EC backs mag RAM R&D aid at Altis
The total amount of the aid is put at EUR23.6mn. The project is due to be carried out between May 2003 and May 2006. The research work will be conducted in partnership with selected public laboratories. The EC believes that the aid will speed up the research projects and help them to meet the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) schedule.
The aid takes the form of grants financed by French state and by regional and local authorities (Conseil régional d'Ile de France, Conseil général de l'Essonne, Communauté d'Agglomération Seine-Essonne). All grants made to public establishments have been included in the aid intensity calculation in order to ensure that the aid ceiling provided for in the EC framework is not exceeded.
According to the French authorities, Altis's expenditure, which currently accounts for 7-8% of its turnover, with 50 or so engineers devoted to R&D, would, thanks to the aid, increase to 12%, coupled with at least a doubling in the number of research workers.
Altis came into being in July 1999 as a result of the merger between Infineon Technologies and IMD (IBM's microelectronics division). Altis is housed at IBM Microélectronique's CorbeilEssonnes site employing 2000 people (25% engineers and doctorates, 25% technicians and 50% operatives). Production capacity is in excess of 45,000 200mm wafers a month.
The EC decision is put in the context of international competition in the sector in the USA (Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Honeywell, Nonvolatile Electronics, Quantum, Applied Magnetics and Ford) and Japan (Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony, NEC, Toyota, Fujitsu and Matsushita).
