IM Flash Technologies, the NAND flash memory joint venture between Intel and Micron Technology, is expanding its operations in Lehi, Utah, and adding 200 jobs, according to a statement issued Monday (June 20) by Utah's Governor and the state's economic development office.

The Indian government has established a committee to identify technology and potential investors that could set up India's first two commercial semiconductor wafer fabs, the country's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said. The ministry put the rough cost of the two fabs at US$5 billion.

Renesas Electronics America will sell its semiconductor wafer fabrication facility in Roseville, California, to Telefunken Semiconductors. The sale price is approximately US$53 million, and the closing for the sale is planned for May 2, 2011. Telefunken also will enter into a supply agreement with Renesas for manufacturing services at the Roseville factory.

Iwate Toshiba Electronics will start to ramp-up production lines from March 28. However, Toshiba Mobile Display (Saitama Pref.), a wholly-owned subsidiary and manufacturer of mid- and small-sized LCD displays, expects to take about a month to secure recovery of its manufacturing line. Toshiba has started to supply some products alternatively from the Ishikawa Works, the company's another production facility located in Ishikawa Pref..

Rumors circulated that Apple may have chosen to TSMC as their new fab in response to new competition from Samsung in the handset and tablet space. Based on analysis performed by UBM TechInsights Lab and Process Analysis personnel, we can say that the A5 in our possession is definitely manufactured by Samsung using their 45nm process.

The two Toshiba-SanDisk JV semiconductor manufacturing plants, Fab 3 and Fab 4, were down for a short period of time due to the earthquake and were back up and operational as of Friday morning, Pacific Time. SanDisk's current assessment is that there has been minimal immediate impact on wafer output due to the earthquake.

On Semiconductor plans to invest more than US$30 million to expand capacity and capabilities at its 8-inch wafer manufacturing facility in Gresham, Oregon. The facility remains the company's most advanced wafer fab - with current production technologies down to 0.11-micron.

The recession caused fab tool vendors to de-accelerate their investments and programs in 450mm. As a result, 450mm production has been delayed at least to 2017 or 2018, said Trevor Yancey, an analyst with IC Insights.

The fab tool industry has undergone a sea of change...

As reported, Unity recently ousted its chief executive and the company is moving from a fab to an IP model, according to sources. Unity has reportedly been on the block. And a fab alliance with Fujitsu has reportedly fallen through.

Fairchild Semiconductor will be closing the 6-inch manufacturing line in its South Portland, Maine manufacturing facility and transferring production to its 8-inch fab in the same site. The restructuring is expected to eliminate approximately 120 jobs at the facility over a nine-month period.

Intel will receive a grant from the Israeli government to build a 12-inch plant dubbed Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat. Intel promised to employ 3,100 employees at the fab and boost R&D investment.

Intel was expected to be a capital spending and production partner in the Singapore fab. However, Intel "is not participating" in terms of capital spending in the Singapore fab, said Micron CEO Steve Appleton. Still, over time, analysts said that Micron will go it alone in NAND and without its partner, Intel.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) plans to build one more "mega-fab" at a cost of up to NT$300 billion (US$10 billion). Construction of the fab, codenamed Fab 16, will start in 2014 probably at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP).

ASML now expects fourth-quarter bookings to be above two billion euro. "NAND flash memory investments for the high volume ramp of new technologies and foundry/logic commitments for new strategic fab projects are driving brisk lithography demand for 2011..."

For 2011, the fab tool growth will be driven by foundry and NAND to offset a "pause in DRAM" ...

While Intel is almost certain to do other foundry deals like the one announced today, we don't see the chipmaker actually pursuing a real foundry model. Rather, Achronix and deals like it will enable Intel to develop new markets with less downside risk, and will ultimately grow the company's IDM business through acquisitions.

The US$2.5 billion chip factory is producing chips on 12-inch silicon wafers, mainly chipsets to be used in desktop computers, laptops and servers. The factory is already fully operational.

Over the years, ATREG has been involved in the sale of several fabs, including for clients Qimonda, Atmel, IDT, Freescale Semiconductor and others.

Don't look now, but a fab tool downturn could be on the horizon.

There appears to be a sudden slowdown in the cell-phone, LCD, LED, PC and other product segments - a trend that impacts chipmakers. And chip inventories are on the rise. Still, VLSI Research has raised its chip and fab tool forecasts for 2010.

The report comes out after a similar study has been commissioned by Samsung Electronics, which itself has faced complaints that unusual clusters of cancers have occurred at its semiconductor factory in Gi-Heung, south of Seoul.

Applied Materials "has not made a dent in the mask shop," said Brian Trafas, chief marketing officer at KLA-Tencor. "They have a few systems in the fab, but it's a small share."

Toshiba has started construction of Fab 5 at Yokkaichi Operations, its memory production facility in Mie Prefecture, according to the company. The chip vendor also announced it has signed primary agreements with SanDisk for a new joint venture to operate the new facility.

IBM, Samsung and Globalfoundries are working with STMicroelectronics to develop and standardize advanced, 28nm process technology to ensure consistent production worldwide for electronics and device manufacturers.

Germany's LFoundry, an analog and mixed-signal foundry, has completed its previously-announced acquisition of Atmel's wafer fabrication operation in Rousset, France.

At the beginning of this year, it was clear that only a few companies would spend more than US$1 billion each in 2010. This has suddenly changed: some companies have announced record levels of capex plans.

The company will "definitely go into" China with a Taiwanese chipmaker by as early as 2012 and seek support from the China government, said Elpida's president Yukio Sakamoto in an interview. It is also accelerating plans to add a second manufacturing plant at Rexchip Electronics.

STMicroelectronics could make some analog ICs on 300mm wafers at its Crolles-2 wafer fab near Grenoble, France, according to CEO Carlo Bozotti.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) is still in talks with Texas Instruments (TI) about taking over the operation of a 200mm fab in Chengdu, China, according to sources.

"Advanced technology is not only about cost. At 45nm we have showed that we can go to high volume production very quickly at high yield..."

IM Flash Technologies has advertised dozens of jobs openings in the island city-state of Singapore for its 300mm fab. IM Flash Singapore is currently looking to fill 61 jobs, including engineering, procurement and recruiting positions which points that they are closer to ramp-up.

Globalfoundries Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany is undergoing several major changes, including integration of separate modules into an integrated facility. With a steep 32nm MPU ramp underway that includes high-k/metal gate technology, the fab is also now running foundry wafers for non-AMD customers.

Abu Dhabi-backed foundry Globalfoundries is planning to spend US$2.5 billion to increase its 300mm wafer manufacturing capacity by 50% in 2010, according to Udo Nothelfer, company VP and general manager of Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.