Gifu Sanyo Electronics — a subsidiary of Sanyo — in Gifu prefecture.
Separately, Sharp Corp. is expected to increase LCD driver ICs 50% by the end of the year to the 30-million chips/month level. The firm currently produces 20 million LCD driver ICs/month at its Tenri plant in Nara prefecture and Fukuyama plant in Hiroshima prefecture.
Other companies ramping up LCD panel driver ICs include: TI Japan, Seiko Epson, Hitachi, and Rohm.
Demand for cellular handsets — one of the driving forces behind the increased LCD driver IC demand — is expected to almost double from 257.9 million in 1999 to 506.2 million in 2004, according to a new report issued by The Information Network, New Tripoli, PA.
"The worldwide market for cellular chipsets will grow from $10.7 billion in 1999 to $18.5 billion in 2004. IC content will increase to 51% of the price of a handset in 2004 from 40% today," noted Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network. — compiled from Staff Reports
Selete, International Sematech join on 300mm software issues
International Sematech and Japan's Selete (Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies) consortium say they will work together to develop standard software functionality for 300mm equipment.
The work is significant because it marks another phase of collaboration between the two consortia, and may help eliminate potential problems between US-company software standards and Japanese-company standards. In the past, Selete and International Sematech (through the former International 300mm Initiative) have shared data on 300mm tools, and have collaborated on other 300mm common standards work. "This is just another opportunity where we all agree it would be in everyone's best interest to share information," said a spokesman for International Sematech.
In addition, Selete, which was formed to evaluate 300mm equipment for its Japanese member companies, is beginning to identify research projects beyond 300mm programs. While the two consortia have not identified joint program efforts outside of the 300mm area, International Sematech remains open to such collaboration, said the spokesman.
For 300mm equipment, industry standard software is a critical issue. For example, one issue is whether control signals for process steps are FOUP-based, meaning that the FOUP initiates the next process step, or whether control signals are process tool based, meaning that the process tool calls for the FOUP. In this, Japanese companies reportedly have shown a preference for FOUP-based control signals, but US companies have expressed a preference for process-tool-based control signals.
This latest collaboration will involve a three-phase project that officials expect to be completed by December of this year.
In the first phase, the consortia were to identify the base functionality requirements for fixed buffer-type equipment last month, with internal buffer equipment base functionality identified by July. Phase two will run through October, when extended functionality requirements for both types of tools will be published. Phase three, in which test specifications on typical tool scenarios for round-trip carrier operation will be identified, will be completed by December. —C.L.