Ericsson's VLSI mini-fab strategy; low volume VLSI fab to ensure short time to market for Ericsson telecom systems and products

Ericsson adopted a rather different approach when it planned a submicron fab at its Kista site in Sweden. Wafer manufacturing volumes were less important than time factors, since the principal role of the fab is to reduce the design and manufacturing lead times for the complex ASICs needed in the company's telecommunications products and systems. In this paper, the author describes Ericsson's rather unusual strategy for microelectronics sourcing.