ARM Foundry Program Expands Into China With SMIC
Agreement will enable ARM to offer advanced manufacturing facilities for its popular ARM7TDMI core in China
CAMBRIDGE, UK – July 30, 2003 –ARM [(LSE:ARM); (Nasdaq:ARMHY)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC processor solutions, today announced that Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's most advanced pure-play semiconductor foundry, has joined the ARM® Foundry Program and has licensed the ARM7TDMI® microprocessor core. The agreement follows the collaboration between ARM and SMIC to develop an ARM7TDMI core-based test chip that has been successfully validated in silicon.
Shanghai-based SMIC is the first foundry in mainland China to join the ARM Foundry Program, and is an important addition to the manufacturing support available to ARM Partners in the region. SMIC will offer fabless semiconductor companies and design houses access to ARM technology in a cost-effective and flexible manner.
"We are developing our Foundry Program with SMIC and this announcement is an important step in our relationship with SMIC. It significantly strengthens our support for customers in China who now have access to SMIC's world-class manufacturing expertise for their ARM core-based designs," said Jun Tan, president, ARM China. "We continue to see a great deal of innovation within the Chinese semiconductor market and increasing business opportunities for ARM, and look forward to extending our relationship with SMIC even further."
"In today's competitive market, many of our customers are looking for faster time-to-market and greater flexibility for the design and manufacture of their products," said James Sung, vice president of marketing & sales, SMIC. "Joining the ARM Foundry Program enables us to meet these needs by offering industry-leading, ARM low-power 32-bit microprocessor cores alongside our advanced manufacturing capabilities."
The agreement with SMIC demonstrates ARM's sustained commitment to the Chinese market. In July 2002 ARM opened its offices in Shanghai. The company has announced seven Partners in the region including two tools distributors, Impact and Watertek; three IC design Partners, ICC, SHHIC, and ZTEIC, who have licensed ARM technology; and one Approved Training Center Partner, Watertek. ARM also recently announced that Southeast University in Nanjing had joined the ARM University Program.
SMIC joins existing ARM Foundry Partners, AMI, Anam, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Silterra, Tower Semiconductor, TSMC, and UMC, as members in the Program, bringing the total number of Foundry Program members to eight.
Availability
ARM7TDMI core-based Design Kits, targeted to the SMIC process technology, are available to license from ARM immediately. Silicon-verified cores are available from SMIC from Q3 2003.
About the ARM Foundry Program
The ARM Foundry Program is an innovative business model that enables fabless semiconductor companies in emerging markets to gain access to ARM processor technology for use in the design and manufacture of advanced system-on-chip (SoC) solutions. There are currently 58 Partners in the Foundry Program, which was launched in 2000. ARM now offers the ARM7TDMI core, the ARM922T™ core, the ARM946E™ core and the ARM1022E™ core through the Program.
The Foundry Program offers a flexible partnership model that accelerates the time-to-market for ARM core-based designs and enables OEMs, which do not have access to fabrication facilities, to work directly with an approved ARM semiconductor foundry. Unlike a traditional ARM license, where a licensee gains both manufacturing and design rights, the ARM Foundry Program builds a three-way Partnership between ARM, an approved silicon foundry, and an OEM. |
