Wipro, austriamicrosystems ink Bluetooth chip and foundry deal

Wipro, austriamicrosystems ink Bluetooth chip and foundry deal
By Semiconductor Business News
February 20, 2002 (10:30 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020218S0024

BANGALORE, India -- Wipro Technologies Ltd. of India here today announced a chip and silicon foundry partnership with austriamicrosystems AG of Austria in the Bluetooth arena.

Under the terms, Wipro and austriamicrosystems will combine their Bluetooth expertise to produce and market chip sets for the emerging Bluetooth wireless market. The chip sets will be based on astriamicrosystems' Bluetooth-enabled, radio-frequency (RF) technology with Wipro's baseband intellectual-property cores.

The chip sets will be manufactured on a foundry basis within austriamicrosystems' fabs. Formerly known as Austria Mikro Systeme International, austriamicrosystems has an 8-inch, 0.35-micron fab at its headquarters in Unterpremstätten, near Graz.

Late last year, austriamicrosystems announced it was turning its 8-inch fab into what it calls a "full-service foundry" operation. At the time, it also licensed 0.35-micron technology from Taiwan Semiconductor Manuf acturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).

Meanwhile, the partnership with a Austrian company is "a crucial step for us to lead the Bluetooth wireless technology space," said Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro. Wipro, India's largest information technology (IT) provider, has recently expanded into the IC design market.