14 DAY TRIAL // TSMC, Globalfoundries, IBM, UMC and more or less every other foundry out there have to constantly improve their manufacturing technologies, which means their research labs are always looking into more advanced nodes.
Not everything can be done alone though, especially when one of the features you need is patented by someone else.
That's why alliances form, like the IBM Technology Development Alliance, which has just accepted a new member: United Microelectronics Corporation, UMC for short.
“Established over a decade ago, the IBM alliance allows the partners to leverage our combined expertise and collaborative research and innovative technology development to address the demanding needs for advanced semiconductor applications,” said Gary Patton, VP, IBM semiconductor research and development. “UMC is a strong addition to the alliance.”
Back in 2012, UMC and IBM reached an agreement concerning prior nodes, including 14nm FinFET.
This latest alliance is, shall we say, an expansion of that partnership, and will allow UMC to improve its internally developed 14nm FinFET with better low-power enhancements.
Meanwhile, it will send an engineering team to join the 10nm development work that will take place in Albany, New York.
Provided everything goes as wished for, UMC could be ready to implement 14nm and 10nm in a matter of years, or maybe a decade or so, at UMC's Tainan, Taiwan R&D site.
“IBM is a recognized leader in fundamental semiconductor technology,” stated Po Wen Yen, CEO at UMC.
“We are extremely pleased to work jointly with IBM on advanced fundamentals, and to contribute our many years of experience in developing highly competitive manufacturing technology. Our role as one of the world's top foundries requires us to introduce leading-edge processes in a timely manner to enable next generation customer chip designs. We look forward to collaborating closely with IBM, leveraging their deep technology expertise to shorten our 10nm and FinFET R&D cycles and create a win-win situation for UMC and our customers.”