Foundries News

• TSMC Reports First Quarter EPS of NT$1.40 (Friday Apr. 29, 2011)
  TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$105.38 billion, net income of NT$36.28 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$1.40 (US$0.24 per ADR unit) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.
  
  
• SMIC to Receive Investment from CIC (Tuesday Apr. 19, 2011)
  SMIC announced today a definitive investment agreement between SMIC and China Investment Corporation (CIC). Under the terms of the agreement, CIC will invest US$250 million in SMIC, acquiring 360,589,053 convertible preferred shares at HK$5.39 per convertible preferred share.
  
  
• TSMC March 2011 Sales Report (Monday Apr. 11, 2011)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for March 2011: On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$36.37 billion, an increase of 14.5 percent over February 2011 and an increase of 18 percent over March 2010.
  
  
• TSMC rolls smartphone/tablet process (Wednesday Apr. 06, 2011)
  During the TSMC 2011 Technology Symposium, TSMC rolled out what could be the industry’s first manufacturing process optimized for chips used in smartphones and tablets.
  
  
• TowerJazz Expected to Nearly Double Production Capacity with Proposed Acquisition of Micron Technology Wafer Manufacturing Plant in Japan (Monday Apr. 04, 2011)
  TowerJazz announced today it has signed a non-binding term sheet contemplating its purchase of Micron Technology’s fabrication facility in Nishiwaki City, Hyogo, Japan.
  
  
• GLOBALFOUNDRIES enters a broad strategic partnership with imec (Monday Apr. 04, 2011)
  GLOBALFOUNDRIES has signed a strategic long-term partnership on sub-22nm CMOS scaling and GaN-on-Si technology with the nanoelectronics R&D center imec.
  
  
• SMIC Announces 2010 Annual Results (Thursday Mar. 31, 2011)
  SMIC announces the audited consolidated results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2010. Sales increased by 45.3% from US$1,070.4 million for 2009 to US$1,554.8 million for 2010, primarily due to an increase in overall wafer shipment.
  
  
• SMIC Clarification Announcement (Wednesday Mar. 16, 2011)
  Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation today released the following statement:
  
  
• TSMC February 2011 Sales Report (Thursday Mar. 10, 2011)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for February 2011: On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$31.75 billion, a decrease of 7.8 percent over January 2011 and an increase of 8.8 percent over February 2010.
  
  
• UMC to Provide Foundry Services for Sanken Electric (Thursday Mar. 10, 2011)
  UMC today announced that it has agreed to offer manufacturing services to Sanken, a power semiconductor provider headquartered in Japan.
  
  
• RDA and SMIC Reach 55nm Joint Production Milestone (Wednesday Mar. 09, 2011)
  SMIC and RDA Microelectronics today announced that RDA5802N, an FM receiver chip using SMIC's 55nm Low Leakage (LL) logic process and adopting Innopower's IP solution, is now in risk-production.
  
  
• UMC Reports Sales for February 2011 (Tuesday Mar. 08, 2011)
  UMC today reported unaudited net sales for the month of February 2011
  
  
• TowerJazz Announces Availability of 0.18um Power Management EPI Platform Design Kit (Friday Mar. 04, 2011)
  TowerJazz today announced the release of its 0.18um power management EPI Platform Design Kit. The kit is an extension of its successful TS18PM platform which includes the industry’s only scalable Rdson versus breakdown voltage LDMOS which enables 10-40% smaller die sizes and faster design cycle times.
  
  
• Fingerprint Cards and SMIC Work in Collaboration to Bring the World’s Smallest and Most Power-Efficient Fingerprint Sensor to China (Thursday Feb. 17, 2011)
  Fingerprint Cards and SMIC today jointly announced that the companies will work in collaboration to bring FPC1080A, the world’s smallest and most power-efficient fingerprint swipe sensor optimized for mobile phones and tablets, to the China market.
  
  
• TSMC Board of Directors Proposes NT$3.0 Cash Dividend Per Share (Wednesday Feb. 16, 2011)
  The TSMC Board of Directors today adopted a proposal recommending distribution of a NT$3.0 cash dividend per common share. The proposal will be discussed and decided at the Company’s annual shareholders' meeting scheduled for June 9, 2011.
  
  
• TSMC January 2011 Sales Report (Thursday Feb. 10, 2011)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for January 2011: On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$34.42 billion, an increase of 2 percent over December 2010 and an increase of 18.1 percent over January 2010.
  
