Chartered and SMIC see orders from Taiwan IC design firms

Several Taiwanese baseband and consumer IC design firms have been seeking new foundry partners to diversify their production sources. Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) have caught their attention in mature, high-voltage process technologies, said an IC design firm source.Sources revealed that Chartered recently achieved 80% yield rates in 0.18- and 0.25-micron baseband IC fabrication. In the second quarter, some first-tier Taiwanese baseband IC design firms began product development with Charter. They project beginning pilot production of 0.18-micron baseband ICs in fourth quarter.SMIC has achieved a similar yield rate in 0.25-micron consumer IC fabrication. Reportedly, SMIC began 0.25-micron consumer IC volume production for some second-tier Taiwanese design firms in second quarter, sources said.Source: DigiTimes