STMicro team up with Samsung

The licensing accord provides customers with manufacturing solutions from Samsung's 300mm facilities and assures the industry of high-volume production for ST's FD-SOI technology. The agreement, on 28nm FD-SOI technology, encompasses ST's fully developed process technology and design enablement ecosystem. The Samsung 28nm FD-SOI process will be qualified in early 2015 for volume production. "Building upon the existing solid relationship between ST and Samsung within the framework of the International Semiconductor Development Alliance, this agreement further strengthens our cooperation by extending it to 28nm FD-SOI, while expanding the ecosystem and augmenting fab capacity for ST and the entire electronics industry. Moreover, the agreement confirms and strengthens further the business momentum that we have experienced on this technology during the past quarters through many customers and project engagements in our Embedded Processing Solutions segment" said Jean-Marc Chery, Chief Operating Officer, STMicroelectronics. "We foresee further expansion of the 28nm FD-SOI ecosystem, to include the leading EDA and IP suppliers, which will enrich the IP catalog available for 28nm FD-SOI." "We are pleased to announce this 28nm FD-SOI collaboration with ST. This is an ideal solution for customers looking for extra performance and power efficiency at the 28nm node without having to migrate to 20nm," said Dr. Seh-Woong Jeong, executive vice president of System LSI Business, Samsung Electronics. "28nm process technology is a highly productive process technology and expected to have a long life span based on well-established manufacturing capabilities. By adding FD-SOI to our technology portfolio, Samsung provides a full-spectrum of 28nm process offerings for our customers' success."