August 7, 2009: Integrated Device Technology (IDT) is giving up on the fab-lite model and going completely fabless, transferring its fabrication processes to TSMC over the next two years.

The deal includes products currently made at IDT’s ≥0.13μm Fab 4 in Hillsboro, OR, transferring the processes and products to TSMC over the next two years. The actual wafer fab and toolsets will be marketed via a third party to find a potential buyer.

The deal is the culmination of a yearlong shift toward developing application-specific products for communications, computing, and consumer markets, notes Mike Hunter, IDT VP of worldwide manufacturing, in a statement. The deal with TSMC expands IDT’s overall manufacturing capabilities and “starts the countdown” for a move to a purely fabless model, where it can direct resources and investments to new product development and design, to leverage the foundry’s advanced process technologies’ capabilities for faster, more complex integrated devices.