IBM becomes Arrow foundry partner

You may have seen our news story, “Arrow, IBM team for chip design, manufacturing,” published Monday afternoon. Arrow was not available for immediate comment at that time. But the release left some questions unanswered so I rang them, got a voicemail and followed up with an e-mail. A company representative did return e-mail communication after the story was published, however, he didn’t provide much more detail.

He did confirm that IBM is acting as a partner for Arrow’s Custom Logic Solutions (CLS) group, producing products designed by the end customer with support from CLS. The rep would not disclose what is being manufactured, the capacity expected or the production timeline.

It also appears that this agreement is the first of its kind for the distributor. “While we do not have similar types of relationships specifically with foundry partners, our CLS group has partnered with and supports other suppliers that offer structured and standard cell ASICs,” the rep wrote.

This is a partnership worth watching. In fact, while Arrow wouldn’t confirm much of the details, it’s the first such agreement between a distributor and foundry I’ve seen. And even though Arrow and IBM aren’t strangers — previous agreements between IBM and Arrow have focused on the systems side and Arrow is the leading distributor of enterprise products for IBM – when I think of the distribution link between Big Blue and the electronics supply chain, I immediately think Avent, not Arrow. The two companies have a long – and well publicized — history together, and just last month announced a server market program. This deal, assuming Arrow shares more information as it progresses, could change that thinking.

Read the story for more on the agreement and submit any comments you have below.