TSMC, UMC split fabless biz from MediaTek

April 26, 2006 – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reportedly has signed a contract to provide 0.13-micron manufacturing services to MediaTek Inc., Taiwan’s top fabless house, for its LCD TV chips, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

MediaTek was formerly a design house of UMC, spun off a few years ago; UMC has gradually reduced its stake in the firm from 20% to less than 6%, and recently gave up its seat on the company’s board. The paper indicated sources claim MediaTek has been verifying handset chips using TSMC’s 90nm process technology since early this year, and that spreading business between Taiwan’s top two foundries will help reduce its exposure and lower costs.

The paper noted that it is natural for fabless shops to seek diversified outsourcing partnership with manufacturers, and that UMC likely will respond with more favorable capacity and service offerings to MediaTek to keep some of its business.

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