Leading Flash and Foundry Suppliers Partner to Supplement Manufacturing
for Spansion's 110 Nanometer MirrorBit(tm) Technology
SUNNYVALE and SAN JOSE, Calif. - August 11, 2005 -- Spansion LLC, the
Flash memory venture of AMD (NYSE:AMD) and Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702),
and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM)
today announced a manufacturing agreement that will augment Spansion's
internal production of its 110 nanometer (nm) MirrorBit(tm) technology.
Pursuant to the agreement, TSMC will supply foundry manufacturing
capabilities for Spansion's family of GL, PL and WS wireless products
and GL embedded products based on 110nm MirrorBit technology.
TSMC will phase Spansion's 110nm process technologies into its
production lines exclusively for use in Spansion's products. Initially,
Spansion's 110nm MirrorBit technology will be fabricated on 200mm
wafers. The target production ramp date at TSMC is the second quarter
of 2006.
"Our partnership with TSMC will help augment our internal production
capability and allow us to more quickly migrate to next-generation
technologies," Bertrand Cambou, president and CEO of Spansion.
"Together, we believe we can create a powerful team to compete in the
Flash memory market, one of the fastest growing segments of the
semiconductor industry. Our collaboration will also give us additional
flexibility in our business model as we continue to meet customer demand
for our MirrorBit technology. "
"Spansion is a highly innovative company in a growing market," said TSMC
CEO Dr. Rick Tsai. "When combined with TSMC's manufacturing muscle and
industry-leading customer partnerships, this combination makes for a
powerful win-win relationship."
About MirrorBit(tm) Technology
Spansion's award-winning MirrorBit(tm) technology is a proprietary
technology, which stores two bits of data in a single memory cell,
doubling the density of each memory cell. MirrorBit technology requires
fewer manufacturing steps, resulting in higher yields and lower costs,
eliminating at least 10 percent of the total manufacturing steps and 40
percent of the most critical manufacturing steps, as compared to
floating gate MLC NOR technology.
The Spansion wireless GL product family, with a 1.8-volt and/or 3-volt
interface, enables code and data applications in low-end, mid-range and
higher-end mobile phones. The Spansion wireless PL product family, with
a 3-volt interface, is used for a broad range of mobile phones, from
entry level, basic audio-only handsets to audio and data capable phones
with higher resolution color displays.
Spansion's wireless WS product family is optimized for higher-end mobile
phones with capabilities such as polyphonic ring tones, enhanced color
displays, higher resolution cameras, and larger internal storage for
multimedia content including music, videos and pictures. The WS family
combines a high-performance burst-mode 1.8-volt interface with
Simultaneous Read Write and Advanced Sector Protection features at
64-megabit to 256-megabit densities for code and data requirements.
The Spansion GL-N product family for the embedded market combines
expanded storage capacity with high performance and security to enable
the next generation of home and automotive electronics, telecom and
networking equipment. The GL-N family also includes compatible 512-,
256- and 128-megabit devices to aid customers who design numerous
products based on a single platform. Software, pinout and package
compatibility allows designers to upgrade, cost-reduce or otherwise
modify existing products quickly and easily, without redesigning circuit
boards and re-architecting software.
The 256-megabit densities of the WS family and the GL-N family are
currently manufactured in volume at the company's JV-3 manufacturing
facility in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan; and are planned for manufacture with
TSMC.
Spansion Cautionary Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that
forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
current expectations. Risks include the possibility that we may not be
able to migrate to, or otherwise obtain, 300mm wafer capacity; to
develop new manufacturing technologies using smaller wafer sizes such as
90nm or 65nm; to timely meet our planned production ramp schedule with
TSMC; and to obtain manufacturing capacity sufficient to meet customer
demand for our products. We urge investors to review in detail the
risks and uncertainties in Spansion's Registration Statement on Form
S-1, as amended, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and
AMD's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but
not limited to its Annual Report on form 10-K for the year ended
December 26, 2004, and AMD's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended June 26, 2005.
About Spansion
Spansion, the Flash memory venture of AMD and Fujitsu, is the largest
company in the world dedicated exclusively to developing, designing, and
manufacturing Flash memory products. In fiscal 2004, Spansion's total
net sales were approximately $2.3 billion. The company offers the
broadest NOR Flash memory portfolio in the industry, for use in the
wireless, automotive, networking, telecommunications and consumer
electronics markets. The company's portfolio is supported by a worldwide
network of advanced manufacturing facilities, system-level expertise and
dedicated design support, and an unwavering commitment to our customers'
success.
Information about Spansion Flash memory solutions is available at
http://www.spansion.com.
About TSMC
TSMC is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing
the industry's leading process technology and the foundry industry's
largest portfolio of process-proven library, IP, design tools and
reference flows. The company operates two advanced twelve-inch wafer
fabs, five eight-inch fabs and one six-inch wafer fab. TSMC also has
substantial capacity commitments at its wholly-owned subsidiary,
WaferTech and TSMC (Shanghai), and its joint venture fab, SSMC. In early
2001, TSMC became the first IC manufacturer to announce a 90-nm
technology alignment program with its customers. TSMC's corporate
headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan. For more information about TSMC
please see http://www.tsmc.com.
There's me thinking you knew "the business" LOL
Just catching up on mail and PR's now