Micron Exec: Taiwan Semiconductor Will Be There For At Least 20 Years
Taiwan Semiconductor company will invest in the new Arizona plant in the United States. Taiwan's Gong Mingxin attended the opening ceremony of the new plant as a director of Taiwan Semiconductor company on the 6th. On the 7th, he visited Micron Technology's headquarters in Boise, Idaho, the United States, and had talks with senior executives. Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of global Operations at Micron, said, "Taiwan will remain at the heart of the global semiconductor industry for the next 15 to 20 years and will not be easily replaced."
Micron recently announced an increased investment in Taiwan. It is understood that Micron will not only launch its most advanced manufacturing process in Taiwan from next year, but also promise to increase investment in Taiwan. Next year, it will spend 80 billion yuan in Taiwan. Shen Rongjin, vice president of the Executive Yuan, recently mentioned that Micron Technology has increased its investment in Taiwan in order to win customers by taking advantage of the integrity and efficiency of industrial settlements in Taiwan.
On 7th, Gong Mingxin met with Manish Bhatia and Scott Gatzemeier, Vice president of the company and director of Boise Manufacturing in the US, to exchange views on Micron's R&D and investment layout.
Bhatia said Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem is the result of more than 25 years of accumulation. With the joint efforts of the industry and the government, Taiwan will be able to maintain its core position in the global semiconductor industry in the next 15 to 20 years and will not be easily replaced.
Gong said that thanks to Micron's continued investment in Taiwan, the growth of Taiwan suppliers is also Micron's growth. Some people see TSMC's move to set up a factory in the US as a weakening of its strength, but he would like to cite Micron's investment in Taiwan as an example of good Taiwan-US cooperation.
Micron's most advanced 1β DRAM will be produced in Taiwan next year
Micron, the world's third largest DRAM maker, has continued to invest in Taiwan. Micron announced on December 16 that it will launch its most advanced 1β process DRAM chips, which will be mass-produced in Hiroshima, Japan, and imported to its factory in Taiwan early next year. Micron is the largest foreign investor in Taiwan, with 10,000 employees in Taiwan, which is the largest number of employees of Micron. In the next two to three years, it is expected to add another 2,000 troops in Taiwan and continue to increase investment in Taiwan.
In the middle of this year, DRAM giant Taiwan Micron move fast! The new A3 wafer manufacturing plant in Houli, Taichung has entered mass production. Micron's A3 plant, which produces DRAM (dynamic random access memory), opened in 2019 and will be completed by the end of 2021 for the first time last week. It not only gave the outside world a glimpse of what the new, modern fab looks like, but also the new chairman.
Micron Technology, a major semiconductor manufacturer founded in 1978 in the United States, mainly produces various forms of semiconductor components, including DRAM, NAND flash memory, CMOS image sensor, memory module, etc. Today, the production base has expanded to 18 cities, with up to 40,000 employees worldwide.
In particular, although Micron is an American company, it also has deep roots in Taiwan. After the establishment of the Taiwan office in 1994, the company made a series of large-scale acquisitions of Taiwan factories after 2008, spending more than NT $200 billion to build a production base. The existing production capacity in Taiwan is abundant, including three wafer fabrication plants in Taichung, A1 / A2 (formerly Ruijing Electronics Plant), A3 (newly built), Taoyuan Wafer Fabrication Plant A/B (formerly Huayako Plant), and Taichung Advanced Plant (formerly Dahong Advanced Plant). The number of employees reaches up to 10,000, which is the largest number of foreign enterprises in Taiwan.
When you walk into the newly built A3 factory, you can see that there is OHT (Overhead Hoist Transfer Air rail handling system) running at high speed on the roof, and AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) is lifting and landing objects and making regular turns on the ground. One of the large machines, operated by a team of technicians in dust-free gear, one wearing lightweight AR augmented reality glasses, guides the other two.
OHT crane, AGV automatic car and AR glasses fully demonstrate the results of Micron's strong investment in intelligent manufacturing.
"I came to Taiwan in March this year with three goals: to accelerate the mass production of advanced technologies in Taiwan, to promote the growth of the local ecosystem and supply chain, and to cultivate more local talent," said Lu, who is familiar with the semiconductor process. His previous job was Intel's vice president of manufacturing and supply chain, responsible for integrated planning and management of new plant opening.
The first time Lu Donghui faced the Taiwanese media, he was not too shy. With a technical background, he can feel his excitement and expectation when he mentions that several major technological nodes are about to usher in breakthroughs. He said that the new A3 plant will be the first to mass-produce DRAM process node 1α (alpha) and produce 1beta in 2023. In 2022, Taiwan R&D team will conduct advanced research on 1γ (beta) to prepare for early mass production.
In line with Micron Taiwan's mid - and long-term development plan, Micron has revealed three projects to strengthen investment:
1. Increase the number of employees by 2000
With 10,000 employees, Micron Taiwan is not only the largest foreign company in Taiwan, but also accounts for a quarter of Micron's global workforce. In view of the continuous expansion of production capacity, the next 2 to 3 years will increase the number of 2,000 people, including the annual salary of fresh workers more than one million yuan, 15% discount of employees to buy stock (US stock) and other advantages, to force the labor market in Taiwan.
Two, advanced machinery stationed
In the second half of 2022, EUV EUV-3 will move into A3 plant, which will be Micron's first UUV-enabled DRAM process. Currently, the global DRAM manufacturing is dominated by three major companies, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, which already supply 94% of the market.
In 2020, SK Hynix followed Samsung in producing DRAM with its $100 million EUV machine, forcing Micron, which did not think it would have to use EUV, to join the race.
Overall, the A3 plant is an ideal location for Micron to develop the EUV process, as EUV manufacturer ASML continues to increase employment in Taiwan, increasing its support capabilities, and TSMC has the opportunity to share knowledge at the application level due to its adoption of EUV.
3. Pay attention to the surrounding land and prepare for production expansion
When asked by the media about the land purchase and production expansion plan, Lu Donghui said that there are always plans to optimize the existing space, but also pay attention to the surrounding land to prepare for the future. At the end of last year, Changhong Energy, a power battery manufacturer, announced that it sold the 6,300-pyeong factory land in Zhongkhouli Park to Micron, with a transaction value of 1.285 billion yuan, which is estimated to be the base for the "Micron A5 Plant".
As for the recent warning from research institutions, that memory prices are about to fall, Lu Donghui also responded directly to the economic issues. He said that since entering the semiconductor industry 22 years ago, the industry has never had a "boom" and this is the sixth cycle he has experienced, so it is not surprising that the industry is in a correction period. But in the long term, whether it's automotive, industrial or data center, the growth is still expected. It's a fast growing market.
