TSMC takes pass on Taiwan-China event

San Jose, Calif. — Reports have surfaced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. "boycotted" the Taiwan + China Semiconductor Industry Outlook 2004 conference here last week, ostensibly because Richard Chang, president and CEO of archrival Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., was the keynote speaker. TSMC has sued SMIC for alleged patent infringement.

TSMC was a sponsor of last year's conference. While it neither sponsored nor attended this year's, "our nonsponsorship had nothing to do with who was speaking," a company official said last week. "We had a logistical problem."

SMIC spins its own 90-nm process tech

San Jose, Calif. — The chief executive of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. said last week it has developed its own 90-nm process technology.

The process will be used for commercial purposes only, not for military uses, said Richard Chang, president and CEO of the Shanghai-based foundry provider.

In October, SMIC had announced plans to make 90-nm chips on a foundry basis for Texas Instruments Inc. (Dallas) and perhaps other customers by early 2005. At the time, it was widely believed that SMIC and TI were co-developing the process.

But the technology is "our own," Chang said during a presentation at the Taiwan + China Semiconductor Industry Outlook 2004 conference here.

Chang said SMIC developed the process using a 193-nm scanner. With that tool, he said, SMIC was able to make a prototype 90-nm SRAM in 2003. The test chip was qualified this year, he said.

The scanner is believed to have been procured from one of SMIC's main lithography suppliers, ASML Holding NV.

The move toward sub-250-nm chip manufacturing in China signals the further erosion of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a post-Cold War pact set up to limit the dissemination of technology that could have potential military use. Tools that can process 0.25-micron wafers have been the perceived limit under U.S. controls, but some chip-making startups, joint ventures and major semiconductor makers in China have announced plans for processes at 0.18 micron and below.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has contended all along that there are no restrictions against selling U.S. fab tools into China with line-width geometries below 0.25 micron. Last year, Department of Defense officials announced the U.S. government would began granting licenses for tools capable of processing 130-nm designs starting in 2004.

During a presentation, Chang insisted SMIC's 90-nm technology would be used only commercially. He denied the technology would be leveraged by China's growing military establishment.

"China's government has not asked us to take part in any military projects," he said. "SMIC has no idea what China's military is doing."

ADI stock options: Timing is everything

Norwood, Mass. — Analog Devices Inc. said it is cooperating with an SEC investigation into the timing of its granting of options just before the public release of favorable financial statements. The probe reportedly covers a five-year period.

In its 10-K filed Nov. 30, Tuesday, the company, based here, said: "Each year, we grant stock options to a broad base of employees (including officers and directors), and in some years those grants have occurred shortly before our issuance of favorable annual financial results."

ADI suggested other companies are part of the SEC investigation but did not comment further.

Quantum Leap gets $6.5M in funding

London — At press time last week, Silicon Strategies' VC Counter for 2004 stood at $2.037.7 billion, representing 166 startup deals involving more than 100 venture capital firms and other investors. The latest addition is Quantum Leap Packaging, a provider of liquid-crystal polymer packaging, which announced last Monday that it had closed a $6.5 million Series B funding round, raising the total financing for the company to $10 million.

In addition to the Series B round, Comerica Bank committed $2.5 million in debt financing to support expansion of Quantum Leap's manufacturing operations.

"We believe there's a huge market opportunity for Quantum Leap and that with this financing and the recent addition of industry veteran Jim LaCasse as CEO, they are now well-positioned to succeed," said Morgan Jones, general partner at Battery Ventures.
— Compiled by Mark LaPedus and Peter Clarke of Silicon Strategies and by Brian Fuller.