Jazz and ASMC take SiGe BiCMOS to China
Under the planned partnership, Jazz Semiconductor, a foundry spin-off from Conexant in Newport Beach, CA, will contribute its BiCMOS and SiGe process technologies as well as engineering assistance. Jazz will also provide the marketing and sales effort for the Chinese manufacturing venture.
ASMC will provide capacity for SiGe processes in its new 200 mm wafer fab in Shanghai. The fabrication facility is expected to begin volume production in the fourth quarter of 2003, producing 30,000 wafers per month.
Jazz said the alliance will provide its foundry customers with a second source of capacity for the mixed-signal and RF chip processes currently manufactured in its Newport Beach plant.
"One of the primary markets for SiGe products is wireless handsets, which require integration of RF functions at low power consumption and at low cost,” said Theodore Zhu, VP of sales, strategy and business development for Jazz Semiconductor. “The agreement provides Jazz customers access to RF and mixed-signal process technologies in China were the wireless market is expected to grow significantly, and provides a second sourcing alternative.”
The two companies said China s Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has estimated that more than 200 million mobile phone subscribers now exist in the country, making it the second largest market for mobile communications in the world. The ministry has estimated that 100 million wireless handset were sold in China during 2002.
