NIKON TO HIKE OUTPUT OF ADVANCED STEPPERS WITH 2 NEW FACTORIES

Nikon Corp. (TSE:7731) said Wednesday that it plans to build two factories in Japan for roughly 35 billion yen ($319US.9 million) to boost production of its next-generation semiconductor steppers.

One of the new buildings will be at the company's site in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture. The other will be constructed at Tochigi Nikon Precision Co., a Nikon production unit in Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture.

The two new facilities will have a combined floor space of around 16,000 sq. meters. They are scheduled to start operating in Dec. 2009, boosting Nikon's monthly output capacity for next-generation steppers from the current level of about 40 units to roughly 90 units by around fiscal 2010.

The factories will manufacture ArF immersion scanners, which are used to fabricate DRAMs with 50nm or narrower line widths and flash memory chips with 40nm or smaller line widths. The scanners feature functions that improve chip yields and productivity.

Nikon has already supplied its next-generation steppers to a Toshiba Corp . (TSE:6502) factory that makes NAND-type flash memory chips. While chipmakers have been slowing their capital investments amid falling memory chip prices, Nikon sees demand growing for next-generation steppers because they enable chipmakers to sharply lower production costs.

By boosting the output of these next-generation machines, the company aims to narrow the gap with the industry leader, ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands.

(Nikkei)