IC manufacturers close or repurpose 72 wafer fabs

Semiconductor manufacturers closed 72 wafer fabs between 2009 and 2013, and another nine fabs are slated to close in 2014, according to data recently compiled, updated and now available in IC Insights’ Strategic Reviews online database and the Global Wafer Capacity 2014 report.

Since mid-2007, the IC industry has been paring down older capacity (ie, ≤200 mm wafers) in order to produce devices more cost-effectively on larger wafers. A few fabs have been refurbished for production using larger wafers or for production of ‘non-IC’ products. One example is a 300 mm wafer fab operated by Sony that closed, but was retrofitted and has returned to service manufacturing image sensors for the company.

Figure 1 shows that 40% of fab closures since 2009 have been 150 mm fabs. Qimonda was the first company to close a 300 mm wafer fab after it went out of business in early 2009. ProMOS and Powerchip closed their respective 300 mm wafer fabs in 2013. Regionally, semiconductor suppliers in Japan have closed 28 wafer fabs since 2009, more than any other country/region over the past five years. North America (23) and Europe (15) also had double-digit fab closures (Figure 2).

                                              Figure 1.                                                                                       Figure 2.                                                 

Fabs closed or on the bubble in 2014 include Intel’s Fab 17 (200 mm) in Hudson, MA; International Rectifier’s 150 mm Fab 10 in Newport, South Wales; three fabs (two 150 mm, one 125 mm) at Renesas Electronics; two outdated NXP fabs (one 100 mm, one 150 mm) in Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and a 75 mm wafer GaAs fab used by Panasonic Semiconductor to produce optoelectronic devices.

The closing of the two NXP fabs was announced a few years ago and was expected to be finalised in 2011, but was delayed due to strong demand for analog and logic ICs and some discrete components that are manufactured at these facilities. A 200 mm fab continues to operate in Nijmegen.

As the cost of new wafer fabs and manufacturing equipment skyrockets, IC Insights expects several more companies to shutter older fabs and transition to a fab-lite or fabless business model in the coming years - news that makes foundry suppliers smile, and equipment and material suppliers a little bit nervous.

IC Insights’ Strategic Reviews online database provides detailed profiles of more than 200 of the world’s established and emerging IC companies. Each company profile includes an overview of business strategies, current and historical financial data, a listing of products and services offered, key management personnel and details about joint ventures and global alliances. In addition, a searchable wafer fab database provides locations, capacity and manufacturing processes employed, and/or a listing of foundries used, by each company.