TSMC Sketches 32 nm Rollout Plan for 2009
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/28/2008

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) plans to roll out its 32 nm process offerings in the third quarter of 2009, with evaluation kits available now for early adopters, said Jack Sun, vice president of R&D. More

IBM: 'Open For Business' for 32 nm High-k/Metal Gate
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/14/2008

IBM Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.) and its partners are "open for business" for early customer design engagements using a bulk 32 nm technology with a high-k/metal gate stack, said Gary Patton, an IBM vice president. IBM recently announced that a low-power 32 nm design enablement package is now available, with a design prototyping shuttle starting in the third quarter of 2008. More

SEMI Event Blends Nostalgia With a Look to the Future
Alexander E. Braun, Senior Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/2/2008

Arthur W. Zafiropoulo, CEO of Ultratech (San Jose), speaking at a history-focused event sponsored by SEMI and the Chemical Heritage Foundation, looked to the future and said, "You will have to have a very large market before TSMC, UMC, SMIC or Chartered take notice. The smaller companies with the new ideas will not be successful because no one will want to build their chips." More

Chartered Extends Technology Development Collaboration With IBM
Business Wire, 4/02/2008

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Singapore) and IBM Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.) agreed to collaborate on 22 nm technology. IBM Vice President Gary Patton said, "Going forward, it will be material science invention that will improve silicon performance." More

Views on News: Stir $207B Into Your Coffee Cup
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 3/27/2008

Bill McClean, president of IC Insights Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz.), said major foundries are keeping investments moderate to raise wafer selling prices. With IDMs turning to fab-lite manufacturing strategies, the stage is set for more moderate declines in ASPs compared with the annual 5% declines seen in recent years. Blog

X-FAB Process Maximizes Cost-Effectiveness
Business Wire, 4/08/2008

X-FAB Silicon Foundries (Erfurt, Germany) announced the availability of a new process — the 0.18 µm high-voltage analog/mixed-signal platform called XH018. The new process includes a large variety of active and passive devices to address analog/mixed-signal design needs. More

TSMC Up, UMC Down Again Q/Q, SMIC Exits DRAM
Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor — Electronic News, 4/30/2008

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) reported a strong quarter when compared with the year-earlier period, but rival United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) felt the pain of inventory adjustments, reporting a smaller 4.2% year-over-year increase in sales. Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) said its results were impacted by a withdrawal from DRAM manufacturing. More

TSMC Ramping Aggressive CPU Process Push
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/29/2008

Executives at foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) presented a surprisingly bullish picture for 2008 despite what CEO Rick Tsai said is a "severe macroeconomic picture in the United States." Tsai also described a plan to create a more robust high-performance process technology for processor production. More

Freescale Internal Fab Utilization Rate Drops
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/23/2008

Freescale Semiconductor (Austin, Texas) is looking for ways to boost its gross margins by bringing more production in-house. "The flow through to operating profit would be more impactful if we would build more products in our fabs," CFO Alan Campbell said. If front-end silicon production is separately considered, Campbell said 19% of Freescale's silicon is made externally, slightly higher than in previous quarters. More

UMC, Elpida Partner to Serve Japan-Based Foundry Customers
Business Wire, 3/17/2008

Elpida Memory Inc. and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) agreed that Elpida will provide its 300 mm wafer manufacturing capacity while UMC will contribute IP support and logic technologies. The joint effort, targeting Japanese foundry customers, will commence at Elpida's 300 mm fab in Hiroshima. More

Chartered Buys Hitachi 200 mm Fab in Singapore
Staff — Semiconductor International, 2/16/2008

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Singapore) said that it will purchase a 200 mm wafer fab from Hitachi Semiconductor Singapore Pte Ltd. for $233M in cash. As part of the deal, Chartered will gain $250-$300M of foundry business from Renesas Technology Corp. (Tokyo), which uses the Hitachi Singapore fab. More

Views on News: TSMC and the Reverse Temperature Effect
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 4/30/2008

Normally, CMOS chips run faster at cooler temperatures, but TSMC found the opposite effect at low temperatures for its 40 nm low-power (LP) process. At a typical operating temperature range of 85°C, the 40 nm LP process does run somewhat faster than the 65LP process. TSMC offers a 40LPG process to boost speeds for 3G cell phone chipsets, but it requires three more masks than the 40LP process. Blog