A joint venture between NXP Semiconductors and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation (VIS) has been created. Together, the two parties will build a wafer factory in Singapore under the name VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (VSMC).
The name VSMC follows the same nomenclature as TSMC, the Taiwanese chip manufacturer responsible for most of the world’s advanced semiconductors. This is not entirely coincidental: while NXP is an offshoot of Philips from 2006, its partner VIS is a spinoff of TSMC.
Making wafers
The joint venture is meant to become an important hub in the chip manufacturing process. Whereas ASML, for example, builds the machines to get semiconductor designs onto wafers, VSMC is one step in the process before that. Specifically, it will make the product that chip manufacturers put into ASML scanners for processing into a full-fledged chip. The new facility in Singapore will produce 300mm wafers, the disks of silicon on which hundreds of chips are manufactured at a time.
The plant will not be used for the very smallest (and thus the latest) manufacturing processes. Mixed-signal, power management and analog products will see the light of day in Singapore under VSMC. In doing so, the company will target the automotive, industrial, consumer and mobile markets.
Facility online by 2027
Converted 7.8 billion dollar will facilitate construction, with VIS initially injecting 2.4 billion and NXP injecting 1.6 billion. VIS will get 60 percent of VSMC, NXP 40 percent. Both parties will jointly provide an additional 1.9 billion dollar, while the rest will have to come from loans or third parties.
Construction will begin in the second half of this year, with the target finalization for construction 2027. From then on, VSMC will operate as an independent entity.
“VIS is pleased to work with leading global semiconductor company NXP to build our first 300mm fab. This project aligns with our long-term development strategies, demonstrating VIS’ commitment to meeting customer demands, and diversifying our manufacturing capabilities,” said VIS Chairman Leuh Fang.
“NXP continues to take proactive actions to ensure it has a manufacturing base which provides competitive cost, supply control, and geographic resilience to support our long-term growth objectives,” said Kurt Sievers, NXP President and CEO. “We believe VIS is well suited and fully understands the complexities involved in building and operating together with NXP a 300mm analog mixed signal fab.”
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