Asia/Pacific

07/01/1997

Asia/Pacific

With a planned investment of $110 million, Samsung Display Devices, Seoul, South Korea, will begin production of 600 ? 720-mm color filter substrates next year. The company has already invested $150 million in its 370 ? 470-mm and 550 ? 650-mm color filter substrate lines, and is producing about 44,000 units/month at its Chonan facility. Samsung, which plans to export the color filters to Southeast Asia, expects localized production will save Korean industry $100 million on import costs this year.

The Shanghai-based Hua Hong Microelectronics project has reportedly given up on striking a deal with a US-based partner for its planned wafer fab, after negotiations with IBM and Rockwell failed to click. Japan`s NEC has reportedly agreed to take part in the fab, providing training to China`s electronics sector. Sources indicated that the Hua Hong project will receive $100-$200 million in funding from NEC, as well as the company`s process and fab operations knowledge. The Hua Hong fab, part of the Project 909 that is receiving funding from the Shanghai city government and the Chinese central government, is slated to begin work with 0.5-?m design rules, and migrate to 0.25-?m, producing 72,000 CMOS wafers/year in Phase I, and 240,000/year in Phase II. Products will include smart card chips, communications devices, microcontrollers, and a variety of other ICs.

Texas Instruments has pulled the plug on Alpha-TI Semiconductors Co. Ltd. Project in Thailand. TI terminated a 1995 agreement calling for it to partner with Thai entrepreneur Charn Uswachoke on construction and operation of a 16- and 64-Mbit DRAM fab and on an assembly and test facility. TI, which had held a 26% stake in the project, said "difficult economic conditions in Thailand" had affected Uswachoke`s ability to obtain financing within the agreed-upon time frame. Uswachoke will purchase TI`s shares in the venture, but the company will take a special charge against earnings in 2Q.

SEMI`s Singapore-based test, assembly, and packaging show is unlikely to expand into the wafer processing world anytime soon. During its meeting at SEMICON/Europa, SEMI`s Show Committee evaluated input from the field and concluded "that there was insufficient support to make a decision at this time." Responses to a survey suggested that a front-end event was not of interest. The committee will study "spheres of buying influence for wafer processing facilities in the ASEAN region," with an eye toward making a further recommendation later on.

ASAT Ltd. has received a specially configured Duo automatic test system at its Hong Kong test and assembly facility from Credence Systems Corp., Fremont, CA. The Credence Duo is a digital mixed-signal tester developed to resolve, on a single platform, the test problems of the digitally dominant, mixed-signal devices found in multimedia and portable applications.

Singapore to develop x-ray. Sources say that the government of Singapore, through its Economic Development Board, is close to finalizing a decision to fund an x-ray development project. The effort would include leading Singapore chipmakers such as Chartered Semiconductor as prime R&D players, and would be aimed at increasing the city-state`s presence in leading-edge process development.

Shing Chung Engineering, Taipei, Taiwan, and Trace Analytical, Menlo Park, CA, have formed a joint venture company, Trace Analytical Systems and Service, that will manufacture high purity gas monitoring systems for the Asian semiconductor industry. Other services will include sales of gas analyzers, a line of contamination control equipment, on-site analytical services for QA/QC of UHP gas delivery systems, and local support of all analytical products.