Foundries News

• TSMC July 2007 Sales Report (Friday Aug. 10, 2007)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for July 2007: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$28,766 million, an increase of 13.9 percent over June 2007 and an increase of 4.3 percent over July 2006. Revenues for January through July 2007 totaled NT$164,964 million, a decrease of 11.4 percent compared to the same period in 2006.
  
  
• Cadence and SMIC Collaboration Validates RF Design Kit for Wireless IC Design (Thursday Aug. 02, 2007)
  Validation has included silicon correlation tests on representative design IP such as phase lock loops, focusing on simulation results and postlayout parasitics.
  
  
• Analog Devices and TSMC Bring 65 Nanometer Technology to Softfone Baseband Processors (Tuesday Jul. 17, 2007)
  With the application of TSMC’s 65nm process technology to ADI’s SoftFone® baseband processors, designs will benefit from lower cost and better power efficiency—important considerations for advanced multimedia applications in wireless handsets.
  
  
• Tower Announces Plan to Further Ramp Up its Fab 2 Capacity (Monday Jul. 16, 2007)
  The Company is exploring specific opportunities to significantly expand Fab2 capacity for advanced technologies at a low cost model; Signed LOIs with its Lender Banks and Israel Corporation to Secure Funding
  
  
• ATDF and UMC to Collaborate in Evaluating and Commercializing New Technologies (Thursday Jul. 12, 2007)
  ATDF and UMC will focus on specialty technologies - including nanotech and memory designs - that originate with small companies, university labs, and other organizations. ATDF will evaluate the technologies that match UMC's manufacturability criteria, while UMC will work with select innovators to evaluate the manufacturability and commercialization of their technologies.
  
  
• TSMC June 2007 Sales Report (Tuesday Jul. 10, 2007)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for June 2007: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$25,246 million, an increase of 0.6 percent over May 2007 and a decrease of 7.5 percent from June 2006. Revenues for January through June 2007 totaled NT$136,199 million, a decrease of 14.1 percent compared to the same period in 2006
  
  
• Melexis Collaborates with UMC to Deliver Chips for Automobile Applications (Thursday Jul. 05, 2007)
  Melexis and UMC today announced that their successful collaboration has resulted in the delivery of chips using UMC's 0.18um eFlash process and eFlash macro. The ICs are aimed at diversified automobile applications, including automotive sensors. Melexis and UMC have been cooperating on this product for several years, and the chip is currently being shipped to auto-module producers for assembly.
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Delivers the First Space Application SoC Product (Tuesday Jul. 03, 2007)
  Tower Semiconductor and Ramon Chips announced today the successful completion of a prototype radiation-hardened System-on-Chip (SoC) controller for space applications. The SoC is being fabricated on Tower’s Fab2 0.18-micron process technology.
  
  
• Qimonda Further Extends Foundry Agreement with Winbond (Wednesday Jun. 27, 2007)
  Under the terms of this agreement, Qimonda will transfer its 75nm and 58nm DRAM trench technology to Winbond’s 300mm facility in Taichung, Taiwan.
  
  
• Fujitsu Develops Technology for Low-Power, High-Performance 45nm Logic Chips (Monday Jun. 18, 2007)
  Compared to previous 45nm technologies on record, the new platform reduces the leakage current that occurs when current is wasted in wait states to one-fifth that of previous levels and reduces interconnect-induced lag times by approximately 14%
  
  
• Chartered, Tezzaron Team up to Deliver Ultra High-Speed Memory Solution (Tuesday Jun. 12, 2007)
  Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Tezzaron Semiconductor today announced that Chartered is beginning to ramp production of Tezzaron's unique ultra high-speed memory chips.
  
  
• Renesas Technology Develops Promising Technology for Implementing On-Chip SOI SRAM of 32-Nanometer Generation and Beyond (Tuesday Jun. 12, 2007)
  The newly developed technology uses SOI (Silicon On Insulator) technology, and individually controls the potential of the bodies − that is, substrate parts − of the three kinds of transistors composing SRAM, enabling SRAM operation margins to be greatly extended.
  
  
• TSMC May 2007 Sales Report (Friday Jun. 08, 2007)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for May 2007: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$25,093 million, an increase of 11.5 percent over April 2007 and a decrease of 6.3 percent from May 2006.
  
  
• UMC and ARM Partner to Deliver Comprehensive SOI Solutions for 65nm Technology (Monday Jun. 04, 2007)
  UMC and ARM today announced that a test chip built with ARM® SOI (Silicon On Insulator) libraries was taped-out successfully on UMC's 65-nanometer (nm) SOI process. The test chip consists of a set of ARM physical IP that uses a standard cell library, an I/O library and a single-port SRAM memory compiler. This tape-out at UMC represents the next step towards mainstream adoption of nanometer SOI technology for improved speed and power in complex system on chips (SOCs).
  
  
• TSMC Announces Active Accuracy Assurance Initiative (Monday Jun. 04, 2007)
  IP and library partners can use this data to enhance their IP performance, shorten their IP development cycle and deliver higher quality products to meet accuracy assurance standard. Design service partners, likewise, can derive from the same principle to ensure their service output comply with the standards that eventually delivers consistent quality benefit to the customers.
  
