12/01/2004  With the advent of type 5 and type 6 solder paste, and much effort in process development, stencil printing for wafer bumping has arrived.

12/01/2004  Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) has broken ground for another 300-mm wafer manufacturing facility, this one focusing on 65-nm production.

11/30/2004  November 30, 2004 - KLA-Tencor and Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co. Ltd. have announced they are partnering to commercialize advanced process solutions designed to address key manufacturing challenges associated with next-generation semiconductor devices.

11/30/2004  November 30, 2004 - IBM, Sony Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., and Toshiba Corp. have unveiled some of the key concepts of an advanced microprocessor, code-named Cell, they are jointly developing for next-generation computing applications and digital consumer electronics.

11/30/2004  In the same way that digital cameras boosted demand for flash memory, high-resolution cameras, cell phones and digital camcorders are expected to drive demand for next-generation portable storage. Firms developing MEMS-based memory think that these applications will most likely be the first market for their devices.

11/29/2004  By Bob Haavind, Editorial Director
New materials and process complexity require increased R&D, but available resources at process tool companies are being squeezed. As a result, new collaborative models will be necessary to meet future challenges to stay on the track of Moore's Law, Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials, told more than 200 attendees from around the globe at the Albany Symposium on Global Nanotechnology, held in Sept. at Lake George, NY.

11/29/2004  By J. Robert Lineback, Senior Technical Editor
Mainland China's entry into volume production of 300mm wafers officially began in late September with the formal opening of a $1 billion fab in Beijing by silicon foundry supplier Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC). Some industry analysts and SMIC itself are now predicting a rapid buildup of 300mm capacity in mainland China.

11/29/2004  November 29, 2004 - India's first silicon chip manufacturing facility would be set up on the outskirts of Hyderabad with an initial investment of US$600 million, its promoter and chairman of South Korea-based Intellect Inc. Jun Min, said on Friday, according to Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.

11/24/2004 

11/24/2004  (November 24, 2004) Hsinchu, Taiwan—Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announces that volume production is available for its 0.18-micron process technology with 40-V capability. The high-voltage process will allow designers to produce single-chip TFT LCD drivers for portable applications that reduce chip count and save space and power.

11/23/2004  Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing has received $90 million in funding from a Hong Kong businessman, to help expand its R&D for leading-edge chipmaking technologies and pave the way toward an initial public offering in 2005.

11/23/2004  November 23, 2004 - The book-to-bill ratio for Japanese chipmaking equipment manufacturers came in at 0.91 in October, below the key 1.00-mark, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), reported the Nihon Keizai Shimbun America.

11/23/2004 

11/19/2004  November 19, 2004 - South Korean company Intellect has proposed setting up a multifab chip-manufacturing facility near Hyderabad, India, with a US$1.6 billion investment. A team from the company visited the Andhra Pradesh regional government in September and assessed several locations near Hyderabad for the project.

11/19/2004  Until now, Texas Instruments has effectively owned the market for rear-projection televisions that use micromirrors, but three other outfits developing MEMS projection technologies could challenge it in the years ahead. This could create more price competition and present consumers with a potentially dizzying array of TV technology choices.

11/18/2004  November 18, 2004 - Spansion LLC of California will invest more than 100 billion yen (US$961 million) to build a flash memory chip production line in Japan capable of handling advanced 300mm wafers, company officials said, according to Kyodo News International.

11/17/2004  Worldwide demand for chip manufacturing equipment continued to slow down in October, and capacity utilization rates are inching toward slipping below the 80% mark, according to VLSI Research.

11/17/2004  November 17, 2004 - The total investment planned for the STMicroelectronics and Hynix Semiconductor joint-venture project to build a front-end memory-manufacturing facility in China is US$2 billion, said the companies. It will be financed with equity from both partners (Hynix 67%, ST 33%), US$250M of long-term debt from ST, as well as a financing package from Chinese local financial institutions, which will involve debt and a long leasehold.

11/17/2004 

11/16/2004  November 16, 2004 - The Export-Import Bank of the US (Ex-Im Bank) has approved a $652 million loan guarantee to support the export of US equipment and services to build a new silicon wafer fabrication facility in Singapore specializing in ASICs.