Combined from outside sources; Adam Connors, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 27 March 2002]
Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (GSMC), scheduled to start operation of its first 8-inch fab based in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in 2003, and ChipPAC, China’s largest end-to-end semiconductor packaging and service foreign investor and manufacturer, announced on March 26 a non-exclusive alliance in preparation for GSMC’s plant coming online.
According to a ChipPAC statement, the agreement will cover wafer probe, packaging, assembly, test and final distribution of GSMC’s semiconductor devices. GSMC will produce 50,000 8-inch wafers a month at 0.25 and 0.18-micron, moving on to more advanced technology as the first of four planned plants moves to capacity.
Ground-breaking began on the first, US$1.6 billion plant in November 2000, but delays have forced volume production to be moved to the start of 2003. US-based Silicon Storage Technology (SST) has already booked 30% of GSMC’s initial capacity for its flash memory products.
President and COO of GSMC, Dr. Nasa Tsai, said in the statement that GSMC will also target growth markets such as ICs for mobile phones, whose subscriber base in China is set to double by 2005. The number of mobile phone users in China jumped to 140 million people last year and 300 million users are expected for 2005.
Citing research from the China Center of Information Industry Development (CCID), ChipPAC said China’s IC consumption is expected to nearly triple by 2005, rising from $15 billion in 2002 to $41 billion.
US and South Korea-based ChipPAC has made vast inroads and investments into the China market, attaining, it says, manufacturing scale of 2.5 times greater than its next nearest competitor in the field. Its US$150 million investment thus far is set to double over the next three years. Dennis McKenna, chairman and CEO of ChipPAC, stressed that the company has relations with all of China’s major fabs and aims to keep its lead in servicing of products such as mobile phone and DVD chip scale packages (CSPs), aiming to move soon into packaging and testing of PC graphics and chipset devices for China’s manufacturers.
Related stories:
SST optimistic in booking 30% of GSMC’s initial capacity, despite delays (Mar 15)
Grace brings in Compaq, Oki Electric for 8-inch wafer development (Jan 16)
South Korea’s leadership in semiconductors and displays threatened by China (Jun 20, 2001)
