SemIndia signs MoU with Belgium's IMEC

Bangalore, Nov 5 (UNI) The SemIndia, India's leading semiconductor company, and IMEC, Belgium based Europe's leading independent nanoelectronics and nanotechnology research institute, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to engage in semiconductor R&D collaboration here today.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Vinod Agarwal, founder and CEO of SemIndia, said his company was planning to build a semiconductor fab in Hyderabad. It also intended to take up research with IMEC on the next generations of semiconductor process technologies.

He said SemIndia had plans to set up a semiconductor foundry by 2007 with production ramp up beginning of 2009 with IMEC as its strategic fab technology research partner. The collaboration would focus on developing foundry-compatible 130 nm and 90 nm CMOS processed for logic and mixed-signal products. To achieve this goal SemIndia will build on IMEC's long-term expertise in developing and transferring advanced CMOS processes. In a second phase SemIndia intends to collaborate with IMEC on the technologically advanced semiconductor rpocesses of 65 nm and 45 nm, he said.

Expressing confidence the SemIndia-IMEC partnership will help the company stay ahead in the space of cutting-edge technolgy through R&D initiatives for next generation seminconductor products, he said. ''This Partnership for fabs in India will help create technologically superior 'Made in India' semiconductors and will pave the path for out country's leadership in the coming decades''.

The Belgiam Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Union Information and Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran and other delegation members of Belgium were also present on the occasion.

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