SemIndia, Belgian institute tie up for R&D

Monday, 06 November 2006, 20:30 IST
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Bangalore: SemIndia, which is setting up India's first chip fabrication facility in Hyderabad, has tied up with IMEC of Belgium for research and development of next generation semiconductor technologies. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the two partners here in the presence of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The tie-up envisages a strategic role for IMEC in setting up SemIndia's semiconductor foundry by 2007 and ramping up production by 2009 as the fab's technology partner. "The collaboration will focus on developing foundry-compatible 130 nm (nano-metre) and 90 nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processes for logic and mixed-signal products for the cellular market," SemIndia CEO Vinod Agarwal said. The Belgium-based firm is a leading research institute in nano-electronics and nano-technology. "We are delighted to be present in an important market like India to take our research programmes ahead of industrial needs and contribute to the growth of the semicon market in the subcontinent," IMEC CeO Gilbert Declerck said.
Source: IANS