ARM and UMC Seal Long-Term Deal Involving 28nm

UMC and ARM announced that their existing collaboration has evolved into a long-term contract which will combine the former's 28nm process technology with the latter's intellectual property.

The 28nm process is a fairly recent milestone, but it is still one that technology companies want to leverage as soon and as well as possible.

To this end, ARM and UMC have established a long-term deal through which SoC designers will be provided with assistance in enabling higher performance and better battery life on mobile devices running ARM chips.

The 28nm process technology is, after all, targeted at a wide variety of applications, so the companies have a lot of work to do if they are to tap into its full potential.

“We are delighted to expand our long-standing relationship with ARM, which spans over 10 years," said S. C. Chien, vice president, Customer Engineering & IP Development Design Support Divisions, UMC.

"This UMC-sponsored development will provide customers with access to the most comprehensive ARM physical IP solutions on UMC’s versatile and robust process technologies. This will enable faster time-to-market for critical market segments. The cooperation further demonstrates our commitment to delivering industry leading resources for customers designing into UMC’s most advanced 28nm process node.”

The collaboration will lead to newer and better SoC (system-on-chip) devices for digital home and high-speed networking, plus mobile and wireless portable gadgets.

Many device voltages, memory bit-cells, underdrive and overdrive capabilities are part of the ultra-low leakage of high-K metal gate device structure.

“We are pleased that UMC has selected ARM Artisan Physical IP for its 28HPM process. Mutual customers will now have access to a complete solution of advanced physical IP that is highly suited for implementing ARM technology , such as the ARM Cortex-A processor series,” commented Simon Segars, executive vice president and general manager, Physical IP Division, ARM.