Matsushita continues Puyallup fab expansion plans

Electronic News, April 3, 1995 by Roy C. Webster

PUYALLUP, WASH. - Matsushita Semiconductor Corp. of America (MASCA), the manufacturer of advanced ICs that contributed $130 million in FY94 (ended March 31, 1994) to the $64.3 billion revenues of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., continues in the midst of a major expansion here.

MASCA purchased the former Fairchild cleanroom facility three years ago from National Semiconductor for $150 million (EN, Feb. 25, 1991) and it is now Matsushita's only semiconductor manufacturer in the U.S. to handle silicon wafer production from diffusion through limited-volume IC assembly and final testing.

A $60 million cleanroom and assembly expansion project, begun last year, is about three-fifths complete, according to the company, and it awaits completion following delivery of two Nikon steppers.

MASCA president Takashi Suyama, who recently returned from Japan where he met with Nikon, pointed out that with only four major stepper manufacturers worldwide, there is typically a one-year backlog for such equipment. MASCA, having inherited Nikon steppers with purchase of the plant, here, refuses to mix stepper technology.

MASCA currently exports about 50 percent of its 6-inch wafer production to Japan for IC assembly. It also is currently selling foundry slices to a few semiconductor customers in the U.S. and, hoping to increase sales, is "talking with others," according to Mr. Suyama.

The Puyallup product mix includes 1-Mbit DRAMs; 4-bit and 8-bit processors for various applications, including microcontrollers for CD-ROMs; CMOS ACIs for office and factory automation equipment markets and the foundry work. About 30 of the plant's total production is in memories and 70 percent in other devices, with some 40 of the MCU output for the CD-ROMs. Matsushita reportedly (EN, Dec. 20, 1993) invested $60 million in a 1994 expansion of the Puyallup wafer fab chiefly to target increased MCU production.

Mr. Suyama said 4M-bit DRAM production is scheduled for the second half of 1995, probably in October. In a highly automated environment, a workforce of 390 employees achieved production of 16,000 wafers in February, up from less then 10,000 in 1991 when employment was 900. MASCA's goal is to reach 19,000 per month by September (EN, Oct. 11, 1993), and another 20 employees will be hired by year-end. The Puyallup fab also is expected to be converted to handle some 16-Meg DRAM production in addition to producing MCUs and doing foundry work.

Each company within the Matsushita group is responsible for establishing and implementing its own individual policies/practices to suit prevailing local conditions. Under this decentralized, autonomous management style, Mr. Suyama in April 1994 added a marketing function to his staff and established the U.S. design center in Puyallup collaborating with a semiconductor design center in Milpitas, Calif.

"Many multimedia products will be developed in the U.S.," Mr. Suyama said. "There is a 5-10 percent per year growth in this market. By 1999-2000, 33 percent - $59 billion - of the world's semiconductor market will be consumed in the U.S. I would like to have our own devices for our own multimedia platform."

Matsushita Electric Industrial - as far as consumer electronics is concerned - normally is associated with products carrying the trade names of Panasonic, Technics and Quasar.