Phoenix Silicon International Corp (昇陽半導體), the world’s largest supplier of reclaimed wafers, yesterday said it is investing NT$1.85 billion (US$60.59 million) to build a new plant in Taichung to accelerate capacity expansions, and to meet market demand.
The new plant, dubbed FAB3B, is expected to enter volume production in 2028, the company said in a statement.
It would have installed capacity of 600,000 12-inch wafers per month, Phoenix said.
Photo: Ho Tsung-han, Taipei Times
The firm also plans to double capacity at a separate Taichung plant, FAB3A, to 600,000 12-inch wafers per month next year, compared with 300,000 wafers currently, it said.
“The new capacity expansion plans would bolster Phoenix’s leading position in the global reclaimed wafer market and will also deepen its partnerships with major global customers,” the company said. “That will also give the company greater capacity, scale and flexibility to swiftly respond to global customers’ demand.”
With its capacity expansion efforts, Phoenix this year overtook Japan’s RS Technologies Co as the world’s biggest supplier of reclaimed wafers.
Phoenix in June told investors that a chipmaker uses about 2.7 reclaimed wafers for testing and equipment checking to produce one 2-nanometer wafer, compared with two reclaimed wafers used in the production of one 3-nanometer wafer, meaning that customer demand is greater than the company expected, hence the need for capacity expansion.
The company has also tapped into the advanced packaging market through providing wafer thinning services, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (台積電) 2-nanometer process technology is to enter volume production by the end of this year, leading its rivals in offering 2-nanometer chips.
Overall, the firm is benefiting from growing demand for advanced chips and high-bandwidth memory chips used in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications, Phoenix said.
About 70 to 75 percent of its reclaimed wafers are used for advanced chips, or those of 5-nanometers or smaller, it said.
Phoenix reported a 31.53 percent growth in revenue to NT$3.29 billion in the first nine months of this year, compared with NT$2.5 billion a year earlier.
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