Most Taiwan-based DRAM makers are withholding equipment procurement except for Winbond Electronics, which is looking for equipment to meet its process advancement demand.

As Winbond prepares to advance its DRAM production node from 80nm to 70nm, the company is said to be procuring equipment to fulfill this need in the first half of 2008. Yet, as the company focuses on process node enhancement, it does not plan to aggressively expand its 12-inch wafer production capacity in the near term, meaning that no meaningful equipment procurement will be made.

For other major DRAM makers in Taiwan, they are also unlikely to place big equipment orders in the first half of the year. Nanya Technology is currently housing a 12-inch wafer capacity of 27,000 per month with equipment procurement having already been made during late 2007.

Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), which is planning to grow output at R1 of Rexchip Electronics to 70,000 wafers per month in May, already prepared related equipment in 2007. Expansion at the second fab, R2, will only see completion of the fab building with a timetable for equipment move-in still being uncertain. PSC said there is no concrete timetable for equipment move-in for R2 and that will depend on industry trends.

ProMOS Technologies' two 12-inch fabs, (Fab 3 and Fab 4) in Taichung, already are running at a combined target capacity of 80,000 wafers. Company sources said ProMOS is in no hurry to install additional equipment to boost capacity.

By: DocMemory
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