Samsung Electronics has landed a major new foundry customer in the form of FPGA fabless company, Xilinx. Samsung will fabricate 45nm FPGA devices for Xilinx at its 300mm logic fab, S1, which is home to Samsung’s advanced foundry operations. Xilinx said in a recent conference call that 45nm devices would be available from March quarter 2009 onwards. Xilinx has been a major customer of UMC for many years and indicates that there is growing competition for the major foundries for leading-edge production, at a time when utilization rates are expected to reach record lows in the coming months.
“As a supplier of Common Platform and a recognized leader with a proven high-volume, low-power advanced process, we’re glad to have Samsung on board as a foundry partner,” said Vincent Tong, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Quality & New Product Introductions at Xilinx. “By working closely with Samsung, we are able to leverage their aggressive deep sub-micron process roadmap and continued investment in the most advanced manufacturing facilities.”
“Samsung is committed to delivering world class technology, manufacturing, and foundry services required to support Xilinx’s leadership FPGA products,” commented Dr. Ben Suh, Vice President of ASIC/Foundry Business Development, System LSI division, Samsung Electronics.
Toshiba has also been a foundry partner of Xilinx.