Study on semiconductor design, embedded software and services industry in India

The India Semiconductor Association (ISA) has released a study on semiconductor design, embedded software and services industry, along with Ernst & Young.

According to the report, the key challenges constraining the growth of the semiconductor design industry are summarized under five major issues:
i) Quality, availability and maturity of talent.
ii) Absence of a startup and SME ecosystem.
iii) Lack of a semiconductor ecosystem.
iv) Lack of adequate infrastructure, policies and implementable incentives.
v) External issues such as competition from Asian countries and protectionist policies by some countries.

The report then goes on to tackle each one of these issues in detail under elaborate recommendations.

These recommendations require the concerted and co-ordinated efforts by the government, industry and academia to aid India reach the next level of growth and achieve the specific goals envisaged for the industry. The goals are:

Goal 1: Maintain leadership in semiconductor design by incubating 50 fabless semiconductor companies, each with the potential to grow to $200 million in annual revenues by 2020.

Goal 2: Build on India’s favorable intellectual property protection image and make it among the top 5 destinations for intellectual property creation in the semiconductor design industry.

Goal 3: Capitalize on indigenous demand in strategic sectors to provide impetus to the Indian fabless semiconductor industry.

Goal 4: Sustain and nurture high-class semiconductor design manpower at a growth rate of 20 percent year-on-year to double its current output levels to reach a workforce size of 400,000 in the next five years.

The very first goal itself is a bit far fetched, but not that it can’t be achieved. To reach anywhere close to this goal, a concerted all round effort would be required from all in the industry. The fourth goal would have been better as the first goal, but never mind.

The second goal looks fine, but it is the third goal that seems a bit far off. This is April 2011, and still, there are talks about capitalizing on the indigenous demand in strategic sectors in order to provide impetus to the Indian fabless semiconductor industry?

I recall a discussion in mid-2005 where an industry expert mentioned that fabless was the way forward for the Indian industry! Between then and now, fabs were supposed to come up, but they failed. Nevertheless, one must not give up hope!

Boom turned to bust? Chip industry's future!

Malcolm Penn, Future Horizons.

Malcolm Penn, chairman and CEO, Future Horizons, asked the question at the SEMI ISS2011 Europe event at Grenoble, France, early this week: Whether this is the time to rethink the industry assumptions?

For instance, fabs have no strategic value, until you haven’t got one and lost control of your business. ASPs will keep on falling, just like house prices kept on rising? The semicon industry growth rate has slowed to ‘7 percent per annum, which is only possible if ASPs keep falling 4 percent given an 11 percent unit growth.

Foundry wafers will always be cheap and freely available, just like cheap debt, right? Multiple sources will keep the foundries ‘honest’, since it is assumed that multi-sourcing at 20/22nm is going to be ‘interesting‘. It is also OK to focus on more than Moore competence, as today’s ‘More Moore’ is tomorrow’s ‘More Than Moore’.

Industry fundamental #1 – Economy: This was NOT a recession, someone turned off the lightsPre-Lehman, the chip industry was in very good shape. There was strong unit demand, and no excess inventory.There was limited wafer fab capacity, and no overspend/cutting back. Next, the ASPs were recovering, although, structurally driven. However, the strong global world economy was being deliberately slowed. The money really stopped moving in the post-Lehmann crash!

The economic coupling Is statistically weak. The economy is just one part of the equation. The chip industry marches to its own drum as well.

Industry fundamental #2: Unit demand: The Moore’s Law giveth and taketh away! Long-term average ICs/wafers grow only very slowly. There are more complex ICs counter balance die shrinks (1-2 percent productivity gain). Besides, 9-10 percent new capacity is needed to match the 11 percent average IC unit growth.

Industrial fundamental #3: Fab capacity: Let’s look at the IC manufacturing fundamentals — four quarter minimum lag from decision to impact.
* Total equipment capex = 85 percent of the total capex
* Wafer fab capex = 70 percent total equipment capex
* Order today = Wafer fab capex one quarter later* Wafer fab capex = Additional capacity two quarters later
* Additional capacity = IC units out one quarter later.

Pig cycles and cobwebs will keep happening due to long supply-side lead times (4 Months – production / 2 Years – fabs / 5+ years – design).

The fab capacity is still seriously tight. The Q4-10 status is still down 7.5 percent vs. Q3-08 peak. Also, the first relief happened in Q4-10 (from Q3/Q4-09’s spend) following six flat quarters.

