|
UMC
SERVES SYSTEM DESIGN HOUSE REQUIREMENTS VIA NEW ASICplus PROGRAM
Foundry
Aligns with Key Fabless ASIC Design Houses to Provide Turnkey
ASIC Design through Production Service
DesignCon,
SANTA CLARA, Calif., February 1, 2000--UMC today launched
its ASICplus™ program that enables the leading semiconductor
foundry to better serve systems companies that develop products
for the communications and consumer space. UMC is offering
enhanced ASIC services through the formation of partnership
agreements with leading fabless ASIC partners that will manage
the entire ASIC development process. Current ASICplus
partners for UMC include: Faraday Technology, GlobalCAD, MacroTech
Research, RealChip, and SSL.
"UMC understands that systems companies
need a value-added alternative for ASIC development," stated
Jim Kupec, president of UMC (USA) and head of worldwide marketing
and sales. "To better serve these companies needs, we have
formalized the strong relationships we've held with key fabless
ASIC companies to provide full-service ASIC development capabilities.
Systems companies can have access to the same advanced technologies
and lower cost structure that until now have only been enjoyed
by fabless semiconductor companies. We are providing
systems companies with the cutting-edge technology they require,
world class manufacturing, a vast portfolio of intellectual
property (IP) and the design services they need to realize
their SOC designs in silicon."
UMC's ASICplus program offers systems companies
a flexible ASIC development solution that includes design
handoff at either the specification, RTL, or netlist level,
and the ability to embed customer specific IP along with IP
kitted from the ASICplus partner. In the ASICplus program,
UMC continues to focus on its core competencies of technology
development and manufacturing efficiency, while the partners
offer the full front-end and back-end services that many customers
require to bring their designs into production. The
program provides customers with the flexibility to choose
support for any part of their chip development process, from
design specification, determining which IP and libraries to
utilize, through managing final test and packaging.
"The introduction of our ASICplus
program is a ground-breaking event for the foundry industry,"
noted Edward Wan, vice president of worldwide field engineering
for UMC. "Now, for the first time, a pure-play semiconductor
foundry is teaming up with fabless ASIC companies to provide
full ASIC service to multimillion dollar systems companies
as well as small- and medium- sized fabless companies.
With the launch of our program we have signed up top-caliber
ASIC partners in order to offer ASIC development capabilities
worldwide. When we started the ASICplus program, we
sought out only those partners that will bring real value
to our customers. Each partner specializes in a selected
vertical market and provides system expertise and embedded
software capabilities, as well as silicon-proven IP for the
target market, and the ability to stitch them together in
a SOC implementation."
"UMC is leading the fabless
semiconductor industry by offering a whole new level of capability
to satisfy the customer-specific, system-on-chip (SOC) needs
of major systems companies," stated Craig Slayter, president
and CEO of custom communications chip maker RealChip Inc.
"In this effort, it is also providing RealChip's customers--leading
networking systems companies, suppliers, and start-ups--with
a radically new business model that provides lowest-risk,
lowest-cost, and faster time-to-market solutions for developing
network SoCs. By participating in UMC's ASICplus program,
we can continue to provide our customers with the seamless
SOC development solutions they require, via our end-to-end
design and plug-and-play communication Reality Objects™,
and now we can also give them access to UMC's advanced semiconductor
process technologies. As a result, RealChip can deliver
custom communications chips developed on UMC's 0.18 micron
and 0.15um processes now, and smaller process geometries later
this year."
Brian Long, CEO of SSL, said
that SSL's Wireless Internet Device market is facing an integration
challenge. "Delivering Bluetooth enabled PDAs and Smartphones
requires access to high performance CMOS processes at very
aggressive price-points," stated Long "The UMC ASICplus program
puts SSL is in a position to integrate a roadmap of cost-effective
system-level IP, from an RF-CMOS front-end through baseband
and software protocols running on advanced RISC or DSP architectures."
Companies
that are interested in UMC's ASICplus program should contact
UMC's ASICplus Hotline at 408-523-7859 or see http://www.umc.com
ASICplus
is a trademark of UMC. Reality Objects is a trademark of RealChip.
All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.
ASIC Partner Overview
Document
Faraday
Technology,
Faraday an ISO 9001 certified company, headquartered in Taiwan,
with a full service ASIC engineering team in Santa Clara,
Calif. is a leading ASIC vendor that provides ASIC turn-key
solutions with silicon proven IP, multi-million gate design
experience and SOC methodology. To meet target market
demands and offer customers global processing capabilities,
Faraday is working closely with world leading semiconductor
manufacturers and EDA vendors. Faraday also provides standard
cores, I/Os, libraries and high-value IP targeted for analog,
communication and microprocessors which includes the most
advanced 0.25um and 0.18um processes. Faraday has successfully
completed 700 designs over the last four years and has customers
in mass production in the market of Multimedia, DSP, Image
processing, GPSs, networking and embedded solutions.
www.faraday-usa.com
GlobalCAD
based in Santa Clara, CA, and Taiwan, delivers high performance and low
cost SOC solutions for highly integrated embedded systems.
It also provides proven
synthesizable microprocessors, signal processors, peripheral
and interface devices and standard cell libraries, as well
as complete turnkey solutions to ASIC design companies.
In addition, it develops solutions for standard multimedia
and communications products.
www.gcadinc.com
MacroTech
Research, headquartered
in Fremont, CA and with turnkey operations in Taiwan, offers
comprehensive solutions that allow its customers to utilize
its IC design expertise to co-develop products and IP for
newly emerging and high-growth markets. The company,
with years experience on 0.18um and 0.25um designs, also focus
on multi-million gate SOC projects. The company's services
include pure layout, ASIC development expertise, to foundry
support at quasi COT pricing but Virtual ASIC?service quality.
Target customers are in the consumer entertainment and programmable
game console markets.
www.macrotechnic.com
RealChip
Inc.
RealChip Inc. provides one-stop custom communications chips,
specializing in network systems-on-chip (SOC). RealChip manages
and takes responsibility for total chip design, production
and delivery, using manufacturing, EDA, and intellectual property
(IP) partnerships with leading suppliers. To rapidly and cost
effectively deliver complex chips using advanced process technologies,
RealChip has extensive expertise and methodology for integration
of IP into SoCs and has specially "kitted" selected IP into
communication "Reality Objects™ " for plug-and-play
into customer's designs. RealChip is headquartered in
Sunnyvale, Calif. and has a design center in India.
www.realchip.com
SSL,
headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and with its world sales
headquarters in San Jose, CA, is a proven supplier of system-level
intellectual property and SOCs for Internet Appliances in
the wireless communications and consumer multimedia markets.
The company provides a roadmap of mixed-signal and DSP IP,
combined with tailored application software to enable complete
system solutions
www.sslinc.com
Editorial Contacts:
|
KJ
Communications
Eileen Elam
(650) 917-1488
KjcomE@cs.com
|
UMC
Alex
Hinnawi
(886) 2-2700-6999 ext. 6958
Alex_Hinnawi@umc.com
|
|
Back
to Top
|
|
|
