Focused foundries

Abstract

Anyone with a few billion dollars, it seems, can launch a semiconductor foundry. But as the market matures and the field becomes more crowded, success by a newcomer may largely depend on specialization. That is the strategy of Communicant Semiconductor Technologies AG, a European foundry that planned to break ground in March. Headed by industry veteran Klaus Wiemer, the company will manufacture wireless- and broadband-communications chips using silicon-germanium-carbon technology.