Intel and Japanese Firms Eye Renting Sharp's LCD Factory for Semiconductor Tech
On June 11th, TapTechNews reported that according to Nikkei news, the "Semiconductor Back-End Engineering (Back-End Process) Automation and Standardization Technology Consortium" SATAS established by Intel and 14 Japanese companies is considering renting Sharp's small LCD factory in Mie Prefecture for technology development.
The SATAS research association was established in May, aiming to reduce the use of manpower in the back-end process, promote the standardization and automation of the back-end process, and ultimately build a fully unmanned back-end production line, and plans to commercialize the technology by 2028.
In order to develop relevant technologies, the SATAS research association needs to build a pilot line to verify the operation of standardized and automated equipment on the pilot line.
In recent years, the overall Japanese LCD industry has shrunk, and more and more Japanese companies have started to find new uses for idle LCD factories. One of the important options is semiconductor factories:
For example, Mitsubishi Electric's new power semiconductor factory in Kumamoto Prefecture was rebuilt on the basis of its LCD panel factory; Rapidus's advanced packaging factory also leases the idle space of Seiko Epson's projector LCD factory.
Semiconductor wafer factories are similar to LCD factories in that they both have high requirements for the overall cleanliness of the production environment, and the clean rooms inside LCD factories can be reused;
In addition, both semiconductor wafer factories and LCD factories also require a large amount of water and electricity resources, and the existing related infrastructure can also be continued after being converted into a wafer factory.
On the Sharp side, under the background of consecutive two fiscal years of losses, this Japanese veteran technology company chose to reduce the scale of the display business and hand over 60% of the area of the SDP Sakai City LCD factory to SoftBank to build a data center.
According to a previous report by TapTechNews, Sharp also said that it will reduce the production capacity of its two small LCD factories in Mie Prefecture. The vacated production line area can just meet the needs of the SATAS research association.
In short, in this possible cooperation, the SATAS research association can reduce the construction cost of the pilot line, and Sharp will obtain a certain additional income, which will help it return to profitability.