Oct 22, 2001

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp ( TSMC ) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) are actively transferring capacity for the productio of opto-communication chips, according to industry sources.

TSMC and UMC are the top two providers of contract foundry services in Taiwan. They are using several advanced production technologies to crank out more opto-communication products, including LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon )complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and arrayed waveguide grating (AWG ) products.

Many local hi-tech makers began developing dense wavelength division multiplexer chips last year to meet the demand for opto-communication products worldwide. They have gradually adopted AWGtechnology to produce suchs products rather than the thin film filter (TFF) technology before.

TSMC said it is using spare capacity to develop and produce both display and and opto-communication devices. The company added that it has also used capacity at it seventh and eighth fab factories for bumping and color filter products.

Both TSMC and UMC are also developing mixed signal chip production technology. This new technology is vital for wireless telecom and opto-communication integrated circuit markets, the sources said.