News

Microsemi Begins Major Expansion of Its Linfinity Microelectronics IC Fab

September 11, 2000 by Jeff Shepard

Microsemi Corp. (Santa Ana, CA) said it has started what it called a major expansion of its Linfinity Microelectronics (Garden Grove, CA) IC fab. The company wants to complete the expanded fab by August 2001 to meet $75.0 to $100.0 million of revenues the company expects to earn from power management, RFICs and advanced optoelectronic circuits in GaAs, InGaP HBT, InGaAs and other compound semiconductor materials. Microsemi's current production capacity is about 10,000 wafers per month, with the new fab adding 4,000 to 6,000 wafers per month.

Microsemi's power-management division is currently running in excess of 2,800 wafers per week, the company said. The fab will provide the necessary capacity to support the rapid growth in its silicon power-management business as well as the future growth potential in GaAs RF and optoelectronic devices.

The expansion will boost the company's silicon production capacity by 50 percent to 80 percent, and the company expects one-third of its wafer production to be on GaAs in about 18 months, according to Microsemi Vice President and CFO David R. Sonksen.

"For approximately $5.0 million, Microsemi believes it will have one of the most efficient throughput, shortest cycle time, lowest defect density gallium-arsenide fabs," said Manuel Lynch, director of worldwide marketing and new business development. "Our proposed high-volume 4in gallium-arsenide fab will be able to compete favorably with 6in fabs that are costing competitors over $100.0 million to put in place."