INDUSTRY NEWS

300-mm Imperative

Singapore fab is in works

AMD and UMC are teaming up to build an advanced 300-mm fab in Singapore for manufacturing PC microprocessors and other logic ICs. The two companies will form a joint venture called AU that will own and operate the fab. They hope to begin commercial production with 65-nm technology in mid-2005. The partners also agreed to develop advanced process technologies for advanced logic devices, and, under the terms of a separate agreement, UMC will manufacture PC microprocessors for AMD. The world's second-largest manufacturer of microprocessors already produces the devices at its Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany.

Robert Tsao, chairman and CEO of UMC, claims the agreement is the first to bring together a top foundry and a leading IC manufacturer "in a broadly unified partnership" for 300-mm manufacturing. Hector Ruiz, president and COO of AMD, notes that a 300-mm "megafab" has the potential to save more than 30% on production costs compared with a 200-mm fab. Ruiz also believes the timing of the venture is in sync with industry trends. "We believe the optimum time for us to make the transition to high-volume production on 300-mm wafers is in the mid-2005 time frame, when we expect to be starting production on the 65-nm mode."