![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
- Messages
- 1,713
Anonymous sources told Nikkei Asian Review that Foxconn, the largest manufacturer in the world, is getting into the chip making business. Foxconn, the Chinese city of Zhuhai, and other investors are reportedly dumping about $9 billion USD into a 300mm chip fab, and construction is set to start in 2020. The report claims the plant will initially manufacture camera sensors and chipsets for 8K TVs, but the sources also claim that the new facility is "expected to position Foxconn as a challenger to industry leaders such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co." Currently, TSMC's only real competitor in the bleeding-edge foundry business is Samsung, and whether Foxconn can compete with the higher end manufacturing processes remains to be seen. Thanks to EEtimes for spotting the article.
The Taiwanese company will make chips not just for its own use but for other customers, pitching it into direct competition with top players in the contract chipmaking sector: TSMC, U.S.-based Globalfoundries, Samsung Electronics' foundry unit, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. of China, sources told Nikkei. Foxconn is expected to form a joint venture for the project with Japanese electronics group Sharp, which it acquired in 2016, and the Zhuhai government, an industry source said. Sharp is the only Foxconn subsidiary with experience of chip manufacturing. However, the Japanese company stopped developing semiconductor technology when it ran into financial problems in 2010.
The Taiwanese company will make chips not just for its own use but for other customers, pitching it into direct competition with top players in the contract chipmaking sector: TSMC, U.S.-based Globalfoundries, Samsung Electronics' foundry unit, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. of China, sources told Nikkei. Foxconn is expected to form a joint venture for the project with Japanese electronics group Sharp, which it acquired in 2016, and the Zhuhai government, an industry source said. Sharp is the only Foxconn subsidiary with experience of chip manufacturing. However, the Japanese company stopped developing semiconductor technology when it ran into financial problems in 2010.