The IC wafer fab capacity for Q3/Q4-09 spend, was equal to +80k ws/w In Q4-10. The 2010 spend was equal to ~400k ws/w additional by Q4-11? The wafer fab capex is still running ‘fab tight!’ Here are some more pointers:
* Not yet overheating, despite 140 percent 2010 growth.
* 2010 spend same as 2006; 10 percent lower than 2007 and 80 percent of 2000’s all time peak.
* Q1-11 book to bill <1; slowing Q2-11 sales.
* 2011 up between 5-15 percent, still within ‘safe haven’ region.
* TSMC thunders on with capex up 30 percent sales up 22 percent; the leadership gap up.

Round-up 2010: Best of semiconductors

Right then, folks! This is my last post for 2010, on my favorite topic – semiconductors. If 2009 was one of the worst, if not, the worst year ever for semiconductors, 2010 seems to be the best year for this industry, what with the analyst community forecasting that the global semicon industry will surpass the $300 billion mark for the first time in its history!

Well, here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly, if available for otherwise what has been an excellent year, which is in its last hours, for semiconductors. Presenting a list of posts on semiconductors that mattered in 2010.

Top semiconductor and EDA trends to watch out for in 2010!

Delivering 10X design improvements: Dr. Walden C. Rhines, Mentor Graphics @ VLSID 2010

Future research directions in EDA: Dr. Prith Banerjee @ VLSID 2010 — This was quite an entertaining presentation!

Global semicon industry on rapid recovery curve: Dr. Wally Rhines

Indian semicon industry: Time for paradigm shift! — When will that shift actually happen?

Qualcomm, AMD head top 25 fabless IC suppliers for 2009; Taiwan firms finish strong!

TSMC leads 2009 foundry rankings; GlobalFoundries top challenger!

ISA Vision Summit 2010: Saankhya Labs, Cosmic Circuits are Indian start-ups to watch at Technovation 2010!

ISA Vision Summit 2010: Karnataka Semicon Policy 2010 unveiled; great opportunity for India to show we mean business! — So far, the Karnataka semicon policy has flattered to deceive! I’m not surprised, though!

Dongbu HiTek comes India calling! Raises hopes for foundry services!!

Indian electronics and semiconductor industries: Time to answer tough questions and find solutions — Reminds me of the popular song from U2 titled — “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”!

What should the Indian semicon/electronics industry do now? — Seriously, easy to say, difficult to manage (ESDM)! 😉 

Need to develop robust Indian semicon industry, led by local companies!

I came across an article titled “Global Semiconductor Companies Turn to India for Growth” published on India Knowledge@Wharton. Isn’t this reason why global semiconductor companies enter a specific market in the first place — to grow their own markets and regions? So, why should it be different with India?

India is very well known globally for its talent, chip design capabilities (especially in the Indian arms of the global semicon firms) and as the world’s embedded bastion!

This particular article is brilliantly written, and kudos the author. The clinching paragraph is tucked away at the end, starting with: “None of the global players, however, is currently looking at setting up a semiconductor fabrication plant, or “fab,” in India.”

What’s happened up until now in the Indian semicon industry? If one were to look at the Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS), which was introduced back in Sept. 2007 by the government of India, it was geared toward encouraging investments for setting up semicon fabs, and other micro and nanotechnology manufacturing industries in India!

It also defined the “ecosystem units” as units, other than a fab unit, for manufacture of semiconductors, displays including LCDs, OLEDs, PDPs, any other emerging displays; storage devices; solar cells; photovoltaics; other advanced micro and nanotechnology products; and assembly and test of all the above products.

A Karnataka Semicon Policy was announced in early Feb. 2010, during the India Semiconductor Association’s ( ISA) Vision Summit.

Next, the government of India’s thrust on solar/PV, via the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JN-NSM), has at least ensured the country’s solar/PV future.

What has happened since all of these policies? Really, nothing much, at least from the perspective of the Indian semicon industry. If it has, at least, I am unaware, and my apologies for this ignorance.

Of course, solar/PV seems to be going from strength to strength! Recently, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN) put out the list of selected solar projects under the JN-NSM Phase 1, Batch 1. But that’s another story!

