Jul

10

More Semicon Companies Switch Gear to Solar

Filed Under Semiconductor Industry, Video Gallery | 1 Comment

Amid the soaring oil prices and impending energy crisis, more semiconductor companies are investing in solar. For examples, the world number one microprocessor maker, Intel capital has announcement its $38 million investment in Berlin-based solar module manufacturer Sulfurcell GmbH (Ref). This investment follows Intel last month surprising announcement to spin off a solar cell manufacturing company, SpectraWatt. Intel’s chip archrival IBM is also moving into the thin-film solar cell arena through a manufacturing partnership with TOK (Ref).

On the other hand, the world number one semiconductor equipment maker, Applied Material, has made one of its largest investment in Singapore. It broke ground for the construction of a new Singapore operations facility two days ago. The new 32,000 square meter operation facility in the Changi North Industrial Park will serve as a hub for Applied’s business activities throughout Asia. It is expected to be completed in late 2009. The building itself is solar-powered and capable of producing up to 350 kilowatts of energy or equivalent to powered 90 HDB homes (Ref). AMAT is also the first beneficiary of the newly launched Singpaore EDB’s Solar Capability Scheme (SCS). Applied already has a Singapore Building at the Changi Business Park and is expected to book nearly $1B in solar equipment orders this year (Ref). Below is an excellent marketing video from AMAT on solar manufacturing.

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Jun

24

Siltronic Samsung Wafer Official Opening in Singapore

Filed Under Semiconductor Industry, Video Gallery | 1 Comment

The Siltronic Samsung Wafer, a $1 billion joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Germany’s Siltronic, was officially opened last week by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This is one of the largest 300mm silicon wafers plant in the world. The plant, located at Tampines high tech park, will gear into high volume production in 2010 with a monthly output of 300,000 wafers. By then, it will provide more than 800 jobs, from engineering to clean room operators (Ref).

The opening of Siltronic Samsung Wafer is another major milestone for Singapore semiconductor industry which consists of 14 wafer fabrication plants including the world’s top three wafer foundry companies (TSMC, UMC and Chartered) , 19 chip test and assembly plants, and about 40 design centers. The Singapore Semiconductor Industry contributes about 10% global market share of semiconductor wafer foundry output. It is currently employing ~34,000 people and accounting almost 30 percent of the electronics and engineering section in Singapore. One of the biggest challenges for the Singapore Semiconductor Industry is to source for enough talents to support the ecosystem of this industry. This is not going to be easy as new emerging industries in Singapore, such as Solar industry and Renewable Energy Industry, are draining away talents from the Semiconductor Industry. In addition, semiconductor industry is considered a mature industry and young engineering graduates would prefer new emerging industries which offer more opportunities.

Below is a video clip on Singapore SEMICON 2008 held last month.

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