Qimonda ends 200 mm supply agreement with Infineon

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 11/30/2007

To further focus its production on 300 mm capacities to allow it to better compete in the market, Munich, Germany-based memory maker Qimonda AG said today it will begin reducing capacities at 200 mm manufacturing facilities worldwide in order to boost the share of 300 mm capacity to approximately 90 percent by the end of the current financial year. 

In its Richmond, Virginia operations, Qimonda said the number of 200 mm wafer starts will be reduced by approximately 15 percent, as the company transitions switching capacities from 110 nm to 80 nm process technology, with the remaining 200 mm capacity to be continued to be used for manufacturing legacy products. 
At its Dresden site in Germany, Qimonda said it will discontinue the 200 mm contract manufacturing services by Infineon Dresden, the last wafers of which are set to enter production at the end of February 2008.

The companies said they are working to make the transition as smooth as possible as well as work out a way to share the costs caused by these measures.

Qimonda stressed its “cornerstone” activities in Dresden will be its 300 mm manufacturing and R&D, while Infineon in Dresden will focus on logic for applications such as automotive, communications or security, and to position the site as a “competence center” for chips manufactured at 250 to 90 nm process technology.

Finally, Qimonda said the contract manufacturing of 200 mm wafers by Winbond and SMIC have already or will be discontinued by the end of this year, even though Qimonda and SMIC expanded their foundry agreement to 80-nm DRAM trench in August and with Winbond in June.

In September, Infineon began cutting its stake in Qimonda, taking measures to reduce its equity interest in the company, which it spun off last year.

And last month, Qimonda launched a DRAM joint venture with Japan-based electronics maker Sony Corp., dubbed Qreatic Design.