  
• CSR and TSMC Extend Collaboration to 90-nm Embedded Flash Process Technology and IP (Thursday Feb. 10, 2011)
  CSR and TSMC today announced they are collaborating on the adoption of TSMC’s leading edge 90-nm embedded flash process technology, IP and RF CMOS processes for CSR’s next-generation wireless products.
  
  
• TowerJazz seeks acquisitions (Friday Feb. 04, 2011)
  At a recent event, Russell Ellwanger, CEO of TowerJazz Inc., disclosed that the specialty foundry vendor is looking to make an acquisition, according to the company.
  
  
• X-FAB and MFI Combine MEMS Foundry Offerings (Thursday Feb. 03, 2011)
  X-FAB Silicon Foundries and MEMS Foundry Itzehoe GmbH (MFI) today announced they will join forces to address the market for high-volume MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and will combine their existing MEMS foundry capabilities and resources.
  
  
• Spreadtrum and TSMC Achieve 3G TD-SCDMA Baseband Processor Milestone (Friday Jan. 28, 2011)
  Spreadtrum and TSMC today unveiled their achievement on the first commercialized 40nm Time Division - Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) baseband processor.
  
  
• UMC Produces Customer CMOS-MEMS Sensor Products (Thursday Jan. 20, 2011)
  UMC today announced that the company has produced customer Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor products, with volume production scheduled for this year.
  
  
• NVIDIA and TSMC Ship One-Billionth GeForce Graphics Processor (Friday Jan. 14, 2011)
  NVIDIA and TSMC today celebrated the shipment of the one-billionth GeForce graphics processor designed by NVIDIA and manufactured by TSMC.
  
  
• IBM and Samsung Announce Joint Research into New Semiconductor Technology (Thursday Jan. 13, 2011)
  IBM and Samsung today announced they will collaborate on basic research into new semiconductor materials, manufacturing processes and other technologies. The agreement calls for the two companies to jointly develop new semiconductor process technology that can be used in a broad range of applications -- from smart phone handsets to communications infrastructure.
  
  
• GLOBALFOUNDRIES Unveils Industry's First 28nm Signoff-Ready Digital Design Flows (Thursday Jan. 13, 2011)
  GLOBALFOUNDRIES today introduced the industry's first 28nm silicon-validated signoff-ready digital design flows to help chip designers deliver the next generation of power-sensitive mobile and consumer electronic devices.
  
  
• TSMC December 2010 Sales Report (Monday Jan. 10, 2011)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for December 2010: On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$33.75 billion, a decrease of 5.5 percent over November 2010 and an increase of 10.8 percent over December 2009. Full-year sales for 2010 totaled NT$406.96 billion, an increase of 42.4 percent compared to 2009.
  
  
• Tower to Receive NIS 150 Million Non-Refundable Cash Grants from the Israeli Investment Center, a Governmental Agency (Monday Jan. 03, 2011)
  TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, today announced that the Israeli Investment Center Committee has officially approved grants of up to NIS 150 million (approximately $42 million) to the company, related to investments in fab2 capex over the years 2006-2011.
  
  
• austriamicrosystems upgrades its non-volatile memory portfolio with ultra high reliability and high temperature EEPROM blocks (Wednesday Dec. 15, 2010)
  austriamicrosystems Full Service Foundry business unit announced today a further expansion of its non-volatile memory portfolio for its 0.35µm process family. The entire EEPROM IP block portfolio now includes 14 non-volatile memories (EEPROM and/or Flash) starting with small blocks offering 20x8 bit and 64x8 bit memory size.
  
  
• TSMC November 2010 Sales Report (Friday Dec. 10, 2010)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for November 2010: On an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$35.72 billion, an decrease of 4.4 percent over October 2010 and an increase of 21.7 percent over November 2009.
  
  
• Intel confirms 450-mm fab plans (Thursday Dec. 09, 2010)
  Amid a flurry of speculation, Intel Corp. confirmed that its new fab in the United States is being constructed for the 450-mm wafer era.
  
  
• TSMC to reportedly boost capex, build new fab (Monday Dec. 06, 2010)
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. plans to increase its capital spending in 2011 compared to this year and is planning a new 300-mm fab in Taiwan that will open in 2015, according to reports emerging from the company's supply chain management forum.