Week In Review: Manufacturing, Test

Chipmakers
IC Insights has released the process technology roadmaps for chipmakers and foundries. GlobalFoundries, Intel, Samsung, SMIC, TSMC and UMC are highlighted.

GlobalFoundries has announced that the company’s 8SW RF SOI technology has delivered more than a $1 billion of client design win revenue since its launch in 2017. RF SOI is designed for RF switches and other devices in 4G/LTE and 5G mobile phones.

Rambus has announced the availability of its 32G multi-protocol SerDes PHY on GlobalFoundries’ 22nm FD-SOI platform. Designed to meet the performance requirements of high-speed wireline, wireless 5G infrastructure and data center applications, the SerDes PHY delivers data rates up to 32Gbps and supports multiple standards, including PCIe 4.0, JESD204B/C, CPRI, and Ethernet.

SK Hynix plans to build four fabs at a cost of $107 billion, according to a report from Reuters. The fabs are planned for 2022.

Wireless fabless chipmaker pSemi has named Sumit Tomar, vice president of product marketing, as its new chief executive, effective July 1. Jim Cable, the current CEO, will continue as chairman and chief technology officer. Cable will remain as global semiconductor R&D director for the parent company, Murata Manufacturing.

Fab tools and test
KLA has completed the acquisition of Orbotech As reported, with the acquisition of Orbotech, KLA expands its efforts in the inspection and metrology markets. In addition, KLA also enters into some new equipment fronts.

Advantest and W2BI have introduced the company’s new Micro Line Tester, a universal test product for 5G device conformance and certification.

Market research
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.89 billion in billings worldwide in January 2019, according to SEMI. The billings figure is 10.5% lower than the final December 2018 level of $2.10 billion, and is 20.8% lower than the January 2018 billings level of $2.37 billion. “January billings of North American equipment manufacturers declined 10% when compared to the prior month,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “Weakening smartphone demand and high inventory levels are eroding capital equipment investments, especially by memory suppliers.”