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Silterra in wafer deal with 7 local varsities |
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 |
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LEADING semiconductor wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd has signed an agreement with a consortium of seven leading local universities to undertake a multi-project silicon wafer verification programme.
The seven universities - Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Malaysian Multimedia University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara - through Microelectronic Design Consortium - will carry out testing and fabrication of chip designs on a complimentary basis.
Academicians who attended the signing ceremony at Silterra's premise at the Kulim Hi-Tech park in Penang yesterday lauded Silterra's initiative, saying it is the only wafer foundry in the world to provide this programme to universities.
The foundry, majority-owned by Khazanah Nasional, has been collaborating with several universities for the last four years to develop local core competency and chip design capabilities in leading edge technologies.
Silterra chief executive officer Bruce Gray said the company wants to play a catalytic role in moving Malaysia up the semiconductor value chain.
The Ninth Malaysia Plan focuses on the need to further develop high-technology research and expertise through higher levels of collaboration between research institutions and the industry to drive Malaysia towards enhancing its capacity for knowledge.
'Recognising this fact, Silterra has been continuously collaborating with local universities in the last three to four years to develop local core competencies and chip design capabilities in leading edge technologies,' said Gray.
The chip manufacturing process consists of a series of steps right from chip designing, masking, wafer manufacturing to assembling and final testing.
While assembling and testing are important components in the value chain, it is the chip designing industry that actually drives innovation in the electronics industry.
'Chip designing is non-labour intensive and is also one of the highest value-add activities by percentage of investments within the semiconductor value chain,' said Gray.
To date, Silterra has tested more than 60 chip designs and is expected to embark on more new designs.
Silterra Malaysia's wafer fab, which has a design capacity of 40,000 eight-inch wafers per month, has employed more than 600 graduates over the last eight to nine years.
Programme involves testing and fabrication of chip designs.
Source: Business Times |
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