  
• TSMC Unveils Reference Flow 8.0 to Address 45nm Design Challenges (Monday Jun. 04, 2007)
  Reference Flow 8.0 supports TSMC's 45nm process technology with advanced standard cell, standard I/O, and SRAM compiler. Key features address new design challenges at 45nm, including statistical timing analysis for intra-die variation, automated DFM hot-spot fixing, and new dynamic low-power design methodologies.
  
  
• IBM, Chartered and Samsung Extend Integrated DFM Support for Common Platform Technology to 45nm (Monday Jun. 04, 2007)
  This is the second node, following 65nm, where the alliance partners have driven comprehensive DFM solutions, which marry technology and tool support from leading EDA and DFM suppliers with manufacturing data and models from the Common Platform technology foundries to help ensure the success of chip designs at this advanced technology node across all three manufacturers' fabs
  
  
• Chartered and Mentor Graphics Team to Offer Technology Design Kits for 65 and 90 Nanometer Common Platform Technology Processes (Thursday May. 31, 2007)
  The kits have been validated and are available now for use with Mentor Graphics ICstudio design platform. These open-source design kits enable IC design companies to rapidly set up their design environments and immediately focus on mixed-signal design and productivity gains on leading-edge technology from Chartered.
  
  
• Infineon, IBM, Chartered, Samsung, Freescale Expand Technology Agreements - Alliance Partners Will Collaborate to Develop and Manufacture Advanced 32-Nanometer Semiconductors (Wednesday May. 23, 2007)
  The joint development agreements between these companies will now include 32-nm bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology and joint development of process design kits (PDKs) to support that technology. Building on the success of earlier joint development and manufacturing agreements at 90nm, 65nm and 45nm, alliance partners will be able to produce high-performance, energy-efficient chips at 32nm.
  
  
• AMD Chooses TSMC 65nm Process for GPU Product Line (Tuesday May. 22, 2007)
  TSMC delivers two million wafers to AMD's Visual and Media Businesses (formerly ATI) in less than a decade
  
  
• austriamicrosystems expands non-volatile memory portfolio with ultra high reliability EEPROM block (Tuesday May. 15, 2007)
  austriamicrosystems’ Full Service Foundry business unit announced today a further expansion of its non-volatile memory portfolio with the availability of an ultra high reliability EEPROM blocks for its 0.35µm process family. The now available 3 kBit EEPROM block is fully automotive-qualified and eminently suited for harsh environment, making it ideal for designs in automotive, medical and industrial applications.
  
  
• Dongbu HiTek Adds ARM926EJ-S Processor to Intellectual Property Portfolio in Support of System-on-Chip Designs (Friday May. 11, 2007)
  Optimized for Dongbu's processing at the 130 nanometer (nm) node, the newly added ARM IP enables reduced time and cost in designing System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions that target the increasingly complex mobile handset and consumer products coming to market.
  
  
• TSMC April 2007 Sales Report (Thursday May. 10, 2007)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for April 2007: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$22,513 million, an increase of 2.7 percent over March 2007 and a decrease of 17.1 percent from April 2006.
  
  
• TSMC Board Approves Expansion of 45 Nanometer Capacity (Tuesday May. 08, 2007)
  TSMC's Board of Directors today approved capital appropriation of US$205 million for expanding 45 nanometer process capacity in Fab 12
  
  
• UMC targets CPUs, mulls commodity flash (Monday May. 07, 2007)
  As IDMs push to go fabless or fab-lite, UMC chief executive Jackson Hu says there will be more opportunities for the foundry to push into microprocessors and flash memory, a market he said the foundry ''cannot ignore.''
  
  
• TSMC Reports First Quarter EPS of NT$0.73 (Thursday Apr. 26, 2007)
  Year-over-year, first quarter revenue decreased 16.6% while net income and diluted EPS decreased 42.2% and 42.3%, respectively. On a sequential basis, first quarter results represent a 13.4% decrease in revenue, and a decrease of 32.5% both in net income and in diluted EPS. All figures were prepared in accordance with R.O.C. GAAP on a consolidated basis.
  
  
• Dongbu Electronics Leads Foundry Industry in Development of Image Signal Processor (ISP) Design Library (Friday Apr. 13, 2007)
  Available at no charge to Dongbu customers, new library enhances resolution of CMOS Image Sensors while reducing their development time by more than six months
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor and Paragon Communications Jointly Announce Development Completion of XNN-Based Power Amplifier Booster (Wednesday Apr. 11, 2007)
  Tower Semiconductor (Tower), Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM; TASE: TSEM), an independent specialty wafer foundry, and Paragon Communications Ltd., a provider of solutions for enhancing performance of wireless power amplifiers and systems, today announced the manufacturing of XNN®-based Power Amplifier (PA) booster.
  
  
• Jazz Semiconductor Announces 0.13-micron SiGe BiCMOS Process Designed for High Speed Wireless and Optical Communications Applications (Wednesday Apr. 11, 2007)
  Jazz Offers Cost-Effective 0.13-micron SiGe BiCMOS Process Platform with 200GHz Transistors for Highest Performance System-on-Chip (SoC) Applications
  
  
• TSMC March 2007 Sales Report (Tuesday Apr. 10, 2007)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for March 2007: on an unconsolidated basis, sales were NT$21,918 million, an increase of 6.5 percent over February 2007 and a decrease of 19.1 percent from March 2006.