Infineon to Co-develop 65-, 45-nm Technologies with Three Companies
November 25, 2005
Infineon will terminate its partnership with UMC on the development of 0.13-micron and 90-nm processes at their joint venture UMCi. Infineon has sold all of its shares to UMC, and now it has decided to team up with Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor, IBM, and Samsung to jointly develop 65- and 45-nm technologies. IBM, Samsung, and Chartered have been co-developing 90-nm process technology since May 2005, and they started work on 65-nm technology in June. Infineon will send its engineers to Chartered Semiconductor's 12-inch fab for the development of 65-nm technologies, while development of 45-nm technologies will be implemented in IBM's fab in New York. Chartered Semiconductor will also manufacture handset chips for Infineon using the jointly developed 65-nm production process. Prototypes of the chip are expected to come out in the first quarter of 2006, with mass production to kick off in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Infineon recently announced that it will spin off its memory chip business by July 2006, and in the future it will focus on automotive and handset chips. The new partnership with Chartered fits into this strategy.