Taiwan to beat Japan wafer capacity

By July 2011, Taiwan is expected to have the capacity to manufacture about 3 million 200mm equivalent wafers per month by July 2011, while Japan's capacity is forecast at about 2.8 million.

Source: IC Insights (Click on image to enlarge.)

Topping Japan's wafer capacity highlights Taiwan's rise from a place where back-end test and assembly was performed to a global semiconductor manufacturing powerhouse. The island is home to the two leading foundry companies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd and United Microelectronics Corp., as well as several memory chip vendors and other IC makers.

In 2006, Japan had about 25 percent more wafer fab capacity than Taiwan, according to IC Insights. By 2015, IC Insights projects that Taiwan will have the capacity to produce nearly 4.1 million 200mm wafer equivalents per month, nearly 25 percent of projected global capacity.

- Dylan McGrath
EE Times

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