by Anton Shilov
12/10/2003 | 05:30 PM
FASL LLC – a joint-venture of AMD and Fujitsu – plans to ramp its manufacturing capacity for Spansion Flash memory products in 2004 as part of its long-term strategy to meet wireless market demand from AMD and Fujitsu customers.
<%BANNER[article]%>By the end of 2004, 110nm 128Mb equivalent capacities is planned to exceed 80% of the current output of Fab 25 and JV3, the company’s two leading-edge Flash memory fabs. The 110nm 128Mbit equivalent capacity is planned to be over 60% of total fab capacity output.
“Wireless solutions from our leading-edge customers demand high-fab capacity, with leading-edge Flash technologies, supporting state-of-the-art performance,” explained Amir Mashkoori, Group Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Business Unit for FASL LLC.
110nm MirrorBit technology is designed to support a major extension to the Spansion Flash memory portfolio with the addition of a high-performance, fully-featured, 256Mb 1.8V product for the wireless market. The planned feature set includes greater than 80MHz burst mode, fast access times and low energy consumption. Early silicon on this product, the Spansion S29WS256N device, is already in-house, with planned sampling in the first half of 2004.
“The far-sighted decision taken back in 2001 to convert Fab 25 from a logic fab to a dedicated Flash memory Fab is validated by the ramp in output from this Fab and the solid execution supporting 170nm in 2002, 130nm today and 110nm technology in 2004,” said Bertrand Cambou, CEO and President of FASL LLC.
As a Flash facility, Fab 25 is on track to deliver greater than 30% higher wafer output in 2004 compared to its output as a logic fab, at greater than 40% lower wafer cost. The 128Mb equivalent output on 110nm and 130nm from Fab 25 is planned to grow 8-fold by end of year 2004 compared to the last quarter.
“The inclusion of Fab 25 in FASL LLC together with JV1, JV2 and JV3 doubles our total capacity through 2004, establishing a manufacturing powerhouse in Flash memory in support of our customers’ business growth,” Cambou added.
In general, the move means there is growing demand for flash memory used in numerous consumer devices, including cell phones and PDAs. Additionally, bolstering manufacturing capacities is likely to positively affect FASL's market share.