Foundries News

• TSMC Ramps 40nm Volume Production to Promote Innovation as Foundries Assume a Larger Role for $300 Billion Industry (Monday Nov. 17, 2008)
  TSMC today announced volume production of the first semiconductor foundry 40nm logic manufacturing process with the successful ramp of its 40 nanometer (nm) General Purpose (G) and Low Power (LP) versions.
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Reports Third Quarter 2008 Financial Results (Thursday Nov. 13, 2008)
  Achieved Revenue of $58.5 Million, Second Highest Quarterly Revenue in Company’s History
  
  
• Jazz Licenses Its RF Design Enablement Technology to Fujitsu Microelectronics, Providing Time-to-Market Advantage for 90nm and 65nm RF CMOS Customers (Thursday Nov. 13, 2008)
  The alliance between Fujitsu and Jazz enables both companies to deliver high-performance Customer Owned Tooling (COT) foundry services to SoC customers for products developed using the Fujitsu low-leakage, leading-edge LSI manufacturing process at the company's 300mm Mie fab in Japan.
  
  
• TSMC October 2008 Sales Report (Monday Nov. 10, 2008)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for October 2008: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$28,371 million, an increase of 0.4 percent over September 2008 and a decrease of 10.6 percent from October 2007.
  
  
• Datang Holdings to Invest US$172 Million in SMIC (Monday Nov. 10, 2008)
  SMIC and Datang Holdings Pursue a Strategic Alliance Which Enhances Their International Competitiveness by Leveraging Both Companies’ Resources and the Rapid Development of TD-SCDMA 3G Business in China
  
  
• TSMC Adds New High Voltage Features to Advanced 0.13-micron Processes Aimed at High Resolution Display Drivers (Wednesday Nov. 05, 2008)
  The high-yield process features an Aluminum Copper (AlCu) backend metal scheme and is designed to meet energy reduction targets, while responding to the market’s demand for smaller line width options, reducing die size in next-generation high-resolution display driver ICs.
  
  
• UMC Announces Foundry Industry's First 28nm SRAMs (Monday Oct. 27, 2008)
  UMC utilized advanced double-patterning immersion lithography and strained silicon technology to produce the chips, which feature very small six-transistor SRAM cell sizes of approximately 0.122 um2.
  
  
• SMIC Received U.S. Export Licenses for 32nm Technologies (Monday Oct. 27, 2008)
  SMIC today announced that SMIC would officially enter the 32nm technology era in January 2009.
  
  
• SMIC Successfully Developed 0.11 Micron CIS Process Technology (Thursday Oct. 23, 2008)
  SMIC today announced that it has successfully developed a 0.11 micron CMOS image sensor (CIS) process technology.
  
  
• UBIDYNE Selects JAZZ Semiconductor's 0.18-micron SiGe BICMOS process to develop world's first pure digital radio system (Wednesday Oct. 15, 2008)
  Ubidyne’s Micro-Radio Enables Mobile Infrastructure Equipment Vendors Worldwide to Significantly Improve Performance, Flexibility and Coverage
  
  
• HDIC Cooperates with SMIC for Successful Debut of High Definition TV Transmission Chips during Beijing Olympic Games (Tuesday Oct. 14, 2008)
  SMIC and HDIC recently cooperated on SMIC's 0.13um process to manufacture demodulator chips based on China's terrestrial digital TV standard.
  
  
• MAPPER and TSMC Take Next Step in Exploring Multiple E-beam Lithography for IC Manufacturing at 22 nanometer node and Beyond (Monday Oct. 13, 2008)
  MAPPER Lithography and TSMC signed an agreement, according to which MAPPER will ship its first 300 mm multiple-electron-beam maskless lithography platform for process development and device prototyping to TSMC
  
  
• TSMC September 2008 Sales Report (Thursday Oct. 09, 2008)
  TSMCtoday announced its net sales for September 2008: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$28,252 million, a decrease of 8.9 percent from August 2008 and a decrease of 0.9 percent from September 2007
  
  
• Panasonic and Renesas Technology to Collaborate on Development of SoCs at 32-nm Process Node (Thursday Oct. 09, 2008)
  Building on the successful partnership on their joint process technology development since 1998, Panasonic Corporation and Renesas Technology Corp. are now collaborating on the development of elemental process technologies for systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) of the next-generation 32-nm node.
  
