Posted on Tuesday, February 01 2011 @ 14:49 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
EE Times
reports TSMC CEO Morris Chang confirmed plans to build a 450mm fab:
Now, TSMC tipped its plans. ''Last week, (TSMC CEO) Morris Chang obsoleted the world’s 300-mm with the blast of a conference call,'' said G. Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research Inc., in a report.
''While it didn’t get much attention in the media, he said their first 450-mm line is planned for Fab 12 Phase VI. It will be for their 20-nm production ramp. According to Morris, 'The timing of the pilot line will be around 2013-2014. Our first 450-mm production line is planned for around 2015 -2016.' This is pretty much on schedule with the ITRS roadmap,'' Hutcheson said.
''The importance of this is that back in the 300-mm days, things really didn’t get going until TSMC announced a real fab. There was a lot of table pounding, but the supply base doesn’t get rolling until there are real orders. Orders are not real until there’s a fab in play,'' he said.
