INDUSTRY NEWS

Infineon stakes claim to 300-mm first while Intel announces $2B New Mexico expansion

The slowly quickening march into the 300-mm future took two bold strides in late May. With German chancellor Gerhard Schröder looking on, Infineon Technologies broke ground in Dresden May 30 on what the chipmaker calls the world's first high-volume 300-mm fab. The company will invest approximately $1 billion in the venture, which will be called Infineon Technologies SC300.

 

1. German chancellor Gerhard Schröder strikes the podium with a hammer as a symbolic gesture at the groundbreaking ceremony for Infineon's new 300-mm fab in Dresden. Lothar Späth (third from left), chairman of the executive board of Jenoptik, is among dignitaries and employees attending the event. Jenoptik is a partner in the venture. 2. Infineon executives Volker Jung and Ulrich Schumacher flank German chancellor Schröder (second from left) as the trio joins other officials examining a model of Inineon's new Dresden fab. At far right is Lothar Späth of Jenoptik.

One week before Infineon's groundbreaking ceremony, Intel announced it would spend $2 billion adding more than 1 million sq ft of space to its fab in Rio Rancho, NM. The world's largest chipmaker will incorporate a 135,000-sq-ft cleanroom in that space for manufacturing microprocessors on 300-mm wafers using new 0.13-µm technology. The expansion will be part of Intel's Fab 11. Intel says it will begin construction immediately for a planned start-up in 2002. The company will use copper metallization processes in the new facility.

With the announcement, Intel made it clear that the fab will be a full-fledged 300-mm facility from the start, the company's first. In January Intel announced it would build its first high-volume 300-mm fab in Chandler, AZ. However, that facility is to begin life in 2001 processing 200-mm wafers before being converted to 300-mm production.

Infineon Technologies SC300 will have partners in its 300-mm venture. The German state of Saxony and Jenoptik unit M+W Zander, a high-tech design-and-construction firm, will each have a stake in the new facility. The state government will pitch in approximately $110 million. M+W Zander will contribute approximately $48 million. Completion of the plant is set for spring 2001, and production is scheduled to start at the end of that year.

Infineon's 300-mm fab will be built at the company's existing site in Dresden. At ramp-up the chipmaker will make 256-Mb DRAMs with 0.14-µm geometries. Plans are to produce 512-Mb chips with 0.11-µm feature sizes in 2002. By the end of 2002 the fab will reach its production capacity of approximately 6000 wafers per week, according to Andreas von Zitzewitz, Infineon's COO.

Infineon says it expects to create 1100 jobs at the new facility. Intel expects to add between 500 and 1000 positions over the next three to five years at the New Mexico plant, which already employs 5200.

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