  
• Fujitsu Microelectronics, e-Shuttle and D2S to Develop Maskless ICs (Thursday Oct. 09, 2008)
  Fujitsu, e-Shuttle and D2S, today announced an agreement under which FML and e-Shuttle will adopt D2S' advanced design for e-beam (DFEB) technology-starting with a 65-nm Low Power (LP) library-to result in the creation of test silicon to refine and validate DFEB technology for the 65-nm, 40-nm and below nodes.
  
  
• UMC Reports Sales for September 2008 (Wednesday Oct. 08, 2008)
  United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) today reported unaudited net sales for the month of September 2008.
  
  
• AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Company of Abu Dhabi to Create Leading-Edge Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (Tuesday Oct. 07, 2008)
  AMD and ATIC today announced the intention to create a new global enterprise, The Foundry Company, to address the growing global demand for independent, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing.
  
  
• SMIC tips 40-nm, enters 32-nm talks with IBM (Friday Oct. 03, 2008)
  Chinese foundry vendor Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) here outlined its process roadmap, tipping its 45- and 40-nm technology for delivery in 2009.
  
  
• Yitran Communications and Tower Semiconductor Announce Production Launch of Yitran's IT700 PLC Module (Thursday Oct. 02, 2008)
  IT700 will be manufactured using Tower Semiconductor's advanced 0.18u NVM technology at Tower's 200-mm Fab 2
  
  
• TSMC's 28nm To Be a Full Node Process (Monday Sep. 29, 2008)
  Next generation 28nm process provides first comprehensive manufacturing platform featuring both high-k metal gate and silicon oxynitride
  
  
• SMIC Reiterates 2008 Third Quarter Revenue Guidance (Monday Sep. 29, 2008)
  SMIC reiterated today its revenue guidance for third quarter for the three months ended September 30, 2008
  
  
• Chartered tips 40-, 32- and 28-nm processes (Thursday Sep. 25, 2008)
  Seeking to take the lead in the foundry market, Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. has revealed its new roadmap, including plans to develop and offer a 28-nm process possibly by next year.
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Announces Signing and Closing of Definitive Agreements with its Lenders to Restructure Its Balance Sheet and Reduce $250 Million of Debt (Thursday Sep. 25, 2008)
  Agreements Will Increase Shareholders' Equity by $250 Million, Improve Future Cash Flow and Financial Results; Agreement Will Result-In a Gain of Approximately $130 Million, to be Recorded in the Third Quarter 2008
  
  
• Renesas Plans to Sell German Fab to Silicon Foundry Holding (Wednesday Sep. 24, 2008)
  Renesas Technology is planning a sale of its production facility in Germany to Silicon Foundry Holding (SFH), a newly established Germany-based company specializing in semiconductor foundry services.
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Completes Merger with Jazz Technologies (Friday Sep. 19, 2008)
  Merger Creates Leading specialty foundry with increased capacity and scale offering a comprehensive process portfolio.
  
  
• IBM and NEC Electronics Sign Agreement for Joint Development of Next-Generation Semiconductor Process Technology (Thursday Sep. 11, 2008)
  Under the agreement, NEC Electronics will participate in a joint development project for the next-generation core CMOS process, at the 32-nm node, and in advanced fundamental research for leading-edge semiconductor technologies of the future.
  
  
• TSMC August 2008 Sales Report (Wednesday Sep. 10, 2008)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for August 2008: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$30,995 million, an increase of 0.4 percent over July 2008 and an increase of 6.2 percent over August 2007.
  
  
• Chartered Updates Guidance for Third Quarter (Wednesday Sep. 10, 2008)
  Today Chartered updated its third quarter 2008 guidance, which was originally provided on July 25, 2008.
  
  
• Spansion Extends SMIC Agreement to Include 43nm MirrorBit(R) ORNAND2(TM) Technology (Thursday Aug. 21, 2008)
  Spansion today announced it has extended its current agreement with SMIC for the production of 65-nanometer MirrorBit NOR to include the manufacture of 43-nanometer Spansion(R) MirrorBit(R) ORNAND2(TM) Flash memory on 300mm wafers.
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Signs Memorandum of Understanding to Significantly Improve Its Balance Sheet and Financial Position (Wednesday Aug. 20, 2008)
  Will Reduce Debt by $250 Million, Increase Shareholders’ Equity by $250 Million and Improve Future Cash Flow and Financial Results