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Production starts at Motorola Tianjin China fab
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Friday, January 24, 2003
After several delays and false starts, Motorola Inc. said that its 8-inch fab in China has moved into "limited" production.
Motorola was originally supposed to move its 8-inch, 0.25-micron fab in Tianjin into production during the first half of 2002. But the production schedule for the company's MOS17 fab was delayed until in the second half of last year, due in part to the semiconductor downturn.
The MOS17 fab itself was officially announced in the summer of 2000 after years of planning. The facility is part of a planned $1.9 billion manufacturing complex that will include a fab and a systems assembly plant for wireless telecommunication products.
The fab, which is expected to produce chips for cellular phones, is still not in mass production--yet. "We went into production in the latter half of last year," according to a spokesman for Motorola's chip unit in Austin, Texas. "The fab is in limited production."
The company will increase the volumes within the fab as soon as business conditions improve, according to the spokesman. In general, the IC market is still in a slump, although Motorola announced some positive news this week.
Sales within Motorola's Semiconductor Products Segment (SPS) were $1.3 billion for the quarter, up 15% over the like period a year ago and 8% from $1.2 billion in the previous quarter, according to the results from the company this week.
The segment reported operating earnings of $18 million, presented on a GAAP basis, compared with an operating loss of $798 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $9 million, compared with an operating loss of $284 million in the year-ago quarter.
In comparison, Motorola's SPS unit achieved operating earnings of $13 million in the third quarter of 2002. The company attributed the results to its fast-growing wireless chip business.
This week, Motorola also said that the company's semiconductor unit would spend a mere $350 million in capital expenditures for 2003. However, the figure is 50% above the 2002 number.
The company is also in the midst of its so-called "fab lite" strategy, under which it will shift more of its chip production to outside foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. At the same time, Motorola is paring down its own fabs and chip-assembly plants.
By: DocMemory
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