Median pricing for 200mm production CMOS wafers increases at same rate as 300mm wafers QoQ

SAN JOSE, USA: The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has announced the results of its quarterly Wafer Fabrication & Back-End Pricing Survey, analyzing prices paid per wafer and mask set and for outsourced assembly services by fabless semiconductor companies and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs).

The results of the Q1 2011 Wafer Fabrication & Back-End Pricing Survey include:

* Median pricing for both 200mm and 300mm production CMOS wafers increased by about 5 poercent quarter-over-quarter (QoQ).

* After decreasing for two consecutive quarters, survey participants reported a sequential increase in the median mask set cost for 200mm CMOS wafers. Participants indicated that the median cost increased 21 percent QoQ and 20 percent YoY.

* The median cost for QFN packages with <=64 leads increased 3 percent QoQ.

* 90 percent of survey participants are getting the capacity they need, with the “Yes” percentage increasing by 13 percentage points QoQ.

The survey results provide detailed insight into wafer and mask costs using factors such as development stage, process geometry, number of metal layers, number of poly layers and epitaxial/non-epitaxial processes. Subscribers can also search assembly costs by such factors as package family, leads, units per week and substrate cost.

These results are published in GSA’s quarterly Wafer Fabrication & Back-End Pricing Report which includes a written analysis of the survey results, a downloadable MS Access database of all aggregated results, and interactive online results showing rolling average and median prices for four consecutive quarters by varying factors.