Foundries News

• Veteran chip exec envisions Brazilian mega-fab (Thursday Feb. 04, 2010)
  The modest semiconductor fab that Brazilian startup Ceitec will open later this week is only a stepping stone to a 300-mm mega-fab within about three years, according to the firm's top executive.
  
  
• SMIC and SHHIC in Commercial Production of 0.162um Embedded EEPROM (Tuesday Feb. 02, 2010)
  SHHIC today announced that its design of a high-end contactless smart card IC has successfully entered into commercial production at SMIC using SMIC's 0.162um embedded EEPROM process.
  
  
• TSMC Reports Fourth Quarter EPS of NT$1.26 (Thursday Jan. 28, 2010)
  TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$92.09 billion, net income of NT$32.67 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$1.26 (US$0.19 per ADS unit) for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009. Year-over-year, fourth quarter revenue increased 42.6% while net income increased 162.5% and diluted EPS increased 162.7%.
  
  
• Qualcomm and TSMC Collaborating on 28nm Process Technology (Friday Jan. 08, 2010)
  Qualcomm today announced that the Company is working closely with foundry partner TSMC on 28 nanometer (nm) process technology.
  
  
• TSMC December 2009 Sales Report (Friday Jan. 08, 2010)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for December 2009: on an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$30.47 billion, an increase of 3.8 percent over November 2009 and an increase of 131.5 percent over December 2008.
  
  
• GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Qualcomm Intend to Collaborate on the Development of Leading-Edge Technology and Pursue a High-Volume Manufacturing Engagement (Thursday Jan. 07, 2010)
  Initially, GLOBALFOUNDRIES intends to provide Qualcomm with access to leading-edge 45nm Low Power (LP) and 28nm (LP) technologies with an intended collaboration on future advanced process nodes.
  
  
• TSMC Helps LSI Reduce Leakage 25 Percent on Next Generation Product (Wednesday Jan. 06, 2010)
  TSMC today announced that LSI Corporation achieved over 25% overall leakage reduction in a next-generation product by implementing TSMC’s PowerTrim power optimization technology on the company’s 65nm low power (LP) process.
  
  
• TowerJazz Revises Fourth Quarter Guidance (Monday Dec. 21, 2009)
  
  
  
• ATIC's Acquisitation of Chartered Becomes Effective Today (Friday Dec. 18, 2009)
  Advanced Technology Investment Company LLC (ATIC) of Abu Dhabi and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Chartered) of Singapore announced that ATIC’s acquisition of Chartered becomes effective today.
  
  
• Chartered Begins Next Phase of Equipment Move-In at Fab 7 in Support of Planned Capacity Expansion for Leading-Edge Processes (Thursday Dec. 17, 2009)
  Chartered today announced it has begun the next phase of expansion, equipment move-in, and installation for its most advanced manufacturing facility, Fab 7 - a 300-millimeter (mm) wafer fab.
  
  
• VT Silicon Selects TowerJazz for World's First Fully Integrated 4G RF Front End IC (Monday Dec. 14, 2009)
  VT Silicon today announced it has selected TowerJazz to be its manufacturing partner for the world’s first silicon 4G RF Front End IC capable of meeting the stringent operating requirements of 4G mobile devices.
  
  
• TSMC November 2009 Sales Report (Friday Dec. 11, 2009)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for November 2009: on an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$29.35 billion, an increase of 0.6 percent over October 2009 and an increase of 52.1 percent over November 2008.
  
  
• X-FAB Launches Strategic Third-Party IP and Design Partner Network; Expands In-House Technical Service Support (Tuesday Dec. 08, 2009)
  X-FAB Silicon Foundries today announced new strategic and technical customer support services that speed time-to-market, optimize supply chain organization, provide faster access to technical advice, and offer cost-savings for business unit design managers, project managers and foundry interface managers.
  
  
• TSMC Launches Automotive Process Qualification Specification and Service Package in China Market (Friday Nov. 27, 2009)
  TSMC today announced that it plans to launch the automotive industry’s first process qualification specification and service package for automotive-grade semiconductor manufacturing at the China IC Design Conference being held in Xiamen on December 2.
  
  
• TowerJazz Signs Definitive Agreement with Asian Entity to Provide Know-How, Training, and Turnkey Manufacturing Solutions at a Revenue of US $130 Million (Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009)
  TowerJazz today announced the signing of a definitive agreement with an Asian entity, in furtherance of the company's corporate strategy to penetrate the Asian markets and to leverage its manufacturing know-how and assets to expand its business in this region.
  
