December 4, 2007 – SEMATECH’s R&D foundry subsidiary Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) is merging with SVTC (nee the Silicon Valley Technology Center, which was sold by Cypress Semiconductor in February to private equity investors) to expand their ability to offer an alternative to dedicated R&D fabs or shared development/production operations. Terms of the deal, expected to be closed by year’s end, were not disclosed.
“Today even large companies are facing increasingly challenging economics of running stand-alone R&D fabs,” said Dave Bergeron, SVTC CEO, in a statement. “SVTC and ATDF together can support large projects and we have the scale to invest for the future.”
“The merger is an excellent opportunity to expand capabilities; broaden our global customer base; grow our emerging technology, wafer services and tool access businesses; and create new jobs,” added Dave Anderson, general manager of ATDF. He noted that the Austin foundry would continue to serve global and regional customers and support university research.
Together the two firms boast more than 200 customers worldwide, offering secure, cost-effective access to advanced process tools and capabilities (200mm/300mm production-grade equipment).
Bergeron noted his company’s customer roster represents a wide range of work in nonvolatile memory, MEMS, imaging, high-voltage and analog technologies, plus nanotech and solar PV cell development.
“Before plunking down millions of dollars on new equipment for this kind of development, senior technologists are now coming to us for a cost-effective solution that still enables them to pursue their development objectives without compromise,” he stated. SVTC also welcomes fabless companies and start-up customers for development support and commercialization “previously available only to IDMs and consortia with deep pockets.”
SEMATECH’s move to carve out the ATDF unit follows its decision earlier this year to uproot its headquarters and a significant portion of its operations (advanced technologies including lithography, 3D interconnect, and metrology) to New York, where it is upgrading its presence as an “anchor partner” within the Albany NanoTech complex (with help from $300M in matching state investments). Left behind in Austin was SEMATECH’s materials work, plus its subsidiaries ATDF, International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), and Advanced Materials Research Center (AMRC).