Chip making capacity is up but slowing

MEMORY FABS will increase capacity by 18 per cent this year and semiconductor output will growth by 11 per cent according to latest guesstimates.

Twelve new volume fabs are expected to start construction, which represents a fully operational total capacity addition of 1.53 million wafers per month (wpm) in 200 mm equivalents.

This year's biggest spenders on fab construction projects will be Flash Alliance (Toshiba/Sandisk JV), Samsung, Hynix, Rexchip (Elpida/Powerchip JV) and Powerchip. 2008 fab construction project outlay is expected to drop nine percent compared with the strong 2007 growth in 2007.

The figures are from the Fab Capacity Report from industry association SEMI. It said spending on fab construction and equipping projects are likely to see double-digit declines in 2008 as projects are pushed out to end of the year or into 2009.
Spending on equipping fabs in 2008 is expected to decline 15 per cent compared to the nine percent growth last year.

Declines in equipment spending by almost ten per cent for foundries, about 15 per cent for memory, and about 30 per cent for the logic/MPU segment are predicted. µ