Infineon restarts 300mm expansion in USA
"This initial expansion of capacity at Richmond will allow us to accelerate the shift of production from memory to logic products at our 200mm plant in Dresden," explains Dr Andreas von Zitzewitz, Infineon Technologies chief operating officer.
After completion of the initial expansion, the site will be capable of processing 25,000 300mm wafer starts per month. The module will initially produce high performance, high-density DRAM chips using 110nm technology, with a fast transition to 90nm devices planned. Infineon will continue to operate the 200mm module now running at full capacity at the Richmond site.
When the initial expansion project is complete, the 25,000 300mm wafer starts will more than double total capacity for DRAM at Richmond. The headcount at the facility is expected to increase by 800 employees from the current 1750 employees to 2550.
The Infineon Technologies Richmond plant was founded in 1996 as White Oak Semiconductor, a joint venture between Infineon’s parent Siemens and Motorola. The site began manufacturing memory IC products in August 1998, less than 22 months after construction began on its first production module. Construction on the 300mm plant expansion began in 2000, but its completion was delayed as a result of economic conditions. Motorola pulled out of the joint venture in 2000.