Globalfoundries to tap Asia IC-design market through Socle Technology

TAIWAN: Globalfoundries' acquisition of Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing will also enable the US pure-play foundry to tap the IC-design market in Asia thanks to Chartered's equity holdings in Taiwan-based Socle Technology, according to industry sources.

Socle has responded to recent reports doubting whether its strategic partnership with Chartered will carry on, saying that Globalfoundries will take over Chartered's holdings in Socle as part of the company's efforts to combine its technology expertise with Chartered's Asia-based production and customer base.

Socle, which mainly provides system-on-chip (SoC) design services using ARM cores and develops ARM-based platforms, said it looks forward to working with Globalfoundries and having the opportunity to complement the cooperation with its expertise in product design specially for the Asia market.

Chartered holds around NT$190 million (US$5.89 million) worth of the Socle shares, equivalent to over 35 percent of Socle's current paid-in capital of NT$530 million. Song-Hwee Chia, the former Chartered CEO, joined and has led the Socle board of directors since July 2008 when Chartered acquired its majority stake.

Claire Sung, Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES