INDUSTRY NEWS

State funds help Infineon

Infineon Technologies will use a financial assist from the Commonwealth of Virginia to become the first chip manufacturer on the East Coast to process 300-mm wafers. The semiconductor manufacturer is receiving $3 million in commonwealth funds to expand its facility in Henrico County. Virginia is also spending $2 million to support semiconductor technology education at institutions of higher learning. Infineon says the financial support and its successful manufacturing operations were the primary reasons for deciding to expand at the site near Richmond. The expansion will create 1100 jobs, according to officials. Production is scheduled for 2002.

The chipmaker is building a shell which it will eventually fill with 300-mm equipment to make leading-edge memory ICs. The memory devices are now processed on a 200-mm line. Once it has moved memory production to the 300-mm line, Infineon will use the existing production capacity to manufacture communication devices. Established as White Oak Semiconductor in 1996, Infineon operates an 800,000-sq-ft plant making 128- and 256-Mb SDRAMs with 0.17-µm linewidths.

Singapore takes fab stake

The government of Singapore has taken a 15% stake in UMC's 300-mm fab. EDB Investments, the investment arm of Singapore's Economic Development Board, joined Infineon Technologies as a shareholder in the $3.6-billion facility. UMC, a leading foundry, holds the majority stake in the venture, which is the largest single manufacturing investment in Singapore. Groundbreaking for the fab in Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park was set to occur by the end of March. Equipment installation is scheduled in the third quarter of 2002. UMC operates seven fabs in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park and is nearing completion of a 300-mm plant in Taiwan's Tainan Science Park.

Chartered delays fab plan

Chartered Semiconductor has decided to delay pilot production of 300-mm wafers at its new Fab 7 by approximately one year, the company reported. Processing of 300-mm wafers at the facility in Singapore has been pushed out to the middle of 2002. The original plans called for 200-mm processing before the foundry announced it would turn the facility into a 300-mm fab in 2001. Chartered expects revenues to decrease in the first half of 2001 and has modified its operating budget accordingly. The company projects growth in revenue of 12 to 18% over 2000, when sales reached $1.13 billion, an increase of 63.4% over 1999. Fab capacity utilization was 102% in 2000. The foundry expects capacity use to hover in the mid-80% range in 2001.

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