SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Sony Electronics Inc. has been in the silicon foundry business for years, but the company is quietly making a major thrust in the arena on two fronts: it is opening up its fabs in Japan for outsourcing and ramping up a new BiCMOS and silicon-germanium (SiGe) process technology.
Sony for the first time will offer foundry capacity within its fabs in Japan, most notably two 8-inch plants in Kokubu. In those plants, the Japanese company will shortly offer a new, high-performance BiCMOS and SiGe process technologies for foundry customers.
The new process, dubbed BC2, is a 0.35-to-0.25-micron, 50-GHz BiCMOS/SiGe process geared for wireless, wireline, and related applications, said Kelly Holdbrook, director of business development and manufacturing for Sony Semiconductor San Antonio, the silicon foundry division of chip maker Sony Electronics. The San Antonio, Tex.-based foundry operation is part of consumer-electronics giant Sony Corp. of Tokyo.
"We specialize in mixed-signal process technologies," Holdbrook said in an interview at the 2001 Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) Expo here this week.
The move will pit Sony in the high-end BiCMOS/SiGe foundry business against the likes of Atmel, IBM Microelectronics and others.
In fact, Sony is no stranger to the foundry business. For years, the Japanese company has offered specialized services, which are geared around bipolar and BiCMOS process technologies.
Until now, its foundry operations were centered around two fabs, including 5- and 6-inch plants, based in San Antonio. The fabs were acquired several years ago from Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
It also offers IC design services in several locations: Texas, California, London, Singapore, and Japan. It also has IC assembly plants in Thailand and Japan.
Earlier in the year, however, Sony revamped its chip operations, reportedly as part of a major shakeup at the company. As part of the moves, the company put its various fab operations under a new umbrella, dubbed the Engineering Manufacturing & Service Center (EMSC).
"EMSC can manufacturer chips for Sony or anyone else," explained Scott Reagan, business development manager for Sony Semiconductor San Antonio, in an interview at the FSA trade show.
As a result, Sony will become more aggressive in the foundry business. The Japanese company will not compete in the CMOS market against the Asian foundries in Singapore and Taiwan, but rather it will offer higher-end processes, Reagan said.
Its new BC2 process is four-layer-metal technology. The 50-GHz process features a 0.35-micron bipolar and 0.25-micron CMOS technologies. "It's a BiCMOS process with an option for silicon-germanium," he said.
Applications include radio frequency tuners, wireless local-area networks, and related products, said James Araki, an engineering manager for Sony Semiconductor San Antonio.
The process will begin ramping up in April of 2002. It will be manufactured in the company's fabs in Kokubu.
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