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Renesas Electronics and TSMC collaborate
Renesas Electronics Corporation and TSMC have announced that they have signed an agreement to extend their microcontroller (MCU) technology collaboration to 40 nanometer (nm) embedded flash (eFlash) process technology for manufacturing MCU products used in next-generation automotive and consumer applications such as home appliances.
Renesas previously agreed to outsource MCUs to TSMC using 90nm eFlash process technology. Under the 40nm MCU collaboration, Renesas will outsource MCU production at 40nm and future technologies.
Renesas and TSMC will collaborate to lead in advanced technologies for MCU platform and production by combining Renesas' MONOS (Metal-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon) technology supporting both high reliability and high speed, and high-quality technical support with TSMC's advanced CMOS process technologies and flexible production capacity.
Furthermore, by making the MONOS process platform available to other semiconductor suppliers around the world (including fabless companies and IDMs), Renesas and TSMC aim to set up an ecosystem and further widen the customer base.
"In order for us to achieve further global growth, we are confident that TSMC will provide us with significant benefits in accelerated time-to-volume production and maximum flexibility in addressing the volatile fluctuation of the market demand," said Shinichi Iwamoto, Senior Vice President of Renesas Electronics Corporation. "Based on what we have learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake last year, which brought major impacts to several of our manufacturing sites and our customers businesses, we have been accelerating the construction of the "fab network" as part of the company's business continuity plan (BCP). By integrating both companies' world-leading technologies through this collaboration, we will construct a supply structure which secures consistent supply for our customers and also drive the market as a leading MCU supplier aiming to set up an ecosystem for MCUs."
"Renesas is one of the leaders in the MCU market and the collaboration will help deliver the performance Renesas needs for new production introduction with the level of quality and reliability its customers have come to expect," said Jason Chen, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at TSMC.
Building on a history of strong collaboration, TSMC's process capabilities will provide Renesas with a cost-effective, highly reliable way to integrate flash onto a single microcontroller. At 40nm process, MCU products could achieve higher speed, lower power consumption and more than 50 percent smaller die size compared to the current 90nm node. These features are particularly crucial for integrated MCU designs, where logic, memory, and all other system components are squeezed into a very small area.
