Japan's SoC effort dissolved

Yoshiko Hara, EE Times
(10/28/2005 11:05 AM EDT)

TOKYO — Japan's 90-nm joint R&D research company, Advanced SoC Platform Corp. (Aspla), closed up shop and was quietly dissolved on Oct. 7.

Aspla's 300-mm shuttle service, one of its major operations in addition to 90-nm process development, was taken over by Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center (Starc).

Aspla was founded in July 2002 by Japan's major semiconductor companies with the mission to develop a standard 90-nm platform for volume production of SoCs using 300-mm wafers. It opened a 300-mm pilot line at NEC's Sagamihara works in April 2003.

The platform was intended to standardize fundamental, noncompetitive layers of semiconductor design and fabrication. Chip makers were to use the platform to develop their own products.

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