Chips demand evaporates as chipmakers plot new fabs
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Austin still in play for $17 billion Samsung fab, experts say
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During Samsung Electronics Co. s first-quarter conference call with analysts on Apr. 26, UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois asked about the South Korean chipmaker s mass production schedule for its third-generation or 1z DRAM chips. 1z DRAM refers to the 15 nanometer (nm) node, Samsung s Senior Vice President for the memory business Han Jinman said in reply to the question.
His answer, unexpectedly specific, surprised the conference call participants. It was the first time since February 2015 that the world s largest memory chipmaker gave the exact number in public about its next DRAM technology node, or the line width of a circuit through which electricity flows.
Shutdown of Austin fab during freeze cost Samsung at least $268 million
Samsung lost at least $268 million due to damaged products after its semiconductor fabrication plant in Austin was shutdown during the February s Texas freeze, according to the company.
Samsung executives said the company s semiconductor business saw profits fall in the first quarter, mainly due to disruptions and product losses caused by the shutdown.
Samsung s Austin fab was offline for more than a month after it was shut down due to power outages during the freeze. At the time, the company declined to give specifics on how long operations were down, how much was lost in the shutdown or if there was product loss or damage.