SMK to Commercialize Touch Panel for OEL
Advantest to Set up Consortium to Test Complex Semiconductor Devices
Sharp to Mass Produce 42-inch LCD TV
Fujitsu Moves PCB Manufacturing Operation to Vietnam
NGK Spark Plug to Beef up Production of LTCC Substrates
Hitachi to Release Power-Saving RISC Processor
Mitsubishi Electric Out Sources Advanced ICs

SMK of Japan plans to spend a total of 200 million yen ($1.67 million @ yen 120/$US1) on development of touch screen technology for use with OEL (Organic Electro Luminescent) flat-panel displays. The company has created a development team staffed with 10 engineers at its Yamato Plant, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and seeks to commercialize touch-screen OEL displays in 2004. Using proprietary printing technology, SMK also plans to internally produce the resulting OEL panels, with a primary target application being highly luminous touch panels for PDAs and cellular handsets.

Roughly half of the development expenditures will be covered by research grants received by SMK from NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), a Japanese government agency. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Advantest announced on July 18, 2002, that the company will participate in a test consortium, which has the goal of developing technologies to test complex logic devices such as system ICs at low cost. The company is already preparing for establishment of the consortium, in which it will work with major semiconductor manufacturers. The consortium will develop a test platform, which will be used over the next 10 years. The consortium -- called the Semiconductor Test Open Architecture consortium -- will be established initially by Advantest, Intel, National Semiconductor, and Wave Crest. The companies are soliciting participation by other device manufacturers and tester makers. One major early objective of the consortium will be the establishment of an open test environment.

With an accelerating trend toward fine process technologies in IC manufacturing, together with the introduction of new materials such as copper wiring, test makers are finding themselves compelled to spend huge amounts on R&D, which is putting tremendous pressure on their operations. Similarly, device manufacturers are forced to replace test equipment every few years, as specifications change. The consortium intends to reduce the financial burden and risk for both manufacturers and users of test equipment, by developing a non-proprietary open systems architecture that serves as a common platform for test technologies. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Sharp, Japan’s leading producer of LCD displays, will produce 42-inch LCD televisions at its new LCD manufacturing facility, the Kameyama plant, which is scheduled to begin production in May 2004. Sharp’s total investment at the Kameyama manufacturing facility is estimated at 100 billion yen ($833.33 million @ yen 120/$US 1), the largest amount that Sharp has invested in a plant in Japan. The breakdown of 100 billion yen is 67.3 billion yen ($560.83 million) for LCD manufacturing equipment, 29 billion yen ($241.67 million) for land, building and construction, and the remainder for equipment for the television assembly line. From Mie Prefecture and Kameyama City, Sharp will receive construction subsidies of up to 9 billion yen ($75 million) and 4.5 billion yen ($37.5 million) respectively. Sharp plans to employ about 1,000 people when production begins at the plant. However, with the majority of employees at Kameyama to be relocated from the company’s other two domestic plants, new hires from the local area will only number about 100.

According to reports in the Japanese press, by March 2005 Sharp plans to make all the televisions that it produces in Japan LCD TVs. At the new Kameyama plant, the firm will produce 25-inch to 42-inch large-format LCD panels. By producing both panels and end products (TVs) at one site, Sharp aims to reduce production and distribution costs. Sharp is going to adopt 1500 mm x 1800 mm LCD glass substrates in the Kameyama plant, the largest substrate size to be adopted for volume production. The largest glass substrate size currently in production is the 1250 mm x 1100 mm format used by Samsung Electronics in Korea in the production of its 40-inch model. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Fujitsu of Japan will spin out its PCB (Printed Circuit Board) operations effective in October 2002. The new company will concentrate on PCB technology development and will withdraw from PCB manufacturing in Japan. Fujitsu has been operating its PCB unit in its Nagano (Nagano Prefecture), Akashi (Hyogo Prefecture), and Kanuma (Tochigi Prefecture) plants in Japan. However, Fujitsu plans to terminate its PCB operations at Akashi and Kanuma plants and will consolidate operations in its Nagano plant by late-September 2002. The existing PCB mass production operation at the Nagano and Kanuma plants will be transferred to Fujitsu Computer Products of Vietnam (FCV). Fujitsu’s PCB personnel in the three Japanese plants currently number about 1,000, while the new consolidated PCB development firm in Japan will have only about 400 employees. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NGK Spark Plug Company, Ltd. of Japan has begun mass production of LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) substrates at its manufacturing subsidiary, Nakatsu Ceramic, in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. NGK has invested 1 billion yen ($8.33 million @ yen 120/$US 1) to install a new production line at Nakatsu Ceramic, with the objective of boosting its LTCC substrate sales from 5 billion yen ($41.67 million) (forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2003) to 12 billion yen ($100 million) for the year ending March 2005.

Demand for LTCC substrates is growing for applications in cellular phones. LTCC substrates are known for compact size and their low dialectic characteristics. The use of LTCC substrates for cellular phone antennas or switch modules can thus reduce transmission losses at high frequency signals to one-tenth what is experienced with conventional methods. NGK has been producing LTCC substrates at its Komaki and Ise plants in Japan. In the future, the company will designate Nakatsu Ceramic as its main manufacturing center for LTCC substrates, while the Komaki plant will focus on development. As communication devices including cellular handsets are increasingly moving to higher frequencies, NGK forecasts that orders for LTCC substrates will increase substantially in the future. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Hitachi, Ltd. will begin sample shipments of its new 32-bit RISC microprocessor, the SH7705, in August 2002. The new microprocessor, which competes with low-power designs from such firms as ARM of the U.K., integrates an SH3 core, and achieves 133-MHz performance with 200mW power consumption. Hitachi adopted a 0.18-micron process in fabricating the device, which incorporates 32-Kbyte cache memory. It is equipped with a USB controller and other memory interfaces. The SH7705 is targeted at applications in digital still cameras, PDAs, and color printers. The sample price is 1600 to 1800 yen ($13 to $15 @ yen 120/$US 1). [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Mitsubishi Electric of Japan will widen the variety of ICs that it out sources to Taiwanese chip foundry Power Chip Semiconductor. In addition to DRAM, which it had been producing for Mitsubishi in quantities of approximately four million per month, Mitsubishi plans to consign production of ASICs for image processing to its Taiwanese partner.

According to analysts in Japan, Mitsubishi Electric decided to outsource production of ASICs to Taiwan as the manufacturing technology of Power Chip improved. Power Chip will now license 0.15-micron process technology from Mitsubishi Electric as it works to expand its capabilities. Over time, Mitsubishi Electric will add to the set of ICs that it out sources to Power Chip. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]