On this very blog, there are several posts that speak of India’s ability or inability to build a fab. At first, folks said that semicon fabs were on their way in India, and that the story isn’t disappearing. However, somewhere along the line, that particular vision took a beating and fabs simply disappeared from the Indian semicon radar!

Is the Indian semicon industry losing the plot?

Every time I see a new electronics or related segment being talked about in India — be it medical electronics/healthcare, RFID and smart cards, or for that matter, telecom, why do I get this feeling that the Indian semicon industry is slowly losing the plot? One hopes not!

The Indian technology industry is talking about practically everything, except semiconductors. Yes, I know we have a great pool of designers who work in the MNCs. Also, there are plenty of Indian design services companies doing excellent work (for others?). India’s strength in embedded is folk lore. Despite all of this, we are, where we were a few years ago!

Back in 2007, I’d done a story on how there were very remote chances of having a fab in India. Back then, some industry folks expressed  optimism that the fab story was not dead! However, that story is well and truly dead and buried, as of now! Today, no one wants to talk about a fab — fine, then!

Let’s do a reality check on India’s semiconductor score-card!

So far, India has not even managed to have a small foundry, forget about having a fab! Nor has the Indian industry managed to develop, nurture and build many (or any?) fabless companies of note. Can you tell me how many Indian fabless semicon companies have come up in the past five years? How many globally known Indian semicon product start-ups are there in our country for that matter? Okay, how many Indian semicon product start-ups are there in our country?

For that matter, how many ATMP units have come up in India? I do recall some industry folks mention in the past that there will be some ATMP units happening. Where are they? Okay, who, in India, is even trying to develop IP libraries?

Even if there is some success in building electronic product companes — that is and will be limited success! Neither is there any evidence of cutting-edge R&D being done in India. Please do not mix this up with the work being done by the Indian arms of the various MNCs.

Why, I don’t even think that the industry-academia partnership has developed substantially, leave alone mature!

If medical electronics, or some other related area, were to go on and succeed in the near future, it would be counted as a success for the Indian electronics industry, and not for the Indian semicon industry! Even if this did happen and it was counted as a ‘semicon success, can anyone make a guess as to how many of the chips going into such devices would be actually made in India – by Indian firms?

I had mentioned back in Feb. 2009  that “Can the Indian semicon industry dream big? (And even buy Qimonda?)! To refresh your memory, there was a large 300mm fab up for sale in Dresden, Germany. Well, even that never happened, or well, the Indian industry did not think it to be of much importance!

Back in August 2009, there was news about Texas Instruments (TI) placing a bid of $172.5 million for buying Qimonda’s 300mm production tools from its closed DRAM fab. While this highlighted TI’s focus on building the world’s first 300mm analog fab, I can’t stop wondering: what would have happened had an Indian investor actually bought Qimonda’s fab!

Perhaps, it would be better for the Indian semicon industry to stick to its globally known strengths of providing excellent semiconductor design services and embedded design services. At least, there will be clear direction in these areas.

Of course, there exist huge opportunities in all of the areas (or gaps) that I’ve touched upon.

Is global semicon inventory level headed for oversupply in Q3?

Early this month, iSuppli had indicated that semiconductor inventory levels may have headed into oversupply territory in Q3.

It said: “Semiconductor Days Of Inventory (DOI) for chip suppliers are estimated to have climbed to 75.9 days in the third quarter of 2010, up 1.5 days from Q2. DOI in Q3 also was 4.8 percent higher than the seasonally adjusted average for the period.”

iSuppli added that the value of inventory was not been this high since the second quarter of 2008, when semiconductor suppliers’ stockpiles peaked at $35.4 billion.

Thanks to Jon Cassell and Debra Jaramilla at iSuppli, I was able to speak with Sharon Stiefel, analyst for semiconductor inventory and manufacturing for iSuppli on this situation.

Is there really an oversupply?

Sharon Stiefel, iSuppli.

I asked Sharon Stiefel that given the growth that 2010 has seen so far, why are semiconductor inventory levels heading into oversupply territory in Q3?

She said that semiconductor inventories, overall, have risen both in terms of DOI and dollars for the past several quarters, and not yet achieved pre-recession levels last seen in 2008. “The overly lean conditions of 2009 and early 2010 are giving way to inventory levels, which are more appropriate for the strong growth experienced in 2010.

