Skip to main content

3G prompts 6-inch switch for Skyworks

3G prompts 6-inch switch for Skyworks

The Massachusetts-based firm is the latest GaAs company to unveil plans for a major capacity expansion - although it will not be building any new fabs.

Skyworks fab

Following in the footsteps of rivals Anadigics, RF Micro Devices and TriQuint, chip maker Skyworks Solutions is converting its GaAs HBT facility in California from 4-inch to 6-inch wafer production.

In a response to burgeoning demand from tier-one customers in the cellular handset market, Skyworks is also expanding its partnerships with foundries in Taiwan to meet the need for extra capacity.

"We are implementing a hybrid capacity expansion model to maximize our internal capabilities while at the same time leveraging external partnerships," is how Skyworks' VP of worldwide operations Bruce Freyman described the switch.

Unlike most of its rivals, Skyworks has long resisted the temptation to move to the larger wafer size, citing the fact that its fully-depreciated 4-inch facility minimized financial overheads (see related interview feature).

In contrast, Anadigics switched to a 6 inch platform as early as 1999 - a move echoed by TriQuint, RFMD and others.

However, Skyworks, which outsources epiwafer production to its key supplier Kopin, will not require any new buildings to support the expansion.

Again, this contrasts with the strategies implemented by its main rivals. RFMD, for example, has just revealed plans for a new 6-inch wafer facility in Greensboro, while Anadigics is already constructing a 6-inch fab in China (see related stories).

Freyman believes that this is the best option for Skyworks, as it will minimize the cost of the expansion.

"Our balanced approach is less capital intensive and more flexible, allowing us to meet customer demand without compromising gross margin or other key operating metrics," said the VP.

"These initiatives position Skyworks to support well over $1 billion in annual compound semiconductor revenue."

Demand for GaAs-based RF components and, in particular, transmit modules incorporating a variety of GaAs ICs, appears to be growing sharply at the moment.

That demand is being driven by the relative complexity and the high-linearity requirements of multi-mode front-end modules used in 3G cell phones.

These handsets are expected to represent the majority of phones sold in 2009, when the total annual market for all cell phones is expected to reach 1.2 billion units.

However, changes in chip manufacturing requirements can be unpredictable, and Skyworks clearly believes that relying on the flexibility offered by its foundry partners when necessary is the best option for meeting sudden surges of demand.

"This model...will cost substantially less than building a new standalone facility," explained Freyman.

This article is written by K. Balachander. He works for Philips lighting as a Planning & Development Manager.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freescale selling GaAs business to Skyworks

Freescale selling GaAs business to Skyworks The semiconductor giant has entered into an agreement to sell its RF power amplifier business to Skyworks, leaving a question mark hanging over the future of its "CS1" GaAs fab. Freescale Semiconductor has agreed to sell its GaAs power amplifier (PA) business to fellow RFIC manufacturer Skyworks Solutions. A spokesman for Freescale, which was acquired by a private equity consortium led by The Blackstone Group and The Carlyle Group in December 2006, confirmed that the deal had been struck, saying that it "represented good value for both companies". The agreement includes GaAs PA designs, intellectual property, inventory and product lines, although it does not include Freescale's "CS1" wafer fab, located in Tempe, Arizona, and the site for the company’s GaAs device production. As a result, a question mark now hangs over the future of that fab. Freescale says that it is looking at a number of potent...
Post a Comment
Read more

GaN brings weather radar into digital age

Weather radar is one of the few areas in which electron tubes still dominate solid-state electronics, but this is set to change thanks to a system from Toshiba. The world's first weather radar that uses a high-power semiconductor module, based on GaN, has been installed at Japan’s Nagoya University. Toshiba Corporation says that its GaN field effect transistors (FETs) allow it to manufacture systems without the electron tubes that have previously been used in weather radar transmitter modules. 21st century weather radar The initial 9 GHz radar has been made for Nagoya's Hydrospheric Atmospheric Research Center using Toshiba’s existing X-band GaN FET technology, and came into operation on November 28. The conglomerate will produce further individual X-band GaN radars to order and will also use its C-band FETs to make radars that operate in the 5 GHz range. A Toshiba spokesperson said that the development of semiconductor weather radar was made possible by its GaN products, becau...
Post a Comment
Read more

White LEDs offer radio-free wireless option

White LEDs offer radio-free wireless option A photonic alternative to WLAN has been shown to exceed 100 Mbit/s and could provide bandwidth in a currently unlicensed area of the spectrum, if it can conform to general illumination standards. Thanks to white LEDs, overhead lighting could soon be used to transmit data over a RF-free wireless connection. That's according to Joachim Walewski from Siemens Corporate Technology, who has modulated the light emission from white LEDs in order to make a 101 Mbit/s wireless link with a PiN diode photodetector. “With this, you can have interference-free communication,” Walewski pointed out, adding that the visible spectrum is currently free of any requirements for communication licenses. Siemens is currently exploring the technology in order to keep pace with a competing Japanese collaboration that expects to bring similar technology to market by 2011, Walewski says. His Munich-based team claims to be the first to have boosted ...
Post a Comment
Read more