Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. have agreed to site their fourth wafer fab for the production of NAND flash memories in Singapore. Since the formation of the Intel-Micron joint venture IM Flash Technologies LLC in January 2006, the companies have brought online a 300-mm NAND fabrication facility in Manassas, Virginia, and a Lehi, Utah, 300-mm wafer fab is on track to be in production early in 2007. The venture also currently produces NAND through existing capacity at Microns Boise, Idaho, fabrication facilities.
Intel and Micron said Monday (Nov. 6) that they intend to form a joint venture in Singapore to build and manage a NAND flash wafer fab that will come online in the second half of 2008. The fab would initially use a 50-nm process technology on 300-mm wafers. The Singapore JVs facility is expected to break ground in the first half of 2007. Micron already has a joint venture in Singapore — with Hewlett Packard, Canon and the Singapore Economic Development Board — for the production of DRAMs.
"We are quite pleased with the progress IM Flash Technologies has made in a very short period of time positioning us for future growth in the NAND marketplace, said Brian Harrison, general manager of Intel"s flash memory group, in a statement. "By executing to our strategy of ramping one 300-mm fab per year, we fully expect to become one of the top manufacturers of NAND flash memory."