Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is one of the most important companies in the development of China’s semiconductor industry. Founded in Shanghai in 2000 by Taiwanese semiconductor executive Richard Chang, SMIC emerged with an ambitious objective: to establish a world-class semiconductor foundry capable of competing with established manufacturers such as
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United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) is one of the pioneering companies in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and an important participant in the development of the global semiconductor foundry business. Established in 1980 with support from the Taiwanese government, UMC emerged during a period when Taiwan was attempting to transform its economy from
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The history of GlobalFoundries is a story about one of the semiconductor industry’s most important transformations: the separation of chip design from semiconductor manufacturing.
Established in 2009 following the separation of AMD’s manufacturing operations, GlobalFoundries entered the market with an ambitious objective: to become a major competitor to Taiwan
Moving an existing ASIC or semiconductor product to another wafer fab can lower manufacturing cost, improve supply continuity and reduce geopolitical exposure. But a foundry transfer is rarely a simple matter of sending the same masks to a different factory. Here is how to assess technical feasibility, budget
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An MPW run is one of the most cost-effective ways to manufacture first silicon when you do not yet need a full dedicated wafer lot. MPW stands for Multi-Project Wafer. Instead of one customer paying for the entire mask set and wafer fabrication process, multiple IC designs share
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TSMC MPW gives chip designers a lower-cost way to manufacture first silicon on TSMC technology without paying for an entire dedicated mask set and wafer run. TSMC operates its multi-project wafer program under the name CyberShuttle®. Several customer designs share the same multi-project mask set, which spreads tooling and wafer
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