Samsung, Intel, TSMC to develop next-gen chip - by Navtej Kohli

Samsung is all set to join forces with Intel and TSMC to work on the next-generation chip. Navtej Kohli IT blog brings the latest industry updates.


The top maker of memory chips, Samsung Electronics, had decided to team
up with top rivals Intel and TSMC to develop next-generation bigger
silicon wafers to boost efficiency in chip manufacturing.


Samsung said that it would work with the US-based Intel Corp, the
world's top maker of semiconductors, and Taiwan's TSMC, the world's
largest contract chip maker, to help migration of manufacturing
standards from the current 12-inch silicon wafers to 18-inch discs that
would yield more than double the number of chips.


The South Korean company said the cooperation plan called for a first pilot line to be operable by 2012.


Samsung has been exploring the moves to pizza-sized silicon wafers to
help them grab market share as demand surges for gadgets such as Apple
Inc's iPod.


"Increasing cost due to the complexity of advanced technology is a
concern for the future," Mark Liu, TSMC's senior vice president of
Advanced Technology Business, said in a statement.


"Intel, Samsung, and TSMC believe the transition to 450mm wafers is a
potential solution to maintain a reasonable cost structure for the
industry."


The size of a wafer, the silvery disks from which tiny chips are diced,
is critical to make production more efficient. A new generation of
larger wafers typically comes out each decade or so.


The group is planning to cooperate with the whole semiconductor
industry in order to establish common standards through the
International Sematech Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) consortium.


Still, some analysts say cost is a major hurdle and the industry - from
semiconductor makers to the companies that make their equipment - needs
to agree on how to proceed.


A factory designed to make chips on 18-inch wafers could cost $10
billion or more to build, nearly triple the price of a current 12-inch
wafer factory.


Only the biggest companies, like Intel, Samsung and TSMC, have the
resources to be the first adopters of the new technology, while smaller
chip makers, such as those in China, are unlikely to buy into the
expensive plan soon, they say.