  
• TSMC October 2009 Sales Report (Tuesday Nov. 10, 2009)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for October 2009: on an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$29.18 billion, an increase of 4.1 percent over September 2009 and an increase of 2.9 percent over October 2008. Revenues for January through October 2009 totaled NT$225.93 billion, a decrease of 21.9 percent compared to the same period in 2008.
  
  
• SMIC Settles All Pending Lawsuits with TSMC: Anticipates No Disruption to Customers (Tuesday Nov. 10, 2009)
  SMIC today announced that it entered into a settlement agreement with TSMC to resolve all pending lawsuits between the parties, including the legal action filed by TSMC in California for which a verdict was returned by the jury against SMIC on 4 November 2009 and the legal action filed by SMIC in Beijing.
  
  
• Analysts: TSMC still faces 40-nm problems (Monday Nov. 09, 2009)
  Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) is still having yield issues with its 40-nm process, according to analysts.
  
  
• Infineon and TSMC Extend Technology and Production Partnership Agreement; Will Jointly Develop 65nm Embedded Flash Process Technology For Automotive and Chip Card Applications (Thursday Nov. 05, 2009)
  Infineon and TSMC today announced that they are extending their development and production partnership to a 65nanometer (nm) embedded flash (eFlash) process technology targeting next generation automotive, chip card and security applications.
  
  
• ATIC's Acquisition Bid Approved by Chartered Shareholders (Wednesday Nov. 04, 2009)
  Advanced Technology Investment Company and Chartered announced that Chartered shareholders today voted in favor of ATIC's offer to acquire Chartered.
  
  
• Tower and Jazz Semiconductor Announce Major Achievements in First Year of Merger (Tuesday Nov. 03, 2009)
  Tower Semiconductor and Jazz Semiconductor today announced major milestones achieved in the first year of the merger as well as the re-branding as TowerJazz through its “One Company, Twice as Strong” campaign.
  
  
• Ruiz to Step Down as GLOBALFOUNDRIES Chairman (Monday Nov. 02, 2009)
  Hector Ruiz, chairman of the GLOBALFOUNDRIES board of directors, will take a voluntary leave of absence effective immediately before resigning from the company in January, the company’s board announced today.
  
  
• TSMC Reports Third Quarter EPS of NT$1.18 (Thursday Oct. 29, 2009)
  TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$89.94 billion, net income of NT$30.55 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$1.18 (US$0.18 per ADS unit) for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. Year-over-year, third quarter revenue decreased 3.3% while net income decreased 0.1% and diluted EPS increased 0.3%.
  
  
• SMIC and Cadence Announce the Availability of 65-Nanometer Low power Reference Flow 4.0 (Thursday Oct. 29, 2009)
  Cadence today announced that it has delivered a comprehensive low-power design flow for engineers targeting the 65-nanometer process at SMIC.
  
  
• CMOSIS Ramps First Off-the-Shelf High Resolution Sensor using Tower Semiconductor's Specialty 0.18-micron CMOS Image Sensor Technology (Tuesday Oct. 20, 2009)
  CMOSIS and Tower Semiconductor today announced CMOSIS has ramped its first off-the-shelf high resolution sensor (CMV2000) using Tower’s advanced 0.18-micron CMOS image sensor (CIS) technology.
  
  
• SMIC Extends 45nm Offerings to 40nm and 55nm (Thursday Oct. 15, 2009)
  SMIC today announced that it will extend its 45-nanometer bulk complementary metal–oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies to 40nm and 55nm geometries.
  
  
• NASA Selects Jazz Semiconductor and ADSANTEC for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Mission (Thursday Oct. 15, 2009)
  Jazz Semiconductor and ADSANTEC today announced their SERDES solution has been selected by NASA for its Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission.
  
  
• M+W Zander Named General Contractor for the GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 2 (Wednesday Oct. 14, 2009)
  The Approximately 550 Million Euro Contract Is in Place for Development of World's Most Advanced Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication Facility
  
  
• Tower Semiconductor Selected as Preferred Foundry by C&S Technology in Korea for Power Automotive Devices (Wednesday Oct. 14, 2009)
  Tower Semiconductor selected by C&S Technology in Korea as its preferred foundry to manufacture its power automotive devices.
  
  
• TSMC September 2009 Sales Report (Friday Oct. 09, 2009)
  TSMC today announced its net sales for September 2009: on an unconsolidated basis, net sales were approximately NT$28.02 billion, a decrease of 3.0 percent from August 2009 and a decrease of 0.8 percent from September 2008.