12-inch wafers to drive IC growth

Wafer etching and cleaning equipment provider Lam Research Corp. has said that 12-inch wafer production will be a key in pushing growth for the semiconductor industry.

Lam Research president Stephen Newberry said that companies shifting to the 12-inch wafer line are mainly contributing to cost benefits and increase in production value for these companies. He said that, for instance, if a chipmakers decides to migrate from making NAND flash products to 12-inch wafers, then per bit costs can be reduced by 45 per cent at most. These lower costs will also stimulate demand for NAND flash in the consumer electronics market.

Newberry added that this growth in demand for memory products, including NAND flash and DRAM, is contributing to Lam Research's business. The company said that more memory makers are adopting its production equipment.