IBM and Hitachi have jointly announced their first-ever partnership for researching the next chip technology for 32-nanometer semiconductors. According to the company officials, IBM and Hitachi will use brand new technologies that would allow them to improve the measurements in the transistor variations.

The two companies will join forces at IBM's Thomas J. Watson center in New York, as well as at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany. The agreement covers a two-year research collaboration that can be extended as required.

"By combining individual research strength and intellectual property we reduce the significant costs associated with research needed to advance the next generation of chip technology," said Bernie Meyerson, vice president of strategic alliances and CTO for IBM's Systems & Technology Group.

IBM is currently involved in multiple partnerships that aim research at the 32-nanometer node with major players in the semiconductor industry, such as AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics. The alliance is also known as the Common Platform group and aims at sharing the astounding costs of researching the next semiconductor technology.

"Our two companies have a long history of successful business collaboration and we look forward to extending this to include the semiconductor metrology research arena," said Eiji Takeda, general manager of research and development at Hitachi.

The original agreement between the two semiconductor manufacturers covers only the research in metrology aspect. As of the moment of writing, IBM did neither confirm or infirm the possibility of Hitachi joining the Common Platform group.

"IBM and its partners routinely endeavor to push back the limits of technology, but as such we cannot share exact goals of the Hitachi deal without giving away competitive advantage," concluded Meyerson.

IBM is one of the most important contributors when it comes to researching new semiconductor technologies. For instance IBM is currently developing silicon nanophotonics technology, that aims at replacing the wires inside a chip with pulses of light conducted by microscopic optical fibers.