Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has signed a manufacturing agreement with the U.S. semiconductor company Integrated Device Technology to take over the latter's chip factory in Oregon.
Under the agreement, IDT will transfer product fabrication processes and related activities currently running in the IDT Hillsboro, Oregon, facility to TSMC foundries in the following two years. The transfer does not include the process equipment or the plant. This transaction has already been approved by both companies and IDT's board of directors.
After the completion of the transfer, IDT plans to shut the plant and become a pure chip designer.
According to Mike Hunter, vice president of worldwide manufacturing for IDT, the company has shifting gears towards developing application specific solutions for the communications, computing and consumer markets during the past year. The cooperation with TSMC will enable IDT to take full advantage of TSMC's cutting edge manufacturing processes. In addition, combining IDT's system expertise and architecture with TSMC's technology platform, this agreement will expand IDT's global manufacturing capability.
Founded in 1980 and headquartered in San Jose, California, IDT focuses on providing power smart solutions that both optimize system level performance while maximizing device performance.