Globe Newswire: Micron and
LFoundry announce agreement for LFoundry to acquire Micron Technology Italia, Srl. and all of its semiconductor fabrication facility assets in Avezzano, Italy. Under the agreement, Micron will assign to LFoundry its four-year supply agreement with Aptina to manufacture image sensors at the 200mm Avezzano facility. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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The transaction not only preserves the facility and jobs in Avezzano, but it also supports a stable and long-term wafer supply for Aptina, further enhancing the value of Micron's equity holdings in Aptina," said Micron CEO Mark Durcan.
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| LFoundry/Micron Avezzano Fab |
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This news was already spread at the ISSCC2013 as a rumour ....
ReplyDelete"The transaction not only preserves the facility and jobs in Avezzano, but it also supports a stable and long-term wafer supply for Aptina, further enhancing the value of Micron's equity holdings in Aptina," said Micron CEO Mark Durcan.
ReplyDeleteThe statement is a little surprising, because you can't read it without inferring that had the fab not been sold, Micron was going to shut it down--even if it impaired their equity in Aptina. Wonder what kind of guarantees Micron provided for the "4 year supply agreement".
This news correlates with the annoncement of Aptina-TSMC cooperation. Is LFoundry on bankrupt???
ReplyDeleteIf Lfoundry was bankrupt, they could not afford to buy a fab.
ReplyDelete-DP
I think that LFoundry was indeed bandrupt, but it should have been recapitalized by the new investors. They may think that with this handle-over, they can capture some aerospace/defence market in Europe. Micro Fab should be the only CIS fab except STM.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was I think.... they closed some (or all, no idea) operations in Germany and moved our wafers to the France facility.
DeleteNew hope for Europe?
ReplyDeleteIn europe X-Fab also supplies CIS. I think Avezzano's fab is not particularly suited for aerospace & defence market because it is dedicated to high volumes
ReplyDeleteAll the CMOS Fab can make classic photodiode based sensors. X-Fab cannot provide PPD+TX process, it cannot be considered as CIS Fab.
ReplyDeleteAnd now LFoundry Rousset is in trouble
ReplyDeletehttp://www.leparisien.fr/marseille-13000/l-usine-lfoundry-de-rousset-en-redressement-judiciaire-28-06-2013-2936793.php