Fujitsu Microelectronics has partnered with TSMC for production of its ICs on the foundry’s 40nm process technology.
Work will also start on collaborative development of next generation process technologies for 28nm and below.
Increasingly, semiconductor manufacturers, with their own fabs, are spreading the cost of next generation processes by working with one of the big foundries to support their Asics and ASSPs.
Chip manufacturers such as STMicroelectronics, NXP, Infineon are already using TSMC for next generation technologies.
“From the aspect of its advanced process technologies and large-scale production capacity, TSMC is the most attractive semiconductor foundry partner", said Haruki Okada, president of Fujitsu Microelectronics.
TSMC ran first 40nm wafers for AMD, Altera and Nvidia last November.