“Oversupply in Q3 2010 is not a foregone conclusion, but is possible that if the companies are not able to match manufacturing run rates with demand as the year winds to a close,” she added.

Which sectors have been witnessing or recording some softness in demand and why?

Stiefel said: “Companies reporting Q3 revenues over the past two weeks have reported a softening in demand, particularly in PC and consumer end markets, attributed to the continued uncertainty in the global economy, leaving consumers unwilling to spend.  A company with more exposure to these sectors has more potential of excessive inventories, versus a company with a more balanced product portfolio.”

Industry needs to moderate inventories
It is also said in iSuppli’s release that: ‘The industry will need to moderate inventories at the appropriate time in its growth curve in order to capture current revenue opportunities while they still exist.’ So, when exactly is that appropriate time?

Stiefel noted: “The appropriate time is when sales opportunities exist – projected quarters of growth, rather than revenue contraction. Semiconductor revenues are projected to grow in Q3 2010, contract in Q4 2010 and Q1 2011, and then resume moderate single digit growth for the remainder of 2011.”

June '10 global semicon update: Forget 2010, ~30 percent’s in the bag! What about 2011?

Here are the excerpts from the Global Semiconductor Monthly Report, June 2010, provided by Malcolm Penn, chairman, founder and CEO of Future Horizons. There are a lot of charts associated with this report. The report also covers market trends. Those interested to know more may contact Future Horizons.

April set the ball rolling for a blockbuster second quarter making what will now be five successive quarters of growth. Our 3 percent Q2 growth forecast looks increasingly timid, with 6-8 percent more likely. Virtually all forecasters are now pitching 2010’s growth at the 30 percent level, so there is little left to argue about other than guessing the exact final number.

Whether the ‘final’ number is 28 or 38 percent really makes no odds; it is the underlying trend that counts, something we forecast correctly over 18 months ago.

The real issue now is “What about 2011?” We are clearly now in a boom and the next phase is bust, but when, how deep and how fast will it collapse? We are currently reappraising this and our 2011 forecast, with the analyses to be presented at our forthcoming IFS2011 Mid-Term International Forecast Seminar in London on 20th July.

Forget all of the intellectual arguments about expanded geographical customer base, broader application range and the smoothing effects these would have, all that is hogwash. The industry boom-bust cycles persist and will continue to do so all the while demand dynamics are measured in weeks and the supply-side in quarters making it impossible to ever balance supply and demand.

Semiconductor industry dynamics: Future Horizons

At this point it is pertinent to revive a slide I first presented at the IEEE meeting in Boston in 1975. This slide is as valid today as it was 35 years ago.

After four quarters of growth, the industry now finds itself in the full flood of a classic market boom. Order books are full, customers are building stocks, double ordering is rife, capacity is strained, lead times increasing and deliveries are stretched.

Inventory replenishment started in Q2-2009, due to the severe inventory overdepletion in Q4-2008/Q1-2009, and was over by Q4-2009 to be replaced by inventory building in 1H-2010, driven by lead-time extension. Typically every week of extra lead-time adds at least half a week to WIP.

Double, even triple, ordering (due to supply shortages) only really started in 1H-2010 and is definitely getting worse, but double ordering is NOT double shipping, yet. For that to happen, supply needs to catch up with demand. That leaves just one item missing from the 1975 list … ‘prices stabilise’, the worldwide semiconductor and IC ASP trends.

May 2010 global semicon update: Four quarters of sequential growth, yet still no one believes! Wake up, says Future Horizons

Here are the excerpts from the Global Semiconductor Monthly Report, May 2010, provided by Malcolm Penn, chairman, founder and CEO of Future Horizons. There are a lot of charts associated with this report. The report also covers market trends. Those interested to know more may contact Future Horizons.

March’s total semiconductor sales came in at $26,533 billion, slightly above our February expectation, closing the quarter at $69,181 billion. This was up 2.8 percent over Q4-2009 and one of the strongest first quarter performances ever in what is normally a negative growth quarter. We have now had four straight quarters of industry growth, yet still no one believes in the strength of the recovery!

Of course, something unexpected can always go wrong but the industry fundamentals have never been better aligned. Just as 2001 ushered in the conditions for the so-called the perfect (semiconductor) storm, 2010 is now wallowing in the inverse effect. Surprisingly, few firms are tough. Most are too timid, too cautious or too scared. Welcome to the brave new world of semiconductor company ambivalence and life-threatening risk aversion. “Hello”.

