Xilinx and UMC have announced the extension of their long-time strategic relationship to include technology development at 65nm and below. In preparation for manufacture of next-generation Xilinx FPGAs, joint research and development efforts have resulted in 65nm prototype wafers, including actual programmable logic circuitry, currently being produced at UMC's 300mm facility in Tainan, Taiwan. In addition, the companies announced that they are in the early stages of process definition for future development of 45nm FPGAs.
For more than a decade, Xilinx has relied upon UMC as its primary manufacturer for high-volume production of its programmable chips, most recently at 90nm. UMC leads all foundries in total 90nm wafers shipped and Xilinx supplies more than 70% of the world's 90nm FPGAs, based upon cumulative revenues. A total of four 90nm FPGA families and 28 devices are being manufactured by UMC, including Virtex(TM)-4, Spartan(TM)-3E, Spartan-3L and Spartan-3.
"Together, UMC and Xilinx have been pioneers across multiple process generations -- and we look forward to extending that leadership to 65nm and beyond," said Wim Roelandts, chairman, president and CEO of Xilinx. "By aggressively moving down the process technology curve with UMC, Xilinx continues to deliver the world's lowest cost and highest performance FPGAs to customers. Since our introduction of the world's first 90nm FPGA in 2003, we've had many technology and yield breakthroughs at UMC's Fab 12A. Early results at 65nm bode well for our continued success."
"UMC and Xilinx have a long-standing relationship sharply focused on maximizing both companies' competitiveness through technology leadership," added Jackson Hu, CEO of UMC. "Our mutual success at 90nm is the latest chapter in a long history of cooperation. Due to our strategic relationships with technology leaders such as Xilinx, UMC currently leads the foundry industry in 90nm wafer shipments. We believe this is a solid indication of the production maturity and readiness of UMC's 90nm process. At the same time, we are seeing good progress in our development of 65-nm and beyond technologies, with Xilinx playing a major role in our development efforts."
Early investment in 90nm technology development by both Xilinx and UMC led to delivery of the world's first 90nm FPGA product line in 2003. To remain at the leading edge and to meet growing customer demand for its popular FPGAs, the company remains committed to a multi-source manufacturing strategy.
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