Friday, December 9, 2011

Crocus and SMIC sign technology development and wafer manufacturing agreements

SANTA CLARA, USA & SHANGHAI, CHINA: Crocus Technology, a leading developer of magnetically enhanced semiconductors, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's largest and most advanced semiconductor foundry, announced the formal signing of joint technology development and wafer manufacturing agreements.

Under the agreements, the two companies will jointly develop high-temperature Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU) technology targeted at automotive applications. SMIC will manufacture and supply the CMOS base wafers on advanced technology nodes, which will be further processed at Crocus Nano Electronics (CNE), Crocus' advanced magnetic manufacturing facility.

Crocus' MLU, based on a revolutionary magnetics architecture, is a scalable evolution of its Thermally Assisted Switching (TAS) technology. MLU technology enables practical implementation of advanced logic and memory capabilities, a first for the industry.

"This agreement solidifies our manufacturing plan for building MLU products at advanced technology nodes," said Dr. Bertrand F. Cambou, executive chairman, Crocus. "By combining SMIC's proven and cost effective CMOS manufacturing capacity with CNE's advanced magnetic capability, we can meet our manufacturing requirements and better serve our customers."

"MLU technology brings significant benefits in functionality and cost," said Dr. Tzu-Yin Chiu, CEO and executive director of SMIC. "We are excited to work with Crocus on advanced magnetic semiconductors and bring differentiated next-generation products to the marketplace."

In addition, Crocus' MLU technology could be licensed to SMIC for use in embedded chip applications. The companies also plan to collaborate on joint marketing in the area of smart cards using TAS MLU and MRAM (magnetoresistive random access memory) technology.

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