Renesas ups outsourcing to TSMC

Renesas Electronics has expanded its microcontroller outsourcing agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to include 40-nanometer (nm) embedded flash technology, which are used in automotive and consumer products such as home appliances.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the companies said the Japanese chipmaker had previously outsourced 90nm embedded flash process technology to TSMC. The new agreement will see Renesas include its microcontroller production at 40nm and future technologies in the deal.

Both companies hope to lead in advanced technologies for the microcontroller platform and production through the combination of Renesas's MONOS (metal-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) technology with TSMC's advanced CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) process technologies and flexible production capacity, the statement noted.

The companies will also be making Renesas' proprietary MONOS process platform available to other semiconductor manufacturers around the world, the statement said.

According to Shinichi Iwamoto, senior vice president of Renesas, the Japan earthquake last year had impacted several of its manufacturing sites and its customers' businesses. Since then, the company has been speeding up the construction of a "fab network" as its business continuity plan, the executive noted in the statement.

He added that the cooperation with TSMC will provide a supply structure which will ensure consistant supply to customers. "In order for us to achieve further global growth, we are confident that TSMC will provide us with significant benefits in accelerated time-to-volume production and maximum flexibility in addressing the volatile fluctuation of the market demand," said Iwamoto.