Elpida Memory announced the completion of a new line at its 12-inch wafer fab (Fab E300) in Hiroshima, Japan.

The monthly 12-inch wafer production volume is expected to reach a capacity of 54,000 by the first quarter of 2006, which would provide the E300 Fab with the largest semiconductor wafer processing capacity in Japan.

Elpida began construction of a new facility to house the expanded line in June 2004 and construction was completed in June 2005, followed by the installation of clean rooms and production equipment, as well as several test-runs of factory operations.

Fab E300 started an average of 30,000 wafers per month in the third quarter of 2005. In November 2005, the Fab E300 handled 45,000 wafers per month, and during December 2005, volume is expected to increase to 50,000 wafers per month.

“Our first lot of wafers for mass production of DRAM using advanced 90 nm process technology started on October 17, 2005,” said Shuichi Otsuka, president of Hiroshima Elpida. Elpida intends to have advanced 90nm process technology accounts for approximately 70% of total monthly production at Fab E300 within this fiscal year.

In line with projecting the steady growth from its Fab E300, company president Yukio Sakamoto also forecast that Elpida will grab one-fifth of the DRAM market share in the fiscal year starting from April 2006, according to a Bloomberg report.

By: Docmemory
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