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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (41898)	2/7/2001 9:03:45 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Intel backs birth of German SiGe foundry By Peter Clarke EE Times (02/07/01 05:04 a.m. PST) SAN FRANCISCO — In return for manufacturing capacity, Intel is backing a plan to create a European foundry for silicon-germanium with carbon process technology by the first quarter of 2003 based in Frankfurt Oder in the eastern part of Germany. Communicant Semiconductor Technologies AG has concluded technology-licensing agreements with Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP), a research group also based in Frankfurt, for SiGe-with-carbon process and with Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) for baseline 0.18-micron CMOS technology. Both companies are taking equity positions in Communicant and supporting plans to construct a $1.5 billion facility in Frankfurt. Communicant is to be a "pure-play" chip foundry serving the wireless, broadband and other high-performance markets with SiGe:C, BiCMOS and CMOS process technologies. "The agreements with IHP and Intel are key competitive advantages," said Klaus Wiemer, Communicant's chief executive officer. "Our proprietary technologies and [intellectual property] will position Communicant as the world's leading communication-focused foundry serving fabless design and system houses, as well as the integrated device manufacturing community. We are perfectly positioned to play a strong role in the high-growth foundry market, with particular focus on the burgeoning communications segment." The Communicant fabrication facility is due to be operational in the third quarter of 2002, with a commercial production start planned for the first quarter of 2003. At full capacity, the facility will produce 30,000 eight-inch wafers per month. Prototyping services could be available as early as the third quarter of 2001. "Copy exact" procedures will give customers a seamless transfer to Communicant's volume production. "We are excited to participate in this new venture with Communicant. This agreement enables Intel to gain access to foundry capacity for an important emerging technology," said Mike Splinter, Intel executive vice president and general manager, technology and manufacturing group. "Communicant's focus on silicon-germanium-carbon technology uniquely positions the new company to serve the growing high-performance communications semiconductor market segment." Abbas Ourmazd, IHP director, said, "The trend toward outsourced manufacturing, the booming communications market, high-value proprietary technologies and multiple regional advantages have combined to create a unique opportunity for Communicant." The SiGe:C technology licensed by Communicant is a key enabler for the performance needed for demanding wireless and broadband applications. The Communicant BiCMOS technology offers a cost-effective means of combining high performance with low power. The modular nature of this technology allows full reuse of existing digital designs, considerably facilitating the migration toward single-chip solutions combining communication with computing. Frankfurt Oder, located 50 miles east of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, was identified as the location for the foundry, because it offers a number of competitive advantages. Among them are immediate proximity to IHP and the region's plentiful supply of experienced semiconductor specialists with a long tradition in the industry. The IHP is a regional government-funded R&D institution with the charter to stimulate high-tech in the Frankfurt (Oder) region. IHP's core competencies include process technology, circuit design and communication systems design, with emphasis on wireless and broadband. IHP consists of approximately 200 R&D professionals working in a recently completed facility, including an 8-inch wafer pilot line housed in a 1,000-square-meter, class-1 clean room. Subject 50522