The MEMS international foundry line is expected to start production in the second quarter, with a monthly production capacity of 5,000 wafers in the second half of the year

Recently, Saiwei Microelectronics released information related to investor surveys. The company's 8-inch MEMS international foundry line was completed and met the conditions for production at the end of September 2020. Since then, the company's Beijing production line has been adjusting and optimizing the production line in combination with the manufacturing situation of the internal verification batch of wafers, and continued to do a good job in personnel, technology, process, production, guarantee and other aspects, while promoting the completion acceptance of the entire factory building.

According to the company's current actual construction situation and production plan, it is expected to achieve formal production in the second quarter of 2021, and 50% of the production capacity is expected to be achieved in the second half of 2021, that is, 5,000 wafers per month, and 100% of the production capacity of the first phase will be achieved in 2022, that is, 10,000 wafers per month; 15,000 wafers per month will be achieved in 2023, 20,000 wafers per month will be achieved in 2024, 25,000 wafers per month will be achieved in 2025, and 30,000 wafers per month will be achieved in 2026.

Talking about the division of labor and positioning of the company's Swedish MEMS production line and Beijing MEMS production line, Saiwei Semiconductor said that according to the company's overall plan for the development of MEMS business, the Swedish and Beijing MEMS production lines are in a complementary relationship of division of labor and cooperation. Although the Swedish production line has the mass production capacity of 8-inch lines and its production capacity scale is also in a leading position among pure MEMS foundry companies, compared with IDM manufacturers and traditional CMOS foundries, the production capacity scale of the Swedish production line is at a medium level in the entire MEMS foundry market. The local production line after expansion cannot digest large-scale mass production orders, such as large-scale orders from the industrial and consumer electronics fields. After the Beijing MEMS production line operates stably, it can undertake larger-scale industrial and consumer electronics orders, provide process development and large-scale mass production foundry services, and can enter more complex process fields after accumulating certain experience.

After the Beijing MEMS production line matures, the company will continue to operate the Swedish production line. On the one hand, it can track international MEMS technology and industry development and maintain its technological leadership; on the other hand, it can assist in solving small-batch, high-process difficulty orders. The cooperation between the Swedish and Beijing production lines in process development is centered around customer needs, and will also be arranged according to the diverse characteristics of customers in different countries and industries. In terms of process development, the Swedish production line is experienced and comprehensive, and can almost meet the needs of various fields such as communications, biomedicine, industrial science and consumer electronics. It has a leading role in the development of some emerging MEMS application fields such as lidar and various smart sensors; and the Beijing production line is positioned as domestic substitution and large-scale mass production, so it will be inclined towards communications, industry, and consumer electronics in the early stages of operation, and then gradually expand to other products and fields.

In addition, even if the epidemic spreads globally, Saiwei Electronics' Swedish production line is relatively controllable. At the same time, the company has supported the continued expansion of the Swedish production line since the merger. After three years and a capital investment of more than 300 million yuan, in September 2020, Sweden's original 6-inch production line (FAB1) was finally upgraded to an 8-inch production line, and the original 8-inch production line (FAB2) has also completed the expansion. The total MEMS wafer production capacity has increased to 7,000 pieces/month, and the production capacity has continued to increase by 30% based on the end of 2019. 

Due to the high degree of differentiation and customization of different products, as well as the complex process and high difficulty of foundry, it is difficult to exert economies of scale. The yield of MEMS foundry is generally lower than that of traditional IC manufacturing. As of now, the yield of the Swedish production line of about 70% is already the leading level in the industry. As it has been in a state of upgrading and expansion in recent years, the potential of the production line has not yet been fully tapped. With the completion of large-scale upgrading and expansion work, production has gradually stabilized, and the capacity utilization and yield of the Swedish production line still have room for improvement in the future.

It is worth noting that in the field of GaN business, Saiwei Electronics has also made certain arrangements. The company has recently adjusted the equity structure of its two GaN business subsidiaries, Juneng Jingyuan and Juneng Chuangxin, and merged the structures and businesses of the two companies to facilitate the further development of GaN business. GaN is an emerging field, and it is also a branch field in which my country started not far from international semiconductor companies in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, with a small technology gap and a large consumption in my country. Judging from the development experience of the company's GaN business in the past few years (excellent performance of epitaxial materials, positive market demand and customer orders, and challenges in the production link), it may become a realistic choice to appropriately arrange the production and manufacturing links and eventually form an IDM model.