A New York adventure
But on the other hand the leadership of the company is moving from the broad and successful shoulders of Texan Kirk Laney to the widely experienced shoulders of a European executive Alexander Everke.
New York State, having laid out big bucks to attract the world’s digital IC manufacturers and host leading-edge research collaborations, is now turning its attention to “More-than-Moore.” It has offered to pay for a wafer fab to be built to AMS’ specification and then let the company rent the facility on a 20-year lease.
The plan is expected to cost AMS $2 billion but spread out over 20 years. What happens to the facility after that, who knows? For 20 years is a long time and company fortunes and identities are certain to change over that time and the plan trimmed accordingly.
One factor in New York’s change of emphasis is consolidation at the leading edge of digital semiconductor manufacturing. New York has probably pitched itself to all the leading digital chipmakers including Intel, TSMC and Samsung. So now it is turning to a relatively plentiful second tier of More-than-Moore foundries many of which are looking to Southeast Asia to make similar arrangements. But as New York has repeatedly demonstrated, money talks.
Building More-than-Moore manufacturing capacity is something Europe could have executed and represents a missed opportunity. It is inherently lower cost than digital IC manufacturing and Europe still retains much expertise in analog, mixed-signal, RF, MEMS and sensor technologies. Indeed Europe was advised to pursue such a course a few years ago but Europe has lacked the vision and willpower to do it so far.
The result is that New York has enticed AMS to go west with a plan that saves the Austrian company a lot of up-front cost and helps New York build its reputation as a leading region for semiconductor research and manufacturing. Meanwhile the assumption is that New York, the financial capital of the world, can afford to keep on offering largesse to all and sundry. The AMS deal is just one of many New York has on its books.
Meanwhile, in the last week stock indices have been bouncing all over the place but mainly downwards. The idea that China is no longer able to sustain the growth that has made it the engine of the global economy since 2008 appears to have got investors jittery.
We do live in exciting times.
Related links and articles:
AMS to spend $2 billion on New York wafer fab
AMS recruits chip veteran as CEO
AMS plans to rent a wafer fab in New York
Could AMS’ expansion be bad news for Europe?
Austria’s AMS is shopping for a wafer fab
CEO interview: AMS’ Laney on driving a sensor-driven business
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
