SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV has completed the construction of its new semiconductor plant in Rousset, France and has started installing the machinery that will produce microcontollers and smartcard chips. The French company anticipates production will start early next year, initially using existing 0.5 or 0.35 micron technology, which will be extended to 0.25 in the future. SGS-Thomson is spending around $800m on the new site, which is expected to produce around one billion smart card chips a year. The St Genis headquartered company has just published figures it claims prove its leadership in the smartcard chip space. The company sold $222m of smartcard chips in 1997, from an estimated $515m market, a 43% market share – just over 100 million units of microcontroller or MCU-based smartcard chips. Microcontrollers are progressively replacing analog controllers, and are present in devices such as digital mobile telephones, operating as the security and intelligence devices within chips. The new plant adds to SGS-Thomson’s existing smartcard chip producing plants in Italy and Texas, and an existing site in Rousset where 150mm wafers are produced using 0.5 micron fabrication technology; and sites in Phoenix, Arizona and Catania, Southern Italy where 200mm wafers and 0.25 micron technology is applied.
