ST muses 300mm wafer for analog

Bozotti was responding to a question posed at ST's annual analysts' day that asked the CEO to contrast ST's position with that of Texas Instruments. TI has been kitting out a 300mm wafer fab in Richardson, Texas, the first 300mm wafer fab to be dedicated to analog ICs. In theory manufacture on larger wafers should produce economies of scale and ultimately provide TI with a significant advantage over its competitors.

Bozotti said, "When we can we manufacture in Singapore, and we are increasing manufacturing capacity there from 16,000 wafers per day to 18,000 wafers per day." Alain Dutheil, chief operating officer, had pointed out earlier in the day that the fabs in Singapore are fully amortized and responsible for 40 percent of ST's output by area. "That's our competitive advantage," said Bozotti. But he added: "For the more advanced analog CMOS ICs on 90- to 130nm processes we can use Crolles. We have the option to exploit 12-inch capacity at Crolles. But it is not black and white," said Bozotti.

However, Crolles-2 fab is partly a research facility and is also a key site for ST to bring up leading-edge digital processes. The company is currently increasing capacity at Crolles-2 to 3,200 wafers per week or about 13,000 wafers per month and is running 32nm in R&D capacity.

- Peter Clarke
EE Times