Hsin-chu, Taiwan and Santa Clara, Calif., USA: By agreeing upon a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU), Intel and TSMC will now jointly address technology platform, intellectual-property (IP) infrastructure, as well as system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions.
Under the MOU, Intel would port its Atom processor CPU cores to the TSMC technology platform, including processes, IP, libraries, and design flows. The collaboration is intended to expand Intel’s Atom SoC availability for Intel customers. This would ultimately create a broader range of applications through integration with TSMC’s diverse IP infrastructure.
The two companies view this MOU as an important step in a long-term strategic technology cooperation between Intel and TSMC. With this joint effort, Intel intends to significantly broaden the market opportunities for its Intel Atom SoCs and accelerate deployment of the architecture through multiple SoC implementations. At the same time, TSMC extends its technology platform to serve the Intel architecture market segments.
“We believe this effort will make it easier for customers with significant design expertise to take advantage of benefits of the Intel architecture in a manner that allows them to customise the implementation precisely to their needs,” says Paul Otellini, Intel president and chief executive officer.
“TSMC values our strategic relationship with Intel. This MOU brings together the Intel architecture and the TSMC technology platform. We expect this collaboration will help proliferate the Atom processor SoC and foster semiconductor growth,” says Dr. Rick Tsai, president and chief executive officer of TSMC.
The Intel Atom processor, which features 47 million transistors, is Intel’s smallest processor. Products manufactured through the agreement may find adoption in embedded CPU markets such as Mobile Internet Devices, smart phones, netbooks, nettops, and ac-powered consumer electronics devices.