Samsung Joins IBM and Chartered on 90-Nanometer Common Design-Enablement Platform

May 24, 2005

IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, today announced that Samsung has licensed the 90-nanometer common design enablement technology utilized by IBM and Chartered. As a result of this license agreement, Samsung, IBM and Chartered can make available common foundry design kits and tests chips as well as work with design enablement parties to provide future third-party solutions, initially for the 90nm baseline and low-power CMOS logic processes.

The announcement builds on Samsung's licensing rights to the jointly developed 90nm process platform, with the goal of expanding customers' flexibility to source designs among the manufacturing facilities of Samsung, IBM and Chartered. Samsung also collaborates with IBM, Chartered and Infineon for the development of 65nm process technologies.

"The synergy created from the joint technology process development program at 65nm has increased our confidence in the common platform. The 90nm design enablement platform complements the leading-edge production capacity available at Samsung and increases sourcing flexibility for customers. We firmly believe the common platform to be a truly attractive manufacturing model for the Nano-Age," said KP Suh, Executive Vice President of System LSI Technology Development at Samsung Electronics. "The arrangement that we have with IBM and Chartered to provide mutual design enablement and increase compatibility among our fabs will be a great benefit to our internal users and external customers."

"As an electronics leader, Samsung adds valuable system-level understanding and expertise to the common platform that should benefit our customers, both in terms of the underlying process as well as the overall open enablement solutions we offer," said Steve Longoria, vice president, Semiconductor Technology Platform for IBM. "We are pleased to have Samsung involved at multiple levels of this collaboration and look forward to providing increased open and collaborative solutions to the marketplace through our common 90nm enablement platform."

"The transition to 90nm and 300-millimeter manufacturing has drawn the industry to deeper and broader levels of collaboration," said Kevin Meyer, vice president of worldwide marketing at Chartered. "As a global leader in digital convergence products and leading semiconductor manufacturer, Samsung's participation at 90nm is an endorsement of the common platform approach. We look forward to leveraging their breadth of experience and expertise to jointly provide customers with even greater levels of sourcing flexibility and more robust design enablement solutions."