Faraday's client – Skymedi produced the world's first MultiMediaCard™ 4.0 chip using Faraday's 0.18um Structured ASIC Library

Hsinchu, Taiwan – August 20, 2004 -- Faraday Technology Corporation (TAIEX: 3035), a leading fabless ASIC and IP company, today announced its ASIC service client Skymedi successfully produced the world’s first MultiMeidaCard™ 4.0 (MMC4.0) flashcard controller chip, SK6802, by adopting Faraday’s 0.18µm metal programmable standard cell library (MPCA) technology. The new chip is in full volume production and has been proven by major vendors worldwide. >

Skymedi flash memory controller, SK6802, offers high data transmission rate at 20 MB/s read and 17 MB/s write. It also supports multiple bus widths (x1, x4, and x8 bit) at a dual-voltage operation mode (1.8V/3V). The MultiMediaCard™ 4.0 is backward compatible with all previous versions of MMC which makes it possible to operate across different host devices and mobile storage applications with ease.

Shrinking semiconductor process geometries and rising mask charges have placed a tremendous pressure on integrated circuit makers. To make the matter worse, the increasing time-to-market pressure and the need for constant functionality upgrade have made the standard-cell based technology extremely expensive and impractical. As a result many integrated circuit makers are reluctant to adopt newer technologies. MultiMediaCard™ is one of the typical examples of such dilemma. Flash memory card, by its nature, is multi-functional and upgrade intensive. The unpredictable flash memory quantity orders from worldwide vendors have forced Skymedi to constantly take on unreasonable mask charges and long wafer process time. Having realized the potential risk this may have on the IC industry as a whole, Faraday Technology Corporation decided to develop the MPCA library. The volume production of the MultiMediaCard™ is the living proof that the technology is indeed successful.

The MPCA technology enables users to create a chip-based platform. With mask changes in just three metal layers, designers can quickly and cost effectively achieve product version upgrade, function enhancement, bugs repair, etc. Faraday’s MPCA is comparable to the cell-based IC in performance and density and with programmability rivaling that of FPGA. 

Faraday’s MPCA technology is designed according to UMC’s 0.35/0.3µm, 025/0.22µm, 0.18µm, 0.15µm and 0.13µm CMOS standard logic processes. The MPCA adopts all the existing IC design flows, and hence there is no need to purchase new EDA tools. With MPCA platform, customers can quickly produce diverse product line and achieve the economical efficiency they need.

About Faraday Technology Corporation

Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading silicon IP and fabless ASIC vendor. The company's broad IP portfolio includes 32-bit RISC CPUs, DSPs, PHY/Controllers for USB 2.0, Ethernet, and Serial ATA. With more than 500 employees and 2003 revenue of $111 million, Faraday is one of the largest fabless ASIC companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also has a significant presence in other world-wide markets. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. For more information, please visit: http://www.faraday-tech.com

About Skymedi Corporation

The storage and multimedia solution supplier, Skymedi Corporation designs and markets industry-standard flash memory data storage controllers, digital imaging and audio storage controllers using its patented, state of the art controller technology. Based in HsinChu, Taiwan, Skymedi Corporation was founded in 2003. For more information, please visit : http://www.skymedi.com