TSMC plans to accelerate 0.10-micron efforts for SoC designs, says chairman

TSMC plans to accelerate 0.10-micron efforts for SoC designs, says chairman
By Mark LaPedus, Semiconductor Business News
October 10, 2001 (4:34 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011010S0066

SAN JOSE -- Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), here today announced that the silicon foundry giant plans to accelerate the development of its 0.10-micron efforts, especially for system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs.

TSMC, the world's largest pure-play foundry, is already in what the company calls the "early partner program' for the development and deliveries of its 0.10-micron process technology.

The Hsinchu-based company--which is still ramping up its 0.13-micron designs--plans to offer its initial 0.10-micron silicon foundry services starting in the second quarter of 2002.

And in the meantime, the ambitious company will accelerate the development of its 0.10-micron process "modules' at a new and record pace, according to Chang. By process "modules," Chang was referring to intellectual-property (IP) cores, embedded memories, and processes technologies within its cell libraries and fabs.

"Our target for 0.10-micron is to make the modules available within about nine months of each other," Chang said in a presentation at the International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing (ISSM) conference here today.

In comparison, it took TSMC about two years to develop all of the "modules" for its 0.18-micron technology and about 13 months for its current, leading-edge 0.13-micron process.

TSMC's 0.10-micron efforts represent somewhat of an expanded focus for the company. "In the last four years, our focus has been on performance," Chang said. "We have also focused on application-specific technologies," he said.

"From now on, our focus is on SoC [system-on-a-chip] solutions," he said. "We will accelerate the development of modules that will make up SoC designs," he added.