by Anton Shilov
11/14/2002 | 02:43 PM
Infineon Technologies and Nanya Technology Corporation (NTC) have signed final contracts concerning strategic cooperation on standard memory chips. The cooperation will help each partner to expand its position in the DRAM market while sharing development costs. The agreement provides for the joint development of advanced 0.09micron (90 nanometer) and 0.07micron (70 nanometer) production technologies for 300mm wafers. Under the terms of the agreement the companies have also set up a 50:50 joint venture for the production of DRAM chips and will build a new joint 300mm facility in Taiwan. This facility will employ the production technology developed jointly by the companies. Maximum production capacity will approach 50 000 wafer starts a month once the facility is fully operational. Initial production of the first 300mm wafers in the new facility is expected in late 2003.
The new 300mm semiconductor facility will be constructed in two stages aligned with the growth and development of the world semiconductor market. The first stage, which is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2004, will give the facility an initial monthly capacity of around 20 000 wafer starts. Completion of the second stage, currently anticipated for mid-2006, will increase capacity to around 50 000 wafer starts a month, making the new semiconductor facility one of the world’s largest. The total investment planned in the next three years amounts to around Euro 2.2 billion. Infineon and Nanya will each invest Euro 550 million in their innovative memory chip production project until 2005, the lion’s share of which will be used to ramp up production in 2004 and 2005. <%BANNER[article]%>
When operating at maximum capacity, the facility will create up to 1 300 new jobs in Taiwan. The joint venture will be headquartered in Taoyuen, close to Nanya’s existing production site. Subject to approval by the antitrust authorities, the joint venture will commence business operations on December 2, 2002.
New production technology, jointly developed at Infineon’s Dresden site, will be used in both companies and by the new joint venture. Further collaboration on the development of 0.09micron and 0.07micron reference products in Munich is also planned. Infineon and Nanya will between them commit more than 120 people to the development projects. The first 300mm wafer memory products using the new 0.09micron process will leave the production line in late 2003. Plans are also in place to transfer the 0.09micron production technology to 200mm wafers. Infineon has already begun technical preparations for 0.09micron production. This November, for example, it produced the first demonstrators featuring a new cell design and new materials.
The partners are developing the new production technology in concert using Infineon’s advanced DRAM trench technology for 300mm wafers, which the company licenses to Nanya, as a starting point. The switch to the smaller 0.09micron and 0.07micron geometries in chip design coupled with the outstanding area efficiency and high capacity of the trench technology will further enhance productivity.
The new joint venture in Taoyuen will join Infineon’s international network of DRAM production sites. The global integration of Infineon’s memory facilities ensures uniformly high levels of quality standards at all sites worldwide and a constant exchange of know-how and experience.
Infineon plans to drive their share of the global DRAM market up beyond the 20% mark during the coming years and become the third or fourth largest memory vendor in the world. In fact, Elpida’s new CEO also stated that his main goal is to turn the company into the third-largest DRAM maker in the world, that is about 20% of the market from the current 8 or 9% by the year 2005 (see this news-story for details). The battle on the DRAM field will be very hot – there are still Samsung Electronics, Micron and Hynix, who will not give up so easily. The new players are very definitive and they will try to expand very aggressively. I do not think they will be able to influence Samsung’s or Micron’s business much, their main idea is to compete with smaller players and win.
With today's announcement, I wonder what will happen to ProMOS, the joint-venture between Infineon and Mosel Vitelic. See the following news-stories for all the details on the matter: