Semiconductor manufacturers closed 72 wafer fabs between 2009 and 2013 and another nine fabs are scheduled to close in 2014, according to data compiled by market research company IC Insights.
Since mid-2007 the IC industry has been cutting back on older capacity on wafers of 200mm and smaller diameter in order to produce devices more cost effectively on larger wafers. Some older fabs have been repurposed for power and some more-than-Moore applications, such as MEMS production, but even analog circuit production has started moving to 300mm-diameter wafers.
One example is a 300mm IC wafer fab operated by Sony that closed, but was retrofitted and has returned to service manufacturing image sensors. Figure 1 shows that 40 percent of fab closures since 2009 have been 150mm fabs.
By geography Japan, North America and Europe have sustained the most fab closures, partly a reflection of the fact that their wafer fabs were older and smaller than those in Taiwan, Korea and China
Fabs expected to close or "on the bubble" in 2014 include Intel's Fab 17 (200mm) in Hudson, Mass.; International Rectifier''s 150mm Fab 10 in Newport, South Wales; three fabs (two 150mm, one 125mm) at Renesas Electronics; two NXP fabs (one 100mm, one 150mm) in Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and a 75mm wafer GaAs fab used by Panasonic Semiconductor to produce optoelectronic devices.
The closing of the two NXP fabs was announced a few years ago and was expected to be finalized in 2011, but was delayed due to strong demand for analog and logic ICs and some discrete components that are manufactured at these facilities. A 200mm fab continues to operate in Nijmegen.
As the cost of new wafer fabs and manufacturing equipment skyrockets, IC Insights expects more companies to close fabs and transition to a fab-lite or fabless business model in the coming years.
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Source:EE Times http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/more-wafer-fab-closures-expected-in-2014-says-ic-insights.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921632&vID=209&page=1
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