TFT-LCD Fabs: Is Bigger Always Better?

摘要

Manufacturers rush to build larger facilities, but the benefits may not always outweigh the costs and challenges. Are there practical limits to fab size? A new human generation takes decades to mature, but in the hothouse environment of the large-sized TFT-LCD business, new generations of fabrication lines (fabs) are sprouting up at a furious pace. TFT-LCD panel makers - already investing billions of dollars in fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-generation fabs - are beginning to discuss the possibility of building eighth-, ninth-, and even tenth-generation manufacturing facilities.