Qimonda, SMIC expand foundry agreement to 80-nm DRAM trench

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 8/21/2007

Munich, Germany-based semiconductor memory maker Qimonda AG and semiconductor manufacturing foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), headquartered in Shanghai, China, reported today that they are expanding their existing DRAM production agreement.

Under their agreement, Qimonda is to transfer its 80-nm DRAM trench technology to SMIC’s 300-mm facility in Beijing so that SMIC can manufacture DRAMs in this technology exclusively for Qimonda.

The agreement also includes the option for Qimonda to transfer its 75-nm technology to SMIC in the future, the companies noted.

Dr. Richard Chang, president and CEO of SMIC said the company is excited to further expand its partnership with Qimonda into 80-nm manufacturing, which has continued to drive the technology advancement of SMIC’s memory strategy.

In January, Qimonda moved to a split node at its latest process technology generation in order to maximize performance on one part of its DRAM portfolio and minimize cost on the other part.