Let's do it!Electronics Weekly's call to revive the UK semiconductor industry via the doomed Fujitsu and Siemens fabs has been warmly received by the industry – “We have all the ingredients all we need now is the conductor,” said Motorola's Dr George Bennett. David Manners reports Support for Electronics Weekly's call to make use of the Fujitsu and Siemens' North of England wafer fabs to revive semiconductor manufacturing in the UK has come from senior industry figures and from the government.
"I would be delighted to see it happen. We've got the design skills. We've got the skilled labour force. These facilities have tremendous potential - all we need now is a catalyst," said Dr George Bennett, Motorola vice-president and general manager of the company's East Kilbride wafer fab complex.
John Urwin of Edinburgh based fabless semiconductor Wolfson Microelectronics, said: "I'd love to see it happen. We could run the factory easily - we have the infrastructure, the skilled people and the plant management. I think a number of companies with a big requirement for silicon would have to combine to run the fabs together."
"Maybe we need to run these facilities as a joint concern," agreed Motorola's Bennett, "it has to happen - they cost so much."
A DTI spokesman told EW: "There's been quite a bit of discussion around the industry about this. We are looking at the idea and are considering it, but it's for the industry to take it forward. We're always interested in looking at any projects coming from the industry - but it has to come from them."
Malcolm Penn, chairman of Future Horizons, who advises the government on semiconductor issues, said: "The Siemens fab is going to be a gold mine in two years' time. If I had enough money I'd buy it myself."
Penn argued that the current dearth of investment would mean a shortage of chip production capacity in 2000/1. Companies would be able to save a year in getting to market by taking over the plants.
An alternative to being taken over by a group of companies, could be to run the the Fujitsu and Siemens fabs as a UK silicon foundry - on the lines of Chartered, TSMC or UMC. If UK design houses committed a proportion of their designs to the facility that would immediately provide an initial revenue stream to get them started.
"I can get delivered wafers from our Far East foundries in 28 days from order placement - a UK foundry would have to offer that or better," said Wolfson's Urwin, adding: "I think the factory bit is easy, the difficult bit is getting all the management information systems in place to tell customers that a 28-day turnaround is on-track."
Urwin reckoned that the type of processes which UK design houses would need are: "A robust mixed signal process - say half micron - and, for big digital chips with embedded DSP and RISC cores, quarter micron."
The fab would have to be run lean. Far East foundries are providing eight inch, half micron wafers with three layers of metal and two of poly for $800.
Future Horizons' Penn reckoned: "The best way would be for someone to set it (the Siemens fab) up and turn it into a foundry on the TSMC model - that's the classic model that works. Running a foundry these days is not that big a deal. The process comes with the equipment."
Industry veteran Chris Langdon proposed using the fabs as a nucleus for an indigenous UK semiconductor industry, arguing: "It's like when the Romans withdrew from Britain leaving behind towns, heated houses and baths, legal and educational systems etc - we really ought to make use of them."
Motorola's Bennett, concluded: "It would be great to see a UK company doing it. We just need someone who knows how to run silicon to come in as foundry manager. We have all the ingredients - all we need now is the conductor."