JMicron Develops Serial ATA II --3.0 Gbps-- PHY Core on UMC's 0.13 Micron Process
HSINCHU, Taiwan—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Feb. 24, 2005—
UMC, a world leading semiconductor foundry (NYSE:UMC)
(TSE:2303), and JMicron Technology Corp. today announced that
JMicron's Serial ATA (SATA) II PHY Technology has been developed and
proven on UMC's 0.13um HS (High Speed) process. The SATA 3.0/1.5 Gbps
physical layer (PHY) intellectual property (IP) core is designed to
interface with SATA devices that comply with the SATA 2.0
specification, and builds upon the two companies' mass production
success of JMicron's 0.18um Serial ATA 1.5/3.0 Gbps PHY IP at UMC.
This experience contributed to the first pass silicon success of the
0.13um SATA II IP core, with tape-out taking only 20 days for the
joint R&D team to complete.
"UMC constantly enhances its SoC foundry solutions portfolio to
provide the enabling resources that designers need to launch their SoC
products in a timely fashion," said Ken Liou, director of the IP
Development & Design Support Division at UMC. "JMicron's SATA PHY core
is a welcome addition to our IP portfolio as our customers can build
it into their next-generation ICs for greater compatibility with the
newest serial ATA specification."
"As High Speed Serial Link core technologies are gradually applied
to computer, communication and consumer products, IC designers are
facing greater challenges as they strive to develop their
specialty-core technologies while trying to keep pace with
ever-changing interface technologies," said Tim Liu, president of
JMicron. "By making our product available through UMC, designers can
more readily develop their 0.13 micron SoCs to be Serial ATA II PHY
(3.0 Gbps) compatible. Also, customers will have greater confidence as
this is our second product designed with UMC."
For more information regarding JMicron's core authorization
programs, please visit JMicron's website (www.jmicron.com) or contact
sales@jmicron.com.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE:UMC, TSE:2303) is a leading global semiconductor
foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications
spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC
delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated
system-on-chip (SoC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper,
and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing;
Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based UMCi are both in volume
production for a variety of customer products. UMC employs over 10,500
people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe,
and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at
http://www.umc.com.
About JMicron
JMicron was founded in 2001. JMicron has a head office in Hsinchu
Science Park, Hsinchu, as well as a research center in Irvine,
California. The main product research direction focuses on the High
Speed Serial Link, where the technology can be broadly applied to
Serial ATA, PCI Express, USB and relative products. JMicron is also a
part of UMC's Gold-IP program.
Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward
looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws,
including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity,
technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors
are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially
from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including
conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance
and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development
risks.
Contact:
KJ Communications
Eileen Elam, 650-917-1488
eileen@kjcompr.com
or
UMC
Alex Hinnawi, 886-2-2700-6999 ext. 6958 (In Taiwan)
or
JMicron
Jung-Hsi Hsieh, +886-3-5797389 ext. 8800, +886-912-646751
