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IBM, Infineon and UMC Form Alliance to Develop Leading Chip Technologies
TAIPEI, Taiwan, January 27, 2000 --IBM, Infineon Technologies, and UMC
today announced plans to jointly develop leading technologies for
use in the production of semiconductors. Under the agreement, the three
companies will work together to develop common process technologies
for building logic chips with feature sizes from 0.13 to 0.10 micron
(1 micron equals 1/100 the width of a human hair). These new processes
will incorporate copper wiring and allow logic and mixed-signal
circuitry and embedded DRAM memory to be combined on a single chip.
The development work will be
conducted by a team of scientists and engineers staffed from all
three companies
at the IBM Semiconductor Research
and Development Center (SRDC) in Fishkill, New York. Each company
will then have the ability to implement the processes in its own manufacturing
facilities. The current development agreement extends through 2003.
The companies expect to make details on the first 0.13-micron technology
available to customers to initiate their designs in Q2 2000.
"Our efforts in developing leadership chip technologies are widely
recognized; this agreement is intended to make them more widely
available," said Dr. John Kelly, general manager of the IBM
Microelectronics Division. "As IBM, Infineon and UMC jointly develop
and introduce new manufacturing processes, we believe more customers
will apply the technology in their products, secure in the knowledge
that they have multiple sources of supply. This is another example
of IBM's commitment to bringing advanced technologies into the mainstream."
"In 1998, Infineon and IBM extended their longstanding and successful
DRAM alliance into developing logic and eDRAM technologies starting
with the 0.18 micron generation. Teaming up with UMC, one of the
world's leading foundry providers, will add even more momentum to
this alliance creating what we expect to be a truly exciting logic
and embedded memory technology platform for system integration on
chip. This is a true cooperation consisting of one joint team,"
said Dr. Andreas von Zitzewitz, COO of Infineon Technologies. "We
believe that by combining our companies' complementary distinct
top core competencies, we will be able to master the challenges
of the deepest sub-micron technologies even faster with reduced
risk at a reasonable cost per partner. Our goal is to consistently
provide leading-edge logic and eDRAM technology platforms to our
customers."
"We are happy to join IBM and Infineon, two companies that clearly
share our commitment to state-of-the art technology. We believe
that this agreement represents a path to the future for IC designers
around the world," said Robert Tsao, Chairman of UMC.
Jim Kupec, President of UMC (USA), said, "With the combined expertise
of IBM, Infineon and UMC, we believe that the processes that we
jointly develop will represent a new global standard for quality
in logic semiconductor manufacturing. Hence, UMC will market these
processes to our foundry customers under the brand name Worldlogic."
About IBM
IBM Microelectronics is a key
contributor to IBM's role as the world's premier information technology
supplier. IBM Microelectronics develops, manufactures and markets
state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies, products, packaging
and services. Its superior integrated solutions can be found in
many of the world's best-known electronic brands. More information
about IBM Microelectronics can be found at http://www.chips.ibm.com
.
About Infineon
Infineon Technologies AG, Munich,
Germany, offers semiconductor solutions for applications in the
wireless and wired communications markets, for the automotive and
industrial sectors, and for security systems and chip cards as well
as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in
the US from San Jose, CA, and in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore.
In the fiscal year 1999 (ending September), the company achieved
sales of EUR 4.24 billion (US $ 4.51 billion) with 25,800 employees
worldwide. Further information at http://www.infineon.com
Editorial Contacts:
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IBM
Chris Andrews
(914) 892-5389
candrews@us.ibm.com
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Infineon Technologies AG
Anke Pickhardt,
Katja Schlendorf
+49 89 234-22404 (-26555)
anke.pickhardt@infineon.com
katja.schlendorf@infineon.com
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UMC
Alex Hinnawi
(886) 2-2700-6999 ext.
6958
Alex_Hinnawi@umc.com
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