TOKYO -- Fujitsu AMD Semiconductor Ltd., a joint venture of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Fujitsu Ltd., broke ground today at Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, for its third "megafab," which will be dedicated to flash memory devices.
The partners estimated the cost of the fab at approximately $1.5billion. Initial production is planned for the second half of 2001.
Construction of the facility, designated JV3, will begin
immediately, with the cleanroom expected to be completed by
December of this year.
The JV3 facility will encompass more than 100,000 square foot cleanroom space and be capable of producing 7,500 eight-inch wafers per week at peak capacity. AMD said the new facility will include a shell for future expansion into production of 12-inch (300-mm) wafers.
"AMD is committed to ensuring that our customers are well supported with all the innovative flash memory products that they require," said Walid Maghribi, group vice president and general manager of the Memory Group at AMD.
"With demand for our flash memory products exceeding capacity, AMD and Fujitsu have committed to an aggressive expansion of production capacity to meet high forecasted demand," Maghibi continued.
He said worldwide demand for flash memory products, measured in annual bit consumption, has been doubling at compound annual rate since 1994. "We believe FASL must continue to double bit production capacity each year for the next three years to maintain its position as the world's leading producer of flash memory devices," Maghibi said.
With that much demand, Maghribi added, 300-mm wafer capacity will be needed soon. "Based on current industry demand forecasts, I believe that we will need to begin construction of JV4 as a 12-inch facility some time in 2002," he said.
FASL recently began shipping flash memory devices from a facility in Iwate, Japan, and will begin shipments from a fab in Gresham, Ore., in the second half of this year.
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