Partnership extension to offer foundry solutions to small and medium-sized technology clients in the Asia Pacific region

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) today announced an agreement to extend their existing partnership with IBM in order to make 65nm semiconductor foundry technology more accessible for clients in Asia.

Through the existing partnership with HKSTP – signed in July 2007 – IBM’s foundry technologies and intellectual property (IP) have become more accessible to technology start-ups, fabless companies and multinational chip design teams in the Asia Pacific region through multi-project wafer (MPW) services and low-volume production (LVP).

Now with the partnership extension IBM will help HKSTP with foundry engagement and will provide necessary technical support by arranging technical training for the HKSTP team. HKSTP will provide MPW and LVP service to meet regional demands and first-line technical support to its clients. To promote IBM’s semiconductor foundry technologies, HKSTP and IBM will also jointly conduct seminars and roadshows across the region, as well as setting up a portal for technical enquiries.

“Since our agreement with IBM signed in July last year, the interests of IBM technology users have been increasing rapidly,” said Ir. S.W. Cheung, vice president, Business Development and Technology Support for HKSTP. “HKSTP has completed nine projects using IBM technology for users from mainland China, Taiwan and local Hong Kong from 0.35um to 90nm.”

IBM offers a range of leading-edge and industry-standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS, and radio frequency CMOS (RFCMOS) technologies. The world-class foundry technologies, combined with the manufacturing flexibility and a wide array of value-added services can help electronic companies and manufacturers of different sizes to improve their productivity and competitive advantage. IBM’s semiconductor technologies have been applied to chip design for a variety of applications including game consoles, wireless devices, multimedia consumer electronics, communications and networking equipment.

"Since we announced our relationship with HKSTP one year ago we have experienced tremendous cooperation and momentum in helping smaller-sized and start-up technology developers leverage IBM’s advanced semiconductor technologies to enhance their product portfolio and grow their business," said Regina Darmoni, director, Semiconductor Solutions, IBM Microelectronics. "Adding access to IBM's 65-nm technologies is a natural extension to the HKSTP relationship and further enables IBM's fabrication services for clients with lower volume production needs."

HKSTP’s Integrated Circuit Design Centre offers a wide range of IP services, including licensing, integration and verification. Most notably, HKSTP provides a sound legal framework for semiconductor intellectual property development to protect the technological investment for the integrated circuit (IC) design companies and to enhance the IC industry development. The test development and small scale manufacturing services in HKSTP enables fabless semiconductor design houses to conduct low-volume production cost-effectively and accelerate time to market.

About Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation ("HKSTP") is a statutory body set up by the Government of the Hong Kong SAR. HKSTP provides innovative and technology driven infrastructure and support facilities which includes market-focused clustered laboratory services enabling Hong Kong industries and services to be more competitive; a full-service incubation programme for technology and design start-ups; and fosters partnerships and collaboration between industry and universities/applied research institutes through consulting, training and research programmes. HKSTP offers advanced facilities and support services for high technology companies that include an IC Design Centre, an IC Development Support Centre, a Materials Analysis Laboratory, a Wireless Communications Test Laboratory and an Intellectual Property Servicing Centre.

HKSTP provides one-stop service for IC development, to offer technical support covering the entire process from design to production, backed by a team of seasoned and professional engineers with combined experience of more than 500 person-years.

More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org

Media contact:
Pauline Ko
HKSTP
Tel: (852) 2629 6710
Fax: (852) 2607 4033
Email: pauline.ko@hkstp.org