Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Samsung gears up for big foundry thrust


Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(03/22/2006 9:30 PM EST)

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183702063

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After dabbling in the foundry business for several years, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is gearing up for a major thrust in the arena — a move that could pose a threat for providers in China, Singapore and Taiwan.
By year’s end, Samsung (Seoul) is planning to double the production capacity of its 300-mm logic fab from 15,000 to 30,000 wafers per month. Located in Giheung, South Korea, the fab is geared for the production of Samsung’s logic products and foundry services.

The company is currently manufacturing devices based on its 130- and 90-nm process technologies. It is also currently qualifying its 65-nm process, with production slated for later this year, said Ana Molnar Hunter, the new vice president of technology for its U.S. chip subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., based here.

“We have big plans in the foundry business,” Hunter said in an interview. “In the past, Samsung has done some foundry work, but it was not the company’s strategic focus. What we’re saying now is that the foundry business is a strategic growth engine for Samsung.”

The company, which has dabbled in the foundry segment for years, is considered an IDM (integrated device manufacturer) foundry. The company not only provides foundry services, but it also develops and sells its own chip products.

Still, it competes for business against the pure-play foundry providers like Chartered, SMIC, TSMC, UMC, among others.

In recent times, Samsung has been putting the pieces in place to become a bigger and more serious foundry player. Last year, it began ramping up the 300-mm fab in Giheung.

In addition, the company recently formed a process technology partnership with IBM Corp. and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. This allows customers to design to a common process and have access to manufacturing at all three companies, Hunter said.

Most recently, in a move to increase its foundry marketing activities in North America, Samsung on Tuesday (March 21) announced the appointment of Hunter, a former executive of Chartered and other chip makers.

Samsung has quietly assembled a foundry business team in the United States. Heading that team, Hunter is responsible for leading Samsung's foundry customer activities in North America.

Samsung did not break out its foundry sales and lists only one customer to date in the arena. As reported last year,, Qualcomm and Samsung extended their foundry partnership and the Korean company will start making the latest generation CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA) wireless chipsets for Qualcomm. The chipsets will be produced using 90-nm process technology, with sub 90-nm nodes being employed in the future, the companies said.