Future Horizons presented its review and forecast for the global semiconductor market on the first day of their ongoing 19th International Electronics Forum (IEF) 2010 in Dresden, Germany, May 6-8. Our overall prediction was that the 2010 chip market would have a barnstorming year; only a disaster of the Lehmann Brothers scale could now derail the market.

The overall five-year forecast presented was:

* 2010: +31 percent, with still some scope for upwards revision.

* 2011: +28 percent; based on: peak of the structural cyclical boom (could stretch into 2012).

* 2012: +18 percent; based on: normal cyclical trash cycle starting 2H-2012 (1H-2013?).

* 2013: +3 percent based on: market correction in full flow (could be negative, cap ex overspend and inventory build depending).

* 2014: +12 percent; based on: start of the next cyclical recovery (single digit, if 2013 is negative).

This would take the industry to around $300 billion in 2010 with a CAGR of 11.8 percent between 2010-14. It would also signal a 180-degree reversal in the industry’s fortunes following its ‘zero growth’ 2000-09 lost decade of growth. Moreover, despite the apparent bullishness of these numbers, given the now unavoidable 2010-11 fab shortage, the growth upside for 2010-12 is still huge.

The real tragedy however of what ought to have been good news for the industry was: (a) still, no one believes in the numbers; and (b) it was entirely predictable.

We first presented this forecast in January 2009, at the high point of the industry’s economic and business uncertainty. The only change we have made in the last 17 months was to increased 2010’s growth number from 15 to 31 percent number. Whilst all other industry analysts, business leaders, trade associations and economists alike wrestled with what was happening, we alone never lost faith in the industry or what the underlying fundamentals were saying.

This cycle’s forecast was the easiest we have ever had to make. All we had to do for the IEF meeting was to adjust for the fact that the 2009 recovery was faster and steeper than even we had dared to predict. The bottom line? The industry fundamentals may often get distorted by events but they never lie, ignore them at your peril.

We were ridiculed for our optimism in January 2009 and throughout the year when we stuck to our guns. We never stopped believing in the numbers however and never subscribe to industry fashion, trend or sentiment, despite this sometime being out on a limb with industry consensus.

We are proud of the fact only we got this analysis right but equally sad that no one had the courage to listen. This was not forecast luck either; this was simply doing what we do best, making a considered analysis and then believing in what the forecast tells us.

TSMC enables business growth through effective and collaborative innovation

Dr. Jack Sun, CTO and VP, R&D, TSMC.

While speaking on ‘Enabling business growth through effective and collaborative innovation’, at the recently held International Electronics Forum (IEF) 2010 in Dresden, Germany, Dr. Jack Sun, CTO and vice president, R&D, TSMC said that TSMC leads and invests heavily in competitive, energy efficient, and eco-friendly technologies to enable product innovation, such as CMOS platform scaling (40/28/20nm/FinFET, low-R,ELK..), More-than-Moore, and integrated package/3D-IC.

He added that TSMC strives for manufacturing excellence and capacity, and economy of scale, to support customers’ innovation and business growth. The company is also pushing the acceleration of EUV and Multi-Ebeam capabilities for cost-effective density scaling. His clear message was, “We must and can collaborate to innovate and overcome the technical and cost challenges.” That is, a collaborative innovation among the government, the industry and the academia is required to overcome the cost hurdle.

Earlier, he said that the IC industry will continue to grow — with a 22 percent growth likely in 2010, reaching $276 billion. During 2011-2014, he estimated a 4.2 percent CAGR for the IC industry and 7.2 percent CAGR for fabless companies.

Dwelling on the application and technology trend, Dr. Sun pointed out that the trend is SoC and heterogeneous integration at chip, package, and product level with embedded power-efficient processors, hardware accelerators, and special features.

TSMC continues to further expand its offering by including packaging services and silicon foundry services. This will allow the fabless semiconductor companies to achieve ‘More than Moore’ gains in integration by using TSMC as a foundry partner.

Dr. Sun also detailed the how TSMC enables innovation by providing best-in-class technology and design solutions.

* ‘Green’ CMOS technology platform – Moore’s Law.

— High density energy-efficient transistors and interconnect $ most desirable for embedded SoC.

— Pushing reduced-cost lithography and 450mm.

