The world's most expensive semiconductor fabrication plant - at over US$14 billion - was announced at the ground breaking ceremony Thursday (May 7) by Samsung. Located in the Godeok Industrial Complex at Pyeongtaek City Gyeonggi-do Province - called "Samsung Semiconductor Valley" - in South Korea, Samsung will be building 10-nanometer FinFET semiconductors there.

The company will begin volume production of its 16nm FinFET Plus (16FF+) in the middle of 2015 and break ground on a new 10nm fab next year.

Globalfoundries and industry analyst Jim McGregor say production of a faster, smaller chip known as the 14-nanometer is on schedule at its Fab 8 factory in Malta, New York.

More than 450 employees at NXP Semiconductors wafer fab in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, have held a two-hour strike in protest at stalled wage negotiations, according to local reports.

The new 358,000 square-foot facility will become TI's seventh assembly/test (A/T) operation. Located on the same property as TI's existing wafer fab in Chengdu, the site will become the company's only end-to-end wafer fabrication and A/T facility.

GlobalFoundries is preparing to make chips for Apple's iPhone and iPad at its Fab 8 complex in Malta, according to a source close to the company.

Dongbu HiTek is not exactly a household name in the foundry business like TSMC, Globalfoundries and Samsung. But Dongbu, a company described by some as the industry's best kept secret, has been sharpening its strategy, honing its skills, and steadily expanding capacity in South Korea under Chang-Sik Choi, who became its president and CEO a year and a half ago.

The construction of Intel's first wafer fab for processing 450mm diameter wafers is "well underway," having started in January 2013, an Intel spokesperson tells EE Times.

TSMC recently held a job fair in upstate New York, helping to drive up expectations that the chipmaker is planning to open a chip fabrication plant in the area to build mobile processors for Apple.

When he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in 1987, Morris Chang recalls, "Nobody thought we were going anywhere."

The only thing that counts against Globalfoundries is that, being a newcomer with a new US fab, it has yet to build up a long track record of consistent, successful execution. This is one reason Apple would not wish to have all its processor eggs in one foundry, as it does now with Samsung.

There's now a rumor that the fruity iPhone maker will make its own chips, thus entering the fab industry thanks to a purchase of an unnamed chip fabricator. There's speculation that Taiwan-based chipmaker UMC was Apple's purchase of choice.

If Apple owned capacity at a fab, it would give the company the kind of control over both design and chip manufacturing that Intel has.

The original goal was two fabs and after the latest chip initiative was formed two years ago, it managed to finally shortlist two consortia to set up chip fabrication units in the country.

"Our checks indicated that Samsung planned to increase the 28nm node starts to a target level of 40,000-50,000 wpm in September, from 6,000 to 7,000 in May. But our recent checks are indicating that the semi material suppliers have been recently caught off guard with a sudden change of production plans at this site."

Increased spending in NAND and flash by Micron, LEDs by Philips and Osram, and continued investments by Globalfoundries will create new opportunities for equipment and materials suppliers in Southeast Asia.

Fab equipment spending for front-end facilities is expected to be flat in 2013, remaining around US$31.7 billion, increasing to US$39.3 billion in 2014 - a 24% increase.

Some local residents and council representatives showed up December 26 at a meeting to protest against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s plan to build its first 450mm wafer fab plant at the Central Taiwan Science Park.

Memory chipmaker Micron Technology is preparing to lay off about one third of its workforce at its wafer fab in Israel, according to local news reports.

Evidence is starting to mount that foundry chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) could be about to follow Globalfoundries in building a wafer fab in up-state New York.

STMicroelectronics is planning production stoppages at its wafer fabs in Crolles, France, and Catania, Italy, amid reports that CEO Carlo Bozotti will soon announce a reorganization of the company that may include a change of business model.

Applied Materials has has signed an enhanced two-year contract with Globalfoundries to service all Applied Materials equipment at its Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.

Trusted sources we've spoken to in the semiconductor industry have implied that TSMC is considering a partnership with Apple that would realign the manufacturer's technology roadmap and fundamentally alter the balance of power between the foundry and its other customers.

The first production semiconductor fabs to use 450mm wafers are projected to commence operation in 2017, according to Christian Dieseldorff, a senior analyst with the fab tool vendor trade group SEMI's industry research and statistics group.

The company also revised its calendar year 2012 industry forecast for wafer fab equipment spending to US$30-33 billion, compared to its previous expectation of US$32-35 billion, in line with the market changes.

Micron Technology has acquired Intel's 18% interest in IM Flash Singapore and the assets of IM Flash Technologies located at Micron's Virginia wafer fab. At the same time the scope of the JV between Intel and Micron has been expanded to include certain emerging memory technologies and Intel has prepaid US$300 million against future purchases of NAND flash memory.

Fab 1, the 300mm operation of Globalfoundries here, could be used for 20nm process technology and for processing 450mm wafers, according to Rutger Wijburg, vice president and Fab 1 general manager. Wijburg was speaking to a group of journalists being given a tour of the Dresden wafer fab on June 15.

The Intel wafer fab complex in Leixlip, Ireland, is set to receive investment to allow it to manufacture 14nm silicon and beyond, the company revealed in a presentation to analysts on May 10. The investment is expected to be more than US$1 billion.

At its Fab 8 campus in New York, Globalfoundries has begun installation of a special set of production tools to create TSVs in semiconductor wafers processed on the company's leading-edge 20nm technology platform.

More companies are being linked to the Indian government's plan to get one or more semiconductor wafer fabs constructed on the sub-continent. At least five chip companies have expressed an interest in supporting the project, according to a Hindu Business Line report.

Globalfoundres announced that its Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany has shipped a quarter of a million semiconductor wafers based on 32nm High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) technology. The milestone represents a significant lead over other foundries in HKMG manufacturing, it claimed.

Globalfoundries and IBM have announced an agreement to jointly manufacture advanced computer chips at both companies' semiconductor fabs in New York's "Tech Valley." The new products recently began initial production at IBM's 300mm fab in East Fishkill and Globalfoundries' Fab 8 in Saratoga County, and are planned to ramp to volume production in the second half of 2012.

After several years of rapid capacity expansion driven by high-brightness LED used in TV backlighting applications, a 40% decline in world metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) purchases in 2012 will reduce overall LED equipment spending for the first time in over five years.

Applied Materials announced that Toshiba has purchased its SmartSched predictive scheduling software to improve the capacity and efficiency of its photolithography operations. Installation of the first phase of this breakthrough software solution began in August at Toshiba's Fab 4 facility in Yokkaichi, Japan.

The East Kilbride Campus, which ceased production in 2009, was acquired by Clowes Developments (Scotland), an Edinburgh-based real estate developer. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We are seeing significant near term declines in wafer fab equipment spending, and as result our September quarter shipments, revenues and earnings per share will be well below our June quarter results," Lam Research CEO Steve Newberry said.

Toshiba and SanDisk on July 12 celebrated the opening of Fab 5, the third 300mm wafer NAND fabrication facility at Toshiba's Yokkaichi Operations in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

TI's Miho and Aizu sites and its Tokyo offices were affected by the initial magnitude 8.9 earthquake. Initial production lines at Miho resumed in mid-April, and full production will resume in third quarter. TI's fab in Aizu has returned to full production.