STMicroelectronics to Ramp Up Capacity in Singapore

STMicroelectronics, one of the biggest semiconductor manufacturers in world, will be ramping up its current 15,000 6-inch-wafer capacity per day in Singapore to 18,000 wafers, according to Alain Dutheil, Chief Operating Officer. This is part of the company’s key initiatives to increase capacity in 2010, with most of the expansion to be done mainly in Asia. ST’s “huge” manufacturing plant in Singapore, Dutheil said, accounts for 40 percent of the overall wafer fab output by the company.

“We are establishing 8-inch capacity for smart power technology as well in Singapore, and we are very keen to start this as soon as possible,” commented Carlo Bozotti, President and Chief Executive Officer, ST. “Of course we had an 8-inch fab in Singapore for memory devices, but now it’s gone to Micron [through Micron’s Numonyx acquisition].”

ST’s front-end wafer fab complex in Singapore, Bozotti said, is the biggest analog and power fab in the world. “We started our wafer fab in Singapore in 1984. Now it is a huge fab; we have a very important engineering infrastructure there, and we rely on this engineering infrastructure. There is a deep knowledge of smart power technologies and analog technologies there as well,” Bozotti said.

Singapore is a very important center of excellence for ST, according to Bozotti. He said that it is now the headquarters of the company’s entire probe test. “ST’s Electrical Wafer Sort (EWS) activity is basically run in Singapore. And again, why there? Because we have built up during all of these years a strong engineering competence for testing [in Singapore]. You [definitely] need a strong engineering base,” he said.

ST’s Singapore plant also has a strong focus on R&D as well as advanced IC design. According to Francois Guibert, President for ST’s Greater China and South Asia region, the company employs about 600-700 R&D engineers in Singapore.

R&D stability
Despite the global economic crisis last year, ST spent $2.365 billion in R&D overall. This year, one of the company’s priorities, apart from cost reduction and capacity expansion, is to maximize the company’s R&D innovation.

“The plan for R&D is stability for some time” said Bozotti. “We plan to move on with this level of R&D for some time, and hopefully we can get revenue into our financial model targets.”

STMicroelectronics
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Carlo Bozotti, CEO and President, STMicroelectronics