Europe, Japan, Korea will lag in fab building
SEMI tracks the planning and construction of wafer fabs and its list includes facilities and lines ranging from R&D and pilot lines to high volume fabs. On its list of 62 upcoming facilities China is building 26. China is followed by the Americas region with 10 facilities and Taiwan with nine. Most of these 62 are set to be volume fabs with only 7 described as R&D or pilot facilities.
Front-end semiconductor facilities and lines starting operation by region and year (all probabilites). Source: SEMI.
SEMI also breaks its tracking down by IC type due to be made. The list is dominated by leading-edge manufacturing with 20 foundry fabs and 13 memory fabs being planned or under construction. The significance of LEDs as a replacement for incandescent bulbs is attested to by seven fabs going updedicated to LED production. The relative scarcity of manufacturing plans for power semiconductors and MEMS reflects the small size of these die and the tendancy to manufacture of 200mm-daimeter wafers. Frequently such manufacturing is expanded by the repurposing of already constructed wafer fabs.
Front-end semiconductor facilities and lines starting operation 2017 to 2020 by product type (all probabilites). Source: SEMI.
Next: What are the chances?
While keeping track of plans SEMI is aware that such things can start out being very uncertain and then pulled forward or pushed back based on market conditions and company fortunes. It therefore makes an assessment of the probability of such plans happening to a given timetable. Probabilities of less than 50 percent are considered unconfirmed, while a probability of 80 to 85 percent means that the facility is currently in construction mode. Projects with 90 percent probability are currently equipping.
State of plans for 62 fabs. Source: SEMI
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Europe to rethink 10/100/20 chip project
China to dominate fab building with 10 planned
Wafer fab closures analyzed by diameter, region
TSMC’s 300mm Chinese wafer fab wins approval
Globalfoundries expands into Chinese wafer fab
AMS plans to rent a wafer fab in New York
Indian fab project hires former GloFo exec
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
