Silterra in wafer deal with 7 local varsities

By Rupa Damodaran

Business Times

URL: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Tuesday/Nation/BT598564.txt/Article/
Monday 5 December 2006

Kulim – LEADING semiconductor wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd has signed an agreement with a consortium of seven leading local universities to undertake a multi-project silicon wafer verification programme.

The seven universities - Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Malaysian Multimedia University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara - through Microelectronic Design Consortium - will carry out testing and fabrication of chip designs on a complimentary basis.

Academicians who attended the signing ceremony at Silterra's premise at the Kulim Hi-Tech park in Penang yesterday lauded Silterra's initiative, saying it is the only wafer foundry in the world to provide this programme to universities.

The foundry, majority-owned by Khazanah Nasional, has been collaborating with several universities for the last four years to develop local core competency and chip design capabilities in leading edge technologies. Silterra chief executive officer Bruce Gray said the company wants to play a catalytic role in moving Malaysia up the semiconductor value chain. The Ninth Malaysia Plan focuses on the need to further develop high-technology research and expertise through higher levels of collaboration between research institutions and the industry to drive Malaysia towards enhancing its capacity for knowledge. "Recognising this fact, Silterra has been continuously collaborating with local universities in the last three to four years to develop local core competencies and chip design capabilities in leading edge technologies," said Gray. The chip manufacturing process consists of a series of steps right from chip designing, masking, wafer manufacturing to assembling and final testing. While assembling and testing are important components in the value chain, it is the chip designing industry that actually drives innovation in the electronics industry.

"Chip designing is non-labour intensive and is also one of the highest value-add activities by percentage of investments within the semiconductor value chain," said Gray.

To date, Silterra has tested more than 60 chip designs and is expected to embark on more new designs.

Silterra Malaysia's wafer fab, which has a design capacity of 40,000 eight-inch wafers per month, has employed more than 600 graduates over the last eight to nine years.

Programme involves testing and fabrication of chip designs

About Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.:

Market demand driven, SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a semiconductor wafer foundry offering major foundry compatible CMOS logic, high-voltage and mixed-signal/RF technologies down to 0.13-micron feature size. This includes complete, competitive contract manufacturing for fabless and IDM customers’ designs. SilTerra’s wafer fab has a design capacity of 40,000 eight-inch wafers per month. 

Environmentally vigilant, SilTerra delivers award winning, world-class performance to its customers seeking flexible capacity, competitive advantages and around the clock customer support. SilTerra is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 certified. Founded in 1995, the company’s headquarters and factory are located in Malaysia’s Kulim High-Tech Park, and SilTerra has sales and marketing offices in San Jose (California) and Hsinchu (Taiwan). For additional information on SilTerra or its services, please visit www.silterra.com. 

Silterra Contact

Koh Meng Kong

Tel: +6-012-491-0425 (Cell phone)

Tel: +604-401-4166 (o)
Email: mengkong_koh@silterra.com

Lu Ping Chiang
Tel : +886-3-574-1587 (o)

Email: pingchiang_lu@silterra.com

About Penang Skills Development Centre:

PSDC, the premier learning institution in the Northern region and Malaysia’s first industry-led training centre established in 1989.
PSDC has been offering skills enhancement and career advancement programs to meet the demand of the industry and public. PSDC has established itself as a national and international icon for training – churning out a record number of more than 100,000 trainees through the years. PSDC, a world-class non-profit training and educational centre was built on a tri-partied partnership model between the Government, Industry and Academia backed by its 124 member companies. For additional information on PSDC, please visit www.psdc.org.my