* Eco-friendly fine-pitch integrated packaging technology and 3D-IC

* Special/derivative technologies to interact with the external world – More-than-Moore.

— MCU, MEMS, RF, analog, BCD power, CIS, Display Driver, etc.

— Re-use and leverage compatible CMOS platform backbone and IP

* Open innovation platform and ecosystem of IPs.

TSMC’s 20nm and 28nm leadership

TSMC’s CMOS platform leadership clearly highlights future 20nm technology as well as 28nm leadership. Dr. Sun also highlighted how customers innovate with TSMC 40nm. Currently, there are more than 60 customer product tape-outs. More than half are in production with D0 <0.1 ~ 0.18. The monthly 40nm CyberShuttle has delivered >780 blocks for design/IP verification.

While on TSMC 28nm technology highlights, Dr. Sun said that the 28LP (poly/SiON) yield is approaching mature level on 64Mb SRAM. Also, the 28nm HKMG (28HP/28HPL) development is on track. Here, TSMC developed Gate-Last process with N+/P+ work function and superior performance, yield, manufacturability, variability,and reliability.

Also, it achieved double-digit 64Mb yield, good Vccmin, close-to- targets transistors, and good pre-qual reliability.

Dr. Sun added that a steady stream of shuttles have been running since the first one was launched in Jan’09. Almost every shuttle is 100 percent utilized. This implies an intensive customer engagement by TSMC. Over two dozen customers are said to be working with TSMC on 28nm technology across all application segments.

Now, on to TSMC’s 20nm highlights. The key technology features include planar transistors with 2nd-generation HKMG and 5th-generation strained Si; low-resistance ultra-shallow junction with M0 and enhanced millisecond anneal and silicide; and enhanced ELK and 2nd-generation Low-R interconnect.

Some other 20nm tehchnology highlights include immersion lithography with innovative patterning and layout solutions to achieve 2x density over 28nm, with the EDA tool likely to be ready by mid 2010. Also, the design rules are compatible for EUV and Multi-Ebeam insertion for selected layers in 2013-2014. Wow, this is really something!

GlobalFoundries enabling the next wave of 'foundry' innovation

According to Mojy Chian, Senior Vice President, Design Enablement, GlobalFoundries, continued innovation in the foundry business demands a new approach. He was speaking at the recently held International Electronics  Forum (IEF) 2010 organized by Future Horizons in Dresden, Germany.

GlobalFoundries is bringing a highly integrated model to foundry, which involves the extension of customer operations, early customer-foundry engagement, as well as close collaboration and joint technology development. This would enable faster time to volume and market, leading to smooth ramps to mature yields. Chian added that design, manufacturing, and EDA/IP solutions must work in unison to accomplish this.

According to him, the industry desperately needs a new approach. Here, he discussed GlobalFoundries’ 28nm collaborative innovation, which involves four phases.

Phase 1: Exploration

* For advanced technology, foundry engagement begins 2.5 years before product tapeout.

* Starts with exploration of design architecture, specification, and methodology.

* Foundry value proposition drives corresponding process selection.

* Early engagement locks in the process to the customer’s design requirements.

Phase 2: Optimization

* Design architecture and IP development begins.

* Performance, power, density, cost, TTM targets analyzed.

* Trade-off analysis of design and process targets, TTM, and manufacturability.

* Design and process technology are co-optimized.

Phase 3: Iteration

* Initial process and design test structures taped out.

* Process targets frozen – PDK 0.1 is released.

* Design implementation methodology finalized.

* Design performance and power targets are defined.

Phase 4: Implementation

* Concurrent and target-driven process and design implementation.

* Fine tuning of process and design – design implementation in high gear.

* Test chips taped out, chip level validation, PDK 0.2, 0.5, 0.9, and 1.0 released.

* Incremental march towards process qualification and risk production.

The ultimate goal: process qualified on same day as tapeout! Target-driven technology development and design enablement are at the core of accelerating time-to-market.

Design Enablement at GlobalFoundries is said to be an unique approach to bridging the gap between design and manufacturing. There is close collaboration and early engagement. Although product engineering heritage is not typically found at foundries, GlobalFoundries has been able to make use of the best practices from Chartered’s foundry experience.

All of this leads to optimized performance, leakage and yields, accelerated time to market, reduced design and manufacturing risks, integrated system-level functionality.