TSMC to Make Chips for Renesas

From X-bit Labs: Renesas Electronics Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Monday announced that they have signed an agreement to extend their microcontroller (MCU) technology collaboration to 40nm embedded flash (eFlash) process technology for manufacturing MCU products used in next-generation automotive and consumer applications such as home appliances.

Renesas previously agreed to outsource MCUs to TSMC using 90nm eFlash process technology. Under the 40nm MCU collaboration, Renesas will outsource MCU production at 40nm and future technologies. Essentially, that means that Renesas has no plans to develop its own process technologies that are more progressive than 40nm. Basically, it means that Reneasas indirectly confirmed its plans to withdraw from semiconductor manufacturing in general.

“In order for us to achieve further global growth, we are confident that TSMC will provide us with significant benefits in accelerated time-to-volume production and maximum flexibility in addressing the volatile fluctuation of the market demand,” said Shinichi Iwamoto, senior vice president of Renesas Electronics.

Renesas and TSMC will collaborate to lead in advanced technologies for MCU platform and production by combining Renesas' MONOS (metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) technology supporting both high reliability and high speed, and high-quality technical support with TSMC's advanced CMOS process technologies and flexible production capacity.

By making the MONOS process platform available to other semiconductor suppliers around the world (including fabless companies and IDMs), Renesas and TSMC aim to set up an ecosystem and further widen the customer base.

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