Infineon Technologies and United Microelectronics Corp., a leading global semiconductor foundry, have announced the extension of their manufacturing partnership into power semiconductors for automotive applications. Prior to this expanded partnership, the foundry had been producing Infineon’s logic chips for more than 15 years.
Based on the recently signed agreement, both companies will jointly transfer Infineon’s automotive-qualified Smart Power Technology (SPT9) to UMC and extend its production to 300 mm wafers. Production start of SPT9 products at UMC’s 300 mm Fab in Taiwan is planned for early 2018. SPT9 is a proprietary 130-nanometer (nm) process technology of Infineon that combines microcontroller intelligence and power technology on a single die.
“We are proud to announce this milestone in our partnership with Infineon to bring SPT9 into UMC’s technology roadmap,” said Po-Wen Yen, CEO of UMC. “Automotive applications are a key priority for our technology, capacity and customers, and we are pleased to extend our collaboration with Infineon into state-of-the-art power semiconductors for automotive applications. With our strong manufacturing excellence, UMC is capable of meeting the highest-rated Grade 0 automotive industry quality standards. We are fully committed to the stringent quality requirements of the automotive industry to meet the market requirements for automotive IC suppliers such as Infineon.”
“We trust in UMC to master the demanding automotive obligations of Infineon as an innovative and reliable source providing long-term and stable supply,”said Jochen Hanebeck, president Automotive division at Infineon Technologies. “We are a technology leader in automotive power applications with strong system expertise. With SPT9, Infineon enables power semiconductors of an unmatched level of integration.”