Faraday, UMC to strengthen IP alliance

HSINCHU, TAIWAN: Faraday Technology Corp., a leading ASIC and silicon IP provider, and United Microelectronics Corp., a leading global semiconductor foundry, announced an agreement that strengthens the companies' IP alliance to include fundamental and specialized IP for advanced UMC processes.

Under the terms of the agreement, Faraday will optimize a complete IP portfolio for UMC processes ranging from 0.11um to 28nm nodes to help mutual customers shorten their SoC design time-to-market for a variety of applications.

The IP package covers low-power fundamental IP including memory compilers and standard cell libraries, as well as a series of interface IP that Faraday has specialized in, such as USB 3.0, DDR3, SATA, and audio DAC.

"Our co-operation with UMC can address mutual customers' requirements in various target applications," commented Jensen Yen, associate VP of Marketing, Faraday.

"UMC and Faraday have achieved successful customer milestones in the cloud computing market, with continuous migration to advanced nodes and larger scale that illustrate Faraday's core strength in SoC design and integration capabilities. Furthermore, for matured nodes, we can cover embedded systems such as smart meter, interface applications, and MCU that still have tremendous market potential. This agreement demonstrates Faraday's design capabilities leveraged with UMC's proven advanced technologies and mutual commitment in IP development can further ensure customers' competitiveness in several emerging hot markets."

Shih Chin Lin, director of the IP Development & Design Support division at UMC, said: "We are pleased to extend our partnership with Faraday in this multi-process platform package. This agreement adheres to UMC's strategy of establishing a high performance, low power process platform continuum. With our customers' product roadmap in mind, UMC's platform for 55nm, 40nm and 28nm process technologies is a true total solution that paves a seamless design migration path for consumer and mobile communication products. Strengthening our IP portfolio with strategic partner Faraday will further streamline the path to SoC silicon success for customers designing into these technologies."