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Hsinchu, Taiwan and Freiburg, Germany, December 11th, 2002 - Following an agreement made earlier this year, Micronas (SWX Swiss Exchange: MASN, Neuer Market Frankfurt: MNSN), a leading supplier of cutting-edge IC solutions for consumer and automotive electronics, and UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world-leading semiconductor foundry, today reaffirmed their foundry partnership by defining the terms of a new and mutually agreed-upon plan.
During a meeting at Micronas' operational headquarters in Freiburg, Germany, which included Micronas' CEO Wolfgang Kalsbach and UMC's Chairman Robert Tsao, the two companies discussed a wide range of topics to enhance their five-year agreement. Under the terms of the original agreement, made in June 2002, UMC became the principal supplier of mixed-mode ICs for Micronas, while Micronas gained access to UMC's advanced technologies and foundry capacity.
"As our primary foundry provider, UMC's service and attentiveness have been instrumental in helping us to implement our outsourcing strategy as well as develop our next-generation products," said Wolfgang Kalsbach, CEO of Micronas. "In essence, UMC's flexibility and responsiveness have been key factors in helping us realize our competitive advantage. The purpose of our meetings was to look at ways in which we could further extend our relationship in a mutually beneficial way. The result is many new and exciting developments to look forward to for both parties."
"Micronas and UMC have shared a close working relationship over many years," said Robert Tsao, Chairman of UMC. "We are pleased that this partnership has continued to strengthen, and we are committed to providing the necessary resources to help Micronas maintain their competitiveness. Our two companies' ongoing collaboration on 0.13µm mixed-mode technology shows tremendous promise, and is indicative of the fruitful relationship between UMC and Micronas."
UMC is currently manufacturing the DPS 9450 video controller chip and the MDE 9500 hybrid analog/digital TV decoder chip for Micronas using its 0.18µm mixed-mode process. The two companies are continuing their cooperative efforts in this area with the mutual development of 0.13µm mixed-mode technology based on UMC's standard 0.13µm